Steven Allan Spielberg (born December 18, 1946) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He began his career in the New Hollywood era, and is currently the most commercially successful director. Spielberg is the recipient of various accolades, including two Academy Awards for Best Director, a Kennedy Center honor, and a Cecil B. DeMille Award.
Spielberg was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. He later moved to California and studied film in college. After directing television episodes and several minor films for Universal Studios, he became a household name for directing 1975’s summer blockbuster Jaws. He then directed box office successes Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), and the adventure films in the Indiana Jones series. Spielberg later explored drama in The Color Purple (1985) and Empire of the Sun (1987).
After a brief hiatus, he directed back to back box office successes with the acclaimed science fiction action film Jurassic Park and the holocaust drama Schindler’s List (both 1993). In 1998, he directed the World War II epic Saving Private Ryan, which was both a critical and commercial success. Spielberg continued in the 2000s with science fiction, including A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), Minority Report (2002) and War of the Worlds (2005). He has since directed several fantasy films including The Adventures of Tintin (2011), and Ready Player One (2018), and the historical dramas War Horse (2011), Lincoln (2012), and The Post (2017).
In addition to filmmaking, he co-founded Amblin Entertainment and DreamWorks, and has served as a producer for many television series and films. Spielberg is also known for his long time collaboration with composer John Williams, with whom he has worked for all but five of his feature films. Several of Spielberg’s works are among the highest-grossing films of all time and have received acclaim; seven of his films have been inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
“I dream for a living.”—Steven Spielberg
“You shouldn’t dream your film, you should make it!”—Steven Spielberg
“Technology can be our best friend.”—Steven Spielberg
“The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image, but giving them the opportunity to create themselves.”—Steven Spielberg
“I love editing. It’s one of my favorite parts about filmmaking.”—Steven Spielberg
“I change; you change.”—Steven Spielberg
“There is a fine line between censorship and good taste and moral responsibility.”—Steven Spielberg
“You have many years ahead of you to create the dreams that we can’t even imagine dreaming.”—Steven Spielberg
“Every time I go to a movie, it’s magic, no matter what the movie’s about.”—Steven Spielberg
“I don’t drink coffee. I’ve never had a cup of coffee in my entire life.”—Steven Spielberg
“I’m not really interested in making money.”—Steven Spielberg
“As an adult, filmmaking is all about appreciating the talents of the people you surround yourself with and knowing you could never have made any of these films by yourself.”—Steven Spielberg
“Luckily with animation, fantasy is your friend.”—Steven Spielberg
“Stories don’t have a middle or an end any more. They usually have a beginning that never stops beginning.”—Steven Spielberg
“I don’t think we’re the same person all our lives.”—Steven Spielberg
“I have a lot of old-fashion values.”—Steven Spielberg
“The public has an appetite for anything about imagination – anything that is as far away from reality as is creatively possible.”—Steven Spielberg
“Movies offer a chance to escape.”—Steven Spielberg
“Science fiction is the greatest outlet for me.”—Steven Spielberg
“I never felt comfortable with myself.”—Steven Spielberg
“Everybody who fights in war fights to survive.”—Steven Spielberg
“Making a movie and not directing the little moments is like drinking a soda and leaving the little slurp puddle for someone else.”—Steven Spielberg
“I quit college so fast I didn’t even clean out my locker.”—Steven Spielberg
“Whether in success or in failure, I’m proud of every single movie I’ve ever directed.”—Steven Spielberg
“When I felt like an outsider, movies made me feel inside my own skill set.”—Steven Spielberg
“Money to me is not a factor in my life.”—Steven Spielberg
“When I don’t have a story to tell, I’m a terror to live with.”—Steven Spielberg
“I don’t like to compare my films with other movies because I don’t really have that perspective.”—Steven Spielberg
“I’ve never questioned the choices I make as a director.”—Steven Spielberg
“When I grow up, I still want to be a director.”—Steven Spielberg
“I’ve always been interested in how we survive and how resourceful we are.”—Steven Spielberg
“Even though I get older, what I do never gets old, and that’s what I think keeps me hungry.”—Steven Spielberg
“I don’t think any movie or any book or any work of art can solve the stalemate in the Middle East today. But it’s certainly worth a try.”—Steven Spielberg
“I don’t play online games.”—Steven Spielberg
“Most of my presumptions about a production are usually wrong.”—Steven Spielberg
“You can’t intellectually purge yourself of who you are.”—Steven Spielberg
“The only thing that gets me back to directing is good scripts.”—Steven Spielberg
“One of the gratuities about being a director is that you can volunteer yourself out of difficult details.”—Steven Spielberg
“I think we need to take responsibility for the things we put on this planet, and also take responsibility for the things we take off the planet.”—Steven Spielberg
“I like linear storytelling a lot.”—Steven Spielberg
“I think in terms of chapters.”—Steven Spielberg
“I didn’t read reviews earlier in my career, but I read them now as I’m older.”—Steven Spielberg
“History opens up new worlds to film-makers all the time.”—Steven Spielberg
“I feel I’m all over my movies.”—Steven Spielberg
“I need both things in my life: my job to be a director, and my kids to direct me.”—Steven Spielberg
