Steven Spielberg is one of the most influential and iconic film directors in the history of cinema. He has made billions of dollars at the box office and created some of the medium’s most treasured moments.
A Steven Spielberg film is still guaranteed to make a huge impact at the box office and his influence on popular culture is unrivaled in the world of cinema.
Let’s take a look at 10 interesting facts about Steven Spielberg and his life and works.
Interesting Steven Spielberg Facts
1. Steven Spielberg was born in December 1946
Steven Spielberg was born on the 18th of December 1946 in Cincinnati, Ohio. His parents, Leah and Arnold, raised him into an orthodox Jewish background and this was something that caused Spielberg some problems when he was a child. He said he would often suffer from anti-Semitism and bullying.
2. Steven Spielberg suffers from dyslexia
A shocking fact about Steven Spielberg is that he struggled to read at a young age and said that he often felt as though he was an outsider during his time at school.
Later in his life, Spielberg would discover that he had been suffering from dyslexia and that was why he had had such difficulties. Since his diagnosis, Spielberg has openly spoken out about his difficulties as a child and has used his platform to raise awareness of the issue and of bullying.
3. Steven Spielberg made his first homemade movie when he was 12
Steven Spielberg showed a passion for making movies at a very young age. He made his first homemade movie on an 8-bit camera when he was just 12 years old. The movie was about a train crash and was filmed using Spielberg’s own train-set collection.
He would continue to use 8-bit cameras to make amateur movies throughout his teenage years and at a high school, most of these were in the ‘action-adventure’ genre.
4. Steven Spielberg is the most financially successful film director of all time
A well-known fact about Steven Spielberg is that he not only one of the most influential film directors of all time, but he is also the most successful at the box office.
Spielberg’s movies have brought in a combined $10.541 billion at the box-office, which is nearly double the amount made by the second most successful director. Spielberg’s highest-grossing movie is Jurassic Park, which has grossed over £1 Billion worldwide since its release in 1990.
His most successful movie in North America is ET: The Extra-Terrestrial, which grossed an impressive $435.1 million since its initial release in 1982.
5. Steven Spielberg has won three Academy Awards
Steven Spielberg has won three Academy Awards for his work as a director including the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, which is awarded to an individual for their contribution to cinema.
He has won Best Director twice, once for Schindler’s List in 1994 and once for Saving Private Ryan in 1999. He has been nominated for the award seven times, with his first nomination coming all the way back in 1978 for Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Only one of Spielberg’s films has won the Best Picture prize at the Oscars. That was Schindler’s List in 1994. At the time of writing, ten of his movies have been nominated for Best Picture, with ET: The Extra-Terrestrial being the first one to get the nod in 1983.
In total, his movies have amassed a whopping 131 times and have picked up 34 different awards over the years.
6. Steven Spielberg’s first feature-length movie was released in 1971
An important fact about Steven Spielberg is that he made first feature-length movie, Duel, was made for television in 1971. The television movie received a lot of praise from critics and is widely considered to be one of the great television movies ever made.
Spielberg’s first theatrical release, The Sugarland Express, would come three years later in 1974. The film received positive reviews from critics but made a very modest $12.8 million at the box office off the back of a $3 million budget.
Spielberg would really find success a year later when Jaws hit the big screen in 1975 and elevated Spielberg to household name status.
7. Steven Spielberg formed DreamWorks Studios in 1994
Alongside Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen, Steven Spielberg founded DreamWorks Studios in 1994. He would produce a number of films through the studios over the years including the likes of AI: Artificial Intelligence and Minority Report.
The studio would achieve a lot of success with Spielberg at the helm, especially at the Academy Awards where they won three consecutive Best Pictures in a row for American Beauty, A Beautiful Mind, and Gladiator.
The company would be sold to Paramount in 2005 but Spielberg has still worked closely with the studio and helped produce movies since then.
8. Steven Spielberg was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest honor that can be given to a US citizen. The award is given to those who have made ‘an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors’.
An interesting fact about Steven Spielberg is that he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015 by the President at the time, Barrack Obama for his contributions to cinema and US culture.
9. Steven Spielberg has also made contributions to the world of video gaming
Steven Spielberg may be best known for his work on movies but he has also made several contributions to the world of video gaming, which is a very interesting fact about Seven Spielberg.
Spielberg himself is an enthusiastic gamer and he has lent his voice to many games over the years, most notably Skullmonkeys, Dilbert’s Desktop Games, Goosebumps: Attack of the Mutant and Clive Barker’s Undying. He also is credited with being the creator of the popular first-person shooter series, Medal of Honor, released by EA.
10. Steven Spielberg has seven children
Steven Spielberg has been married twice and currently has seven children. His first marriage was to the actress Amy Irving and saw him have his first child, Max Samuel Spielberg. He would get divorced from Irving in 1989 in what was one of the most expensive divorces in celebrity history.
He would then marry Kate Capshaw in 1991. The two have seven children together, five children, and two stepchildren. Their last child, Destry Allyn Spielberg was born in 1996.
Steven Spielberg is one of the most important directors in Hollywood. His films have touched the lives of millions of film fans all over the world and have helped redefine the medium time and time again.
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