Steven Allan Spielberg is an American director, producer and screenwriter. He started his career in the New Hollywood Era and was one of the most commercially successful directors in history. Spielberg has received various awards, including two Academy Awards for Best Director, an Honors Award from the Kennedy Center and a Cecil B. DeMille Award. Spielberg was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. He then moved to California and studied film at university. After directing TV episodes and a few small films for Universal Studios, he has become a household name for the role of directing the 1975 summer blockbuster Jaws. He continues to make box-office hits like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. the Alien, and adventure movies in the Indiana Jones series. Spielberg then explored dramas in The Color Purple and Empire of the Sun.

Known for his blockbuster flicks Jaws, E.T., and Jurassic Park, which all broke box office records. For the films Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan, he won an Academy Award for Best Director. In the 1980s, he directed the action/adventure classic Indiana Jones trilogy, starring Harrison Ford.