J. J. Abrams

Jeffrey Jacob Abrams (born June 27, 1966) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and composer. He is known for work in the genres of action, drama, and science fiction. Abrams wrote and/or produced feature films such as Regarding Henry (1991), Forever Young (1992), Armageddon (1998), Cloverfield (2008), and Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015).

He created or co-created a number of TV drama series, including Felicity (co-creator, 1998–2003), Alias (creator, 2001–2006), Lost (co-creator, 2004–2010), and Fringe (co-creator, 2008–2013). Abrams won two Emmy Awards for Lost—Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series and Outstanding Drama Series.

His directorial film work includes Star Trek (2009) and its sequel Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), Mission: Impossible III(2006), and Super 8 (2011). He also directed and co-wrote Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), the first film in the Star Wars sequel trilogy and his highest-grossing film, as well as the third highest-grossing film of all time.

Abrams's frequent creative collaborators include producer Bryan Burk, actors Greg Grunberg and Simon Pegg, writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, composer Michael Giacchino, cinematographers Daniel Mindel and Larry Fong, and editors Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey.

Early life

Abrams was born in New York City and raised in Los Angeles, the son of television producer Gerald W. Abrams (born 1939) and executive producer Carol Ann Abrams (née Kelvin; 1942–2012). His sister is screenwriter Tracy Rosen. He attended Palisades High School. After high school, Abrams planned to go to film school rather than an academic college but eventually enrolled at Sarah Lawrence College, following his dad's advice: "it's more important that you go off and learn what to make movies about than how to make movies."

Career

Early career

Abrams's first job in the movie business started at 15 when he wrote the music for Don Dohler's 1982 film Nightbeast. During his senior year at college, he teamed with Jill Mazursky to write a feature film treatment. Purchased by Touchstone Pictures, the treatment was the basis for Taking Care of Business, Abrams's first produced film, which starred Charles Grodin and James Belushi. He followed with Regarding Henry, starring Harrison Ford, and Forever Young, starring Mel Gibson. He also co-wrote with Mazursky the script for the comedy Gone Fishin' starring Joe Pesci and Danny Glover.

In 1994, he was part of the "Propellerheads" with Rob Letterman, Loren Soman, and Andy Waisler, a group of Sarah Lawrence alums experimenting with computer animation technology who were contracted by Jeffrey Katzenberg to develop animation for the film Shrek. Abrams worked on the screenplay for the 1998 film Armageddon with producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Michael Bay. That same year, he made his first foray into television with Felicity, which ran for four seasons on The WB Network, serving as the series' co-creator (with Matt Reeves) and executive producer. He also composed its opening theme music.

2010s

He wrote and directed the Paramount science fiction thriller Super 8, starring Joel Courtney and Elle Fanning, while co-producing with Steven Spielberg and Bryan Burk; it was released on June 10, 2011. Abrams directed the sequel to Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, released in May 2013. On January 25, 2013, The Walt Disney Studios and Lucasfilmofficially announced Abrams as director and producer of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the seventh entry in the Star Warsfilm saga. Disney/Lucasfilm also announced that Bryan Burk and Bad Robot Productions would produce the feature.

Following the news that he would direct The Force Awakens, speculation arose as to Abrams's future with Paramount Pictures, with whom he had released all of his previously directed feature work, and which had a first-look deal with his Bad Robot Productions. Paramount vice-chairman Rob Moore stated that Abrams will continue to have a hand in the highly successful Star Trek and Mission: Impossible franchises going forward. Abrams directed, produced, and co-wrote the screenplay for, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, working alongside Lawrence Kasdan, following the departure of co-writer Michael Arndt. Star Wars: The Force Awakens opened in theaters on December 18, 2015. It grossed over $2 billion at the box office, making him the second director to make a $2 billion movie since James Cameron's Avatar.

He served as producer of Star Trek Beyond in 2016.

Abrams announced at the 2013 D.I.C.E. Summit that Bad Robot Productions had made a deal with Valve Corporation to produce a film based on either the video game title Portal or Half-Life.On September 9, 2013, it was announced that Abrams would release a novel, S., written by Doug Dorst. The book was released on October 29, 2013.

Personal life

Abrams is married to public relations executive Katie McGrath and has three children.He resides in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California. He is Jewish and his wife is Roman Catholic, and he sometimes takes his children to religious services on Jewish holidays.

Abrams serves on the Creative Council of Represent.Us, a nonpartisan anti-corruption organization.