31 Exceptional Steven Spielberg Facts That Every Fan Must Know

Right from his directorial debut over four decades ago, Steven Spielberg has given the Hollywood, some most iconic and extraordinary movies, racking up billions worldwide. Often considered to be one of the founding pioneers of the New Hollywood era, he is the one who brought the fearsome aliens, dinosaurs and sharks to the screen. Here are some facts about Steven Spielberg, the American filmmaker:

1. Spielberg is the most influential personalities in the history of cinema, with two Academy Award for Best Director and is the highest grossing film director in history.
2. He was awarded the honor of ‘Knight of the Order of the British Empire,’ in New Year Honors 2001 by Queen Elizabeth II for his contribution to the British film industry. He is also the recipient of ‘President Medal of Freedom,’ from President Barack Obama in 2015.
3. He was born Steven Allan Spielberg on December 18, 1946, in Cincinati, Ohio, United States, to Leah Frances, a concert pianist and restaurateur, and Arnold Spielberg, an electrical engineer. He along with his three sisters, Anne, Nancy and Sue were raised as an Orthodox Jew.
4. He attended Arcadia High School and later moved to Saratoga High School, California, from where he graduated in 1965. He completed his BA degree in Film and Electronic Arts in 2002, from California State University, Long Beach and in 2016, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Arts by Harvard University.
5. Spielberg has been married twice in his life. He married his first wife, Amy Irving, in November 1985, after being in relationship since the day he met her while auditioning for ‘Close Encounters,’ in 1976. They have a son named Max Samuel.
6. On October 12, 1991, he married Kate Capshaw, after divorcing his first wife. They have three biological children, Sasha Rebecca Spielberg, Sawyer Avery Spielberg and Destry Allyn Spielberg, apart from two adopted children, Theo and Mikaela.
7. Spielberg got interested in filmmaking at a very young age and in 1958, as a Boy Scout, he earned his Photography Merit Badge, by making a nine-minute, 8-mm film titled ‘The Last Gunfight.’
8. Between the age of 13 and 16 he made number of amateur film in 8mm film including an award winning 40-minute war film ‘Escape to Nowhere.’ In 1963 he made his first feature-length directional debut with science fiction film ‘Firelight,’ on a budget of $500, and earned a profit of $1.
9. His journey as a film maker started as an unpaid intern jobat Universal Studios, in editing department and went on to bag a seven-year directing contract following the success of his short film ‘Amblin,’ at the Atlanta Film Festival. He is the youngest director to sign a long-term contract with a major Hollywood studio.
10. Spielberg’s first theatrical feature film to be given a wide release is the 1974 crime drama ‘The Sugarland Express,’ with Goldie Hawn and Ben Johnson in the lead.
11. His 1975 release thriller ‘Jaws,’ made him an international superstar among directors. The late shooting schedule pushed the release date from Christmas to June 1975 and the summer blockbuster was born with over $100 million at the box office.
12. He earned first Academy Award nomination for his 1977 science-fiction film ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind,’ written and directed by him. It was voted the 64th –Greatest American film, 31st most thrilling and 58th most inspiring by the American Film Institute polls.
13. Spielberg met his first failure with his war action comedy film ‘1941,’ though it was a moderate box-office success, earning $92 million worldwide on a budget of $35 million dollars.
14. His ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark,’ released in 1981, remains till date as one of the top twenty-five highest-grossing films ever made when adjusted for inflation. It earned him his second Academy Award nomination. Subsequently a prequel, ‘Temple of Doom,’ and two sequels, ‘The last Crusade and ‘Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,’ were produced.
15. The concept of making a small autobiographical film about his childhood filled with an imaginary alien companion, following his parents’ divorce, became a reality in 1982 with ‘E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,’ considered to be one of the greatest films of all time. There was an allegation that the film was imitative of Indian Bengali director Satyajit Ray’s ‘The Alien,’ of 1967 script, with remarkable parallels which was abandoned.
16. His action-adventure film of 1984, ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,’ is widely known as having been the impetus for the Motion Picture Association of America to create its PG-13 movie rating, due to high level of violence in films targeted at younger audience.
17. Spielberg’s coming of age period drama film ‘The Color Purple,’ in 1985, was nominated for record eleven Academy Awards, including best picture, but failed to win any of them, tying the record set by 1977’s The Turning Point, for most Oscar nominations without a single win.
18. The science fiction adventure film ‘Jurassic Park,’ in 1993, won him more than twenty awards including three Oscar. The popularity of the movie led the management of the National Basketball Association expansion franchise founded in Toronto in 1995 to adopt the nickname Raptors.
19. He earned his first Academy Award for Best Director with 1993 historical period drama film ‘Schindler’s List,’ the most expensive black & white film to date.
20. Spielberg used the profits from Schindler’s List success to set up the ‘Shoah Foundation,’ a non-profit organization with a goal of providing an archive filmed testimony of Holocaust survivors. He also financed several related documentaries, including ‘Anne Frank Remembered,’ ‘The Lost Children of Berlin,’ and ‘The Last Days.’
21. In 1998, he directed epic war film ‘Saving Private Ryan,’ billed as the greatest war film ever made and as one of the greatest film ever made. It also earned him his second Academy Award. Many of the World War veterans said the film so realistic that it disturbed them and they left the theaters rather than finish watching the film.
22. As of 2018, he has directed 11 films that were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, of these, Schindler’s List is the only one to have won him the award. These 10 nominations for Best Picture is the record.
23. His films have won 34 Academy Award in various categories out of 131 nominations out of his 26 films. He has also won 22 BAFTA Awards and 11 Golden Globe Awards.
24. He went on direct ‘A.I. Artificial Intelligence,’ ‘Minority Report,’ ‘Catch Me if You Can,’ and ‘The Terminal,’ with mixed reviews but with commercial success. The 2005, the ‘Empire,’ the British film magazine ranked Spielberg number one on a list the greatest film director of all time.
25. In 2011, he directed his first 3-D animated film ‘The Adventure of Tintin,’ and the ‘War Horse,’ was his first film to be edited digitally.
26. In his style of film making the children are in some sort of danger, and important images, or characters, are often shown through the rear-view mirror of a vehicle with consistence reference to World War II.
27. Spielberg is the first living person to have a playable Lego mini-figure modeled after him and sold with several sets as part of the Lego Studio product range in the early 2000s. He struggled with dyslexia his whole life but was not diagnosed until recently in 2007.
28. He was given the American Film Institute Life Achievement Award in 1995 and received the Germany’s Cross of Merit with Star for his sensible representation of Germany’s history in Schindler’s List.
29. In 2002, Spielberg was one of eight flag bearers who carried the Olympic Flag into Rice-Eccles Stadium at the Opening Ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City.
30. He was stalked by conspiracy theorist and former social worker Diana Napolis. She accused him of controlling her thoughts through ‘cybertronic’ technology and being part of a satanic conspiracy against her.
31. Steven Spielberg Net Worth: $3.7 Billion