J. J. Abrams
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| J. J. Abrams | |
|---|---|
Abrams at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con International
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| Born | Jeffrey Jacob Abrams June 27, 1966 (age 49) New York City, New York, United States |
| Education | Sarah Lawrence College(attended) |
| Occupation | Director, producer, writer, actor, composer |
| Years active | 1990–present |
| Spouse(s) | Katie McGrath (m. 1996) |
| Children | 3 |
Jeffrey Jacob "J. J." Abrams (born June 27, 1966) is an American director, producer, writer, author, and composer, best known for his 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), and Cloverfield (2008). He created or co-created a number of TV drama series, including Felicity (co-creator, 1998–2002), Alias (creator, 2001–2006), Lost (co-creator, 2004–2010), and Fringe (co-creator, 2008–2013).
His directorial film work includes Star Trek (2009), Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), Mission: Impossible III (2006) and Super 8 (2011). He has also directed the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), the first film in the Star Wars sequel trilogy.[1]
Abrams's frequent creative collaborators include writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, composer Michael Giacchino, cinematographers Daniel Mindel and Larry Fong, and editors Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey.
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[hide]Early life[edit]
Abrams was born in New York City and raised in Los Angeles, the son of television producer Gerald W. Abrams (born c. 1939) and executive producer Carol Ann Abrams (née Kelvin; 1942-2012).[2] His sister is screenwriter Tracy Rosen.[2] Abrams is Jewish.[3] He attended Palisades High School. After high school, Abrams planned to go to film school rather than to an academic college but eventually enrolled at Sarah Lawrence, following his father's advice: "it's more important that you go off and learn what to make movies about than how to make movies."[4][5]
Career[edit]
1990s[edit]
Abrams's first job in the movie business started when he was 16 when he wrote the music for Don Dohler's 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 that up 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 animationtechnology who were contracted by Jeffrey Katzenberg to develop animation for the film Shrek.[6] 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.
2000s[edit]
Under his production company Bad Robot, which he founded with Bryan Burk in 2001,[7] Abrams created and executive-produced ABC's Alias and is co-creator (along with Damon Lindelof and Jeffrey Lieber) and executive producer of Lost. He later co-wrote the teleplay for Lost 's third season premiere "A Tale of Two Cities." As with Felicity, Abrams also composed the opening theme music for Alias and Lost. In 2001, Abrams co-wrote and produced the thriller Joy Ride, and wrote an unproduced screenplay for a fifth Superman film in 2002.[citation needed]In 2006, he served as executive producer of What About Brian and Six Degrees, also on ABC. Abrams directed and wrote the two-part pilot for Lost and remained active producer for the first half of the season. That same year, he made his feature directorial debut in 2006 with Mission: Impossible III, starring Tom Cruise. Abrams spoke at the TED conference in 2007.[8]
In 2008, Abrams produced the monster movie Cloverfield.[9] In 2009, he directed the science fiction film Star Trek,[10] which he produced with Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof. While it was speculated that they would be writing and producing an adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower series of novels, they publicly stated in November 2009 that they were no longer looking to take on that project.[11] In 2008, Abrams co-created, executive produced, and co-wrote (along with Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman) the FOX science fiction series Fringe, for which he also composed the theme music. He was featured in the 2009 MTV Movie Awards 1980s-style digital short "Cool Guys Don't Look at Explosions", with Andy Samberg and Will Ferrell, in which he plays a keyboard solo. NBC picked up Abrams's Undercovers as its first new drama series for the 2010–11 season.[12] However, it was subsequently cancelled by the network in November 2010.
In 2008, it was reported that Abrams purchased the rights to a New York Times article "Mystery on Fifth Avenue" about the renovation of an 8.5 million dollar co-op, a division of property originally owned by E. F. Hutton andMarjorie Merriweather Post, for six figures and was developing a film titled Mystery on Fifth Avenue, with Paramount Pictures and Bad Robot Productions,[13] and comedy writers Maya Forbes and Wally Wolodarsky to write the adaptation. According to the article, a wealthy couple Steven B. Klinsky and Maureen Sherry purchased the apartment in 2003 and live there with their four children. Soon after purchasing the apartment, they hired young architectural designer Eric Clough, who devised an elaborately clever "scavenger hunt" built into the apartment that involved dozens of historical figures, a fictional book and a soundtrack, woven throughout the apartment in puzzles, riddles, secret panels, compartments, and hidden codes, without the couple's knowledge. The family didn't discover the embedded mystery until months after moving into the apartment.[14][15] After Abrams purchased the article, Clough left him an encrypted message in the wall tiles of a Christian Louboutin shoe store he designed in West Hollywood.[16]
2010s[edit]
He wrote and directed the Paramount science fiction movie Super 8, while co-producing with Steven Spielberg and Bryan Burk; it was released on June 10, 2011.[17] Abrams directed the sequel to Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, released in May 2013.[18] Abrams will produce, under Bad Robot and with Bryan Burk, Earthquake for Universal Pictures. The film is being scripted by Academy Award winner Dustin Lance Black, and while it shares a title and event with Universal's 1974 feature starring Charlton Heston and Ava Gardner, it will not be a remake.[19] On January 25, 2013, The Walt Disney Studios and Lucasfilm officially announced Abrams as director and producer of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the latest entry in the Star Wars film saga. Disney/Lucasfilm also announced that Bryan Burk and Bad Robot Productions would be producing the feature.[20]
Following the news that he would indeed direct Star Wars Episode VII, speculation arose as to Abrams's future with Paramount Pictures, with whom he has released all of his previously directed feature work and which has 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.[21]Abrams announced at the 2013 D.I.C.E. Conference that Bad Robot has made a deal with Valve Corporation to produce films based on the video game titles Portal and Half-Life.[22]
On September 9, 2013, it was announced that Abrams will be releasing a novel, S., written by Doug Dorst.[23] The book was released on October 29, 2013.[24] In October 2013, it was announced that Abrams had taken over to direct and write the screenplay for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, working alongside Lawrence Kasdan following the departure of Michael Arndt.[25] Star Wars: The Force Awakens is expected to open in theaters on December 18, 2015.[26][27]
Personal life[edit]
Abrams is married to public relations executive Katie McGrath and has three children.[4][28] He resides in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California.[29][30]
Filmography[edit]
Feature credits[edit]
| Year | Film | Director | Producer | Writer | Actor | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Taking Care of Business | Yes | ||||
| 1991 | Regarding Henry | Yes | Yes | Delivery boy; also co-producer | ||
| 1992 | Forever Young | Yes | also executive producer | |||
| 1993 | Six Degrees of Separation | Yes | Doug | |||
| 1996 | The Pallbearer | Yes | As Jeffrey Abrams | |||
| Diabolique | Yes | Video Photographer #2 | ||||
| 1997 | Gone Fishin' | Yes | ||||
| 1998 | Armageddon | Yes | ||||
| The Suburbans | Yes | |||||
| 2001 | Joy Ride | Yes | Yes | |||
| 2006 | Mission: Impossible III | Yes | Yes | Feature directorial debut | ||
| 2008 | Cloverfield | Yes | ||||
| 2009 | Star Trek | Yes | Yes | |||
| 2010 | Morning Glory | Yes | ||||
| 2011 | Super 8 | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol | Yes | |||||
| 2013 | Star Trek Into Darkness | Yes | Yes | |||
| 2015 | Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation[31] | Yes | ||||
| Star Wars: The Force Awakens | Yes | Yes | Yes | Post Production | ||
| 2016 | Star Trek Beyond | Yes | Filming |
Television credits[edit]
| Year | Program | Credit |
|---|
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