Considered as one of the most successful and influential filmmakers of the global film circuit, Steven Spielberg is an American director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Known as the face behind the New Hollywood Era, he is also the co-founder of the American film production house DreamWorks Pictures. From his yarn of film making, he has spun Academy Award Winning films like Schindler`s List and Saving Private Ryan. He has numerous more critically acclaimed and commercially successful films to his name, making him one the world`s wealthiest directors.

Early Life
Born on 18th December 1946 in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Arnold Spielberg, an electrical engineer and Leah Posner, a restaurant owner, Spielberg belonged to an orthodox Jewish family and hence was subjected to much discrimination and humiliation by other children since childhood. As an amateur director, he made his first two films: The Last Gunfight and Fighter Squad, at the age of 12. He attended Arcadia High School in Phoenix as a child but his family shifted to California where he completed his schooling from Saratoga High School in 1995. After school he went to California State University to study English. During his college days, he interned in the editing department of the Universal Studios and made a short film Amblin which impressed everyone around him. So much was the impact of his film that Universal Studios signed a seven year contract with him, making him the youngest director ever to be signed by them.

Personal Life
Steven Spielberg has been married twice. From his first marriage to actress Amy Irving, Spielberg has one son and has six children with his current wife Kate Cupshow, out of which one child is from Cupshow`s previous marriage, and two are adopted.

Movie Career
Universal recognition and fame came to him in the form of the American thriller film Jaws in 1975. The unique concept of a giant man-eating shark spreading panic amongst the local citizens combined with the minute detailing of various nuances, made this movie one of the biggest hits at that time. His childlike sense of wonder and faith made him direct films with the repeated theme of ordinary characters finding something extraordinary, leading to a change in the course of their life. His films Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and A.I. Artificial Intelligence all have elements of curiosity at the marvels of this world and beyond. In 1981, Spielberg introduced to the world one of the most legendary characters in the cinematic history, Indiana Jones in his directorial venture Indiana Jones and The Raiders of the Lost Ark. He meddled in the genre of adventure in this movie and aced it. The blockbuster success of Indiana Jones continued with two more movies in the franchise: Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom and India Jones and The Last Crusade.

In 1985, he directed a period drama film called The Color Purple. An adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the same name by Alice Walker, the movie starred Woopie Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey in the lead roles. The film`s smashing success put further light on the versatility of Steven Spielberg`s cinematic brilliance. In 1993, Spielberg gave to the world the magnum opus Jurassic Park. A movie about a billionaire philanthropist and a small team of genetic scientists who created a wildlife park of cloned dinosaurs, the film went on to become the highest grossing movie ever, at the time. Jurassic Park is considered a landmark in the development of computer-generated imagery and animated visual effects, and was followed by three commercially successful sequels, The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), Jurassic Park III (2001), and Jurassic World (2015). His next directorial venture after Jurassic Park was the 1993 Academy Award winning movie Schindler`s List. The Holocaust drama, starring Liam Neeson as a businessman who helps save Jewish citizens and Ben Kingsley as Schindler`s Jewish accountant, won seven Academy Awards, including Spielberg`s first win as best director.

In 1997, Speilberg directed a war drama film starring Matt Damon and Tom Hanks. The movie won several awards including his second Academy Award for Best Director. In 2014, this universally acclaimed movie was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry as it was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". He then gave blockbusters like Medal of Honor, Vanilla Sky, Minority Report, Catch Me If You Can, and Memories of a Geisha. He is also credited with directing the Men in Black and Transformers series, both of which received huge commercial successes and diversified Spielberg`s vision as a film maker.

In November 2012, Spielberg produced and directed Lincoln, starring Daniel Day Lewis in the much anticipated biopic of President Abraham Lincoln. The movie opened to huge critical acclaim and went on to win two Academy Awards. He then directed a black comedy crime film Wolf of Wall street, starring Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead role. The movie, which also starred Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie and Matthew McConaughey, was a hit both critically and commercially and DiCaprio`s role as a stockbroker in New York City received huge accolades wforldwide.

His 2016 projects include a fantasy adventure film The BGF and a comedy film A Dog`s Purpose. His 2020 release includes CATS, directed by Tom Hooper.