Steven Spielberg – His Fascinating Life!

Steven Allan Spielberg, KBE, OMRI is famous American film director, screenwriter and producer who is touted as one of the pioneers of the new era of Hollywood. Spielberg is considered one of the greatest directors ever to have delivered block-buster films internationally and is a co-founder of DreamWorks Studios. Spielberg has made several films on adventure and sci-fi films including ‘Jaws’, ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’, ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’, ‘E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial’. Some of Spielberg’s biggest hits include ‘The Color Purple’, ‘Schindler’s List’, ‘Saving Private Ryan’, ‘Munich ‘, ‘Jurassic Park’, ‘Terminal’ and ‘A.I. Artificial Intelligence’.

In a career spanning over 40 years, Spielberg has been felicitated with several awards. He has been honoured with 3 Academy Awards out of a total of 16 nominations. He has also received 14 BAFTA nominations and won the award thrice. His other wins include 7 out of 15 Daytime Emmy Awards, 6 out of 21 Golden Globe Awards and 4 out of 10 Primetime Emmy Awards. Additionally, Spielberg is also the highest-grossing film director in history with gross revenues exceeding $9 billion worldwide.

Early Life and Education

Spielberg was born on 18 December 1946 in Cincinnati, Ohio in an Orthodox Jewish family, the son of restaurateur and concert pianist Leah Posner (later Adler) and electrical engineer Arnold Spielberg. Spielberg’s paternal grandparents emigrated to USA from Ukraine and he was raised in Haddon Township, New Jersey, and Phoenix, Arizona. He has three siblings, sisters Nancy, Anne and Sue. When Spielberg was still in school, his parents divorced. Spielberg made his first film at age 12.

From 1953 to 1957, Spielberg studied at a Hebrew School and became a Boy scout in 1958. For three years, Spielberg attended Arcadia High School, Phoenix and in 1965, he became an Eagle Scout and graduated from Saratoga High School, California where his family was based at the time. Spielberg then enrolled into California State University, Long Beach, to study film-making, where he earned an internship with Universal Studios. He subsequently dropped out to pursue film-making professionally with Universal.

Career Rise

Spielberg gained prominence in 1975 with the release of his film ‘Jaws’ that became his first major success. The film grossed over $470 million at the worldwide box office, earned Spielberg his first BAFTA nomination and ushered him into the league of mainstream directors. His next film was the 1977 sci-fi film ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’, which also became a huge hit and earned Spielberg his first Academy Award nomination and a BAFTA nomination for Best Director. Spielberg debuted his Indiana Jones films franchise in 1981 with ‘Raiders of the Lost Arc’, once again earning nominations at all high-profile award functions.

Spielberg’s 1982 sci-fi film ‘E.T. The Extraterrestrial’ became a block-buster success and soon became an all-time highest grossing film during the time of its release. He also won the critics over with the 1986 film ‘The Color Purple’. In 1993, Spielberg released the first instalment of the ‘Jurassic Park’ film franchise and later released 3 more films in the sci-fi series. Spielberg received immense critical acclaim for his 1993 film ‘Schindler’s List’ which was not only a huge success but also earned him 2 Academy Awards. His 2005 film ‘‘War of the Worlds’ made over $591 million on box-office. worldwide. Spielberg continued to give a series of big hits with films like ‘Saving Private Ryan’, winning his third Oscar, and received nominations for ‘Munich’, ‘Letters from Iwo Jima’, ‘War Horse’, ‘Lincoln’ and ‘Bridge of Spies’.

Steven Spielberg’s best movies in terms of box office records include Jaws. E.T – The Extra-Terrestrial, and Jurassic Park.  The 2018 blockbuster ‘Ready Player One’ which became one of the biggest blockbusters of the year, made him the first director whose films have globally amassed $10 billion.

 

 Steven Spielberg – House

        

Apart from a couple of other homes in Los Angeles, a beach house in Malibu and a  remodeled pad in Coldwater Canyon,   Spielberg owns a palatial house in  the form of a 3-acre property in Pacific Palisades. The property exudes a Hawaiian ambience; it is a Mediterranean style home with huge French windows.

Yacht

Spielberg upgraded his yacht called ‘The Seven Seas’ to 300 feet in size with a budget of $250 million, in 2015. The yacht is chartered out for an estimated price of $1.2 million a  month, making it one of the most expensively chartered yachts in the world. The yacht features a helicopter pad, a massage room, an infinity pool, a  gym, a spa, a 15-foot glass movie screen, two VIP rooms, three cabins, one with a twin bed and two with double beds; and a master-suite.

Personal Life

In 1976, Spielberg met actress Amy Irving and started living together with him, but chose not to appear in any of his films, to make her name on her own. They had a son named Max and married in 1985. The couple divorced in 1989.

Speilberg then began dating actress Kate Capshaw and married her in 1991. Together they have three biological children; Sasha Rebecca, Sawyer Avery, Destry Allyn. The couple also have adopted children; Mikaela George, Theo Spielberg. Spielberg also adopted Capshaw’s son from her previous marriage with Robert Capshaw; Jessica Capshaw.

Steven Spielberg – Net Worth

Spielberg has an estimated net worth of approximately $3.7 billion.