Steven Spielberg was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He began making movies at age 12 and won his first film contest at age 13. He graduated from California State College at Long Beach in 1970. Spielberg worked first as a director for television shows but success came with theatrical movies. In 1975 he directed the movie Jaws, which broke many movie records for attendance and money earned. Spielberg followed that success with Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 1977, Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981, and E.T. in 1982. In 1985 he directed The Color Purple. In 1993 Spielberg’s movie Jurassic Park became the highest grossing movie to date. That same year, Schindler’s List, which portrayed the Holocaust, won an Academy Award for best picture and Spielberg won for best director. In 1994, with partners Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen, Spielberg created a film and television company called Dreamworks SKG. He continues to produce and direct movies.
