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Baby Boom
Steven Allan Spielberg is born on December 18, 1946 at the Jewish Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio. World War II had just ended and Arnold Spielberg wanted to start a new family. -
Non-Religious Move
The Spielbergs moved to a non-Jewish suburban area just outside Camden, New Jersey, to Haddon Township. -
Inspiration
Steven watches his first movie, The Greatest Show on Earth and it inspires him. -
First Movie
Steven made his first film, The Last Gunfight, to earn his Eagle Scout merit badge in the boy scouts. -
Bullied
Steven began his freshman year at Arcadia High School. He was still very short and thin and got pushed around a lot. That was the problem about being in a non-Jewish community, -
Escape to Nowhere
Steven worked on Escape to Nowhere, a 40-minute film about World War II, and finally finished. At the 1962-1963 Canyon Films Junior Fimls Festival, Escape to Nowehere got fist prize. -
A Big Success
At the end of the high school year, Steven finished his 2-hour-and-15-minute movie called Firelight. It's about scientists studying strange lights in the sky at night. The private preview was ready for showing. The film dazzled 500 viewers and made a profit of $100. Sadly only portions of the movie still exist today due to the loss of the fim. -
Moving Again
Steven was mad about moving again. He was afraid he was going to be treated differently because of his Jewish religion. Steven quit college after a few months and started working at Universal Studios Hollywood. -
A Great Idea
After a failiure on Sugarland Express, another Steven directed movie, he got the greatest idea for a movie, JAWS!!! Den-Dun-Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!! -
Problems
Only a few cast members were hired and no script has been written yet. Their robotic sharks won't work because it would break if it got into salt water. The weather was also a big problem. Was Steven able to create JAWS in time? -
A Broken Record
JAWS was a huge success. It broke previous box-office records and taking in more than $100 million. The people loved it. The press called it "Jawsmania". He had created the most profitable film im motion-picture history up to that time. But Steven wasn't stopping there. -
The Start of Something Big
After meeting up with George Lucas, director of Star Wars, the directors brainstormed a new idea for a great movie. POP! Indiana Jones and The Raiders of the Lost Ark. -
Fallen In Love
Amy Irving auditioned for the female role in Raiders of the Lost Ark but Steven told her right away that she was too young. After a few months she came back and Steven and Amy both fell in love with each other. -
Split Up
Spielberg and Irving split up after being together for 4 years and engaded for 3 months. Spielberg said that this split up made him grow up emotionally. -
Another Success
Raiders of the Lost Ark became an instant hit and rose to the top of history of film getting $363 million . The film was nominated for eight Acadamy Awards. -
Childhood Movie
After having a big success on Raiders of the Lost Ark, Steven wanted to go back to his childhood. That's how he came up with E.T.-The Extra-Terrestrial. He said when he was a child he came up with an imaginary character. He said it went like this, boy meets creature, boy loses creature, creature saves boy, boy savescreature with the hope that they will always have a connection forever. When the film came out, it touched the heart of many viewers. -
Returning
When Steven colaborated with George to make the sequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Kate Capshaw played the role of Indy's girlfriend. Steven and Kate became great friends. About the same time time Amy Irving surprised Steven at an Indian airport and they both fell in love again. -
A Son
In the middle of directing, Amy called, she said she was having a baby boy. They named their son Max Samuel Spielberg. -
Married
5 months later after Max was born, Steven and Amy finally got married in a provate ceremony at the courthouse in Santa Fe, New Mexico. -
Dinosaurs Come to Life
The concept for Jurassic Park began when Steven met with author Michael Crichtonto discuss his new book about an amusement park filled with cloned dinosaurs. -
Approved
When Steven read the the book Jurassic Park, he asked the author for permission to direct a movie about his book. The author finally approved to let Steven direct the movie for his book. -
Divorced
Steven and Irvings schedules got in the way of their marrige. So they agreed to get divorced. Steven paid Irving $100 million for the divorce. -
More Than Friends
After a year of Steven's divorce, he renewed his friendship with Kate Capshaw (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom). Their frinedship blossomed into romance and they both got married. -
The Project Begins
It wasn't until 1992 that Steven beagan the big $95 million project of Jurassic Park. Two years before, they had spent working on the scripts, making the robotic dinosaurs, and creating the speacial effects. -
Dinosaurs, A Big Hit
The first weekend the film was released it got $47 million dollars. It eventually raised up to $357 million in the United States. -
A Historical Idea
After finishing Jurassic Park, Steven wanted to make another film about World War II. He was going to call it Schindler's List. It was based on true historical events. It tells the story of Oskar Schindler , a business man who bribbed Germans to let Jewish people work in his factory to keep them safe. He kept their names on a list. After the war ended he freed them. But Steven expected that it won't do great in the box-office. -
An Emotional Film
Steven gathered up his family Kate Capshaw with his five children-Max, Jessica, Theo, Sasha, and Sawyer, his mother and her second husband for the private viewing of the film. Everybody was crying and felt emotional after the film. -
One of the Biggest Hits
Steven was wrong. The film was one his biggest hits. It got more than $321 million worldwide. -
An Oscar at Last
Schindler's List recieved on Oscar for Best Picture. Four more Oscars were given to Schindler's List. At the end of the award ceremony, the host said, "And the Oscar for 'Best Director' goes to.......STEVEN SPIELBERG FOR SCHINDLER'S LIST!!!!"