George Lucas

Director George Lucas was born on May 14, 1944, in Modesto, California. He grew up in the suburbs, which inspired his 1973 film American Graffiti. He studied cinematography at the University of Southern California and caught Francis Ford Coppola's eye. Coppola helped him enter the film business. He's best known for directing the Star Wars movies and Indiana Jones series

Before young Lucas became obsessed with the movie camera, he wanted to be a race car driver, but a near fatal accident in his souped-up Fiat just days before his high school graduation quickly changed his mind. Instead, he attended community college and developed a passion for cinematography and camera tricks. Following the advice of a friend, he transferred to the University of Southern California filmmaking school.

Although intimidated by the failure of his first film, THX-1138, which flopped terribly in its 1971 release, Lucas went back to work on his next project, American Graffiti. Released in 1973 and made for $780,000, the film grossed $50 million at the box office.

Lucas next set out to make a children's Saturday morning serial that would be part fairy tale, part Flash Gordon, and complete fantasy and adventure set in the imaginary frontier of outer space. The project eventually evolved into a full-length feature entitled, Star Wars. Made for $11 million, the film grossed over $513 million worldwide during its original release. Lucas continued the story of the Jedi Knights and the Dark Side in The Empire Strike Back (1980) and The Return of the Jedi (1983).

In the meantime, he set up a state-of-the-art special effects company, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), as well as a sound studio, Skywalker Sound, and began to execute more and more control over the finished product of his films. He eventually built his own moviemaking "empire" outside of the controlling influence of Hollywood in the hills of Marin Country, California. And the rest is history...