J.J. Abrams
☼ Born on 27 December 1966, in New York City, New York, USA
Biography
Jeffrey Jacob Abrams was born in New York City and raised in Los Angeles, the son of TV producer parents. At 15, he wrote the music for Don Dohler's Nightbeast (1982). In his senior year of college, he and Jill Mazursky teamed up to write a feature film, which became Taking Care of Business (1990). He went on to write and produce Regarding Henry (1991) and Forever Young (1992). He also co-wrote Gone Fishin' (1997) with Mazursky. Along with other Sarah Lawrence alumni, he experimented with computer animation and was contracted to develop pre-production animation for Shrek (2001).
Abrams worked on the screenplay for Armageddon (1998) and co-created (as well as composing the opening theme of) Felicity (1998), which ran for four seasons. He founded the production company Bad Robot in 2001 with Bryan Burk. He created and executive-produced Alias (2001) and Lost (2004), composing the theme music for both, and co-writing episodes of "Lost". He also co-wrote and produced thriller Joy Ride (2001). He made his feature directing debut with Mission: Impossible III (2006), reinvigorating the series. He produced the hit mystery film Cloverfield (2008) and co-created Fringe (2008).
He directed the Star Trek (2009) reboot, proving successful with fans and newcomers to the franchise. He next directed Super 8 (2011), co-produced by Steven Spielberg and produced Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011). He returned to direct the follow-up to his reboot, Star Trek Into Darkness (2013). Disney and
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Lucasfilm announced J.J. as their choice for director of the first episode in the new 'Star Wars' trilogy, Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015). He initially resisted, as he didn't want to travel away from his family to London, but Kathleen Kennedy convinced him that his voice would be the best to reinvigorate this franchise, as he had done with two others before. He also produced Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015) and Star Trek Beyond (2016), and executive-produced Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017). When it was announced that Colin Trevorrow would no longer direct Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019), it was announced that J.J. would return to complete the trilogy he started.
In the role of actor
For the Love of Spock (18/07/2016)
Adam Nimoy pays tribute to the life and career of his famous father in For the Love of Spock. Leonard Nimoy had been acting since the early 1950s, when he was cast by Gene Roddenberry to play the Vulcan Spock in the 1966 series Star Trek. Spock quickly became one of the most popular characters […]
Showrunners: The Art of Running a TV Show (14/03/2015)
The men and women who control television series behind the scenes are explored in the documentary Showrunners: The Art of Running a TV Show. Every television series is run by the chief writer and producer, known as the showrunner. Considered to be one of the complex roles in the entertainment industry, showrunners work hard to […]
In the role of director
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (20/12/2019)
The Resistance makes its last stand against the First Order in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. As the war between the Resistance and the First Order rages on, it is discovered that the long thought deceased Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) has returned and has been secretly controlling the First Order from the Sith homeworld […]
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (19/12/2015)
Warning: Those wanting to avoid specific plot details are best advised NOT to proceed further. The Star Wars saga continues with Episode VII The Force Awakens. It has been 30 years since the defeat of the Galactic Empire. Out of its ashes arisen the First Order headed by Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis), who commands dark Force user Kylo Ren […]
Star Trek Into Darkness (19/05/2013)
This review contains plot details, which may be considered SPOILERS. After rebooting the Star Trek franchise in 2009, director J.J. Abrams ups the stakes in this follow-up. A rogue Federation agent named John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch) attacks Starfleet, which results in Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) and his crew, including Spock (Zachary Quinto), McCoy (Karl Urban), […]
Super 8 (11/06/2011)
For those who are unaware, Super 8 is an 8mm film format, which was a popular format for making home movies in the days before VHS. These days, the format is really only used by aficionados and film students (I myself made a Super 8 film in one of my film classes). For J.J. Abrams‘ […]
Star Trek (09/05/2009)
Just when it seemed that the Star Trek movie series was over, along comes this film which successfully reboots the series, while still acknowledging what came before. I can definitely say that I enjoyed seeing the Star Trek universe from a new perspective. This world was quite different from the previous Star Trek experiences, however […]