Steven Spielberg

Steven Allan Spielberg, KBE (born December 18, 1946) is an American film director, screenwriter, and film producer. "Forbes" magazine places Spielberg's net worth at $3.1 billion. In 2006, the magazine "Premiere" listed him as the most powerful and influential figure in the motion picture industry. "Time" listed him as one of the 100 Most Important People of the Century. At the end of the twentieth century, "Life" named him the most influential person of his generation. In a career of over four decades, Spielberg's films have touched on many themes and genres. Spielberg's early sci-fi and adventure films, sometimes centering on children, were seen as an archetype of modern Hollywood blockbuster filmmaking. In later years his films began addressing such issues as The Holocaust, slavery, war and terrorism.

Spielberg won the Academy Award for Best Director for 1993's Schindler's List and 1998's Saving Private Ryan. Three of Spielberg's films, Jaws (1975), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), and Jurassic Park (1993), broke box office records, each becoming the highest-grossing film made at the time. To date, the unadjusted gross of all Spielberg-directed films exceeds $8.5 billion worldwide.