People’s Careers Started By Lucasfilm
This is a list of people who started their career because of George Lucas.
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- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Three-time Oscar nominee Frank Darabont was born in a refugee camp in 1959 in Montbeliard, France, the son of Hungarian parents who had fled Budapest during the failed 1956 Hungarian revolution. Brought to America as an infant, he settled with his family in Los Angeles and attended Hollywood High School. His first job in movies was as a production assistant on the 1981 low-budget film, Hell Night (1981), starring Linda Blair. He spent the next six years working in the art department as a set dresser and in set construction while struggling to establish himself as a writer. His first produced writing credit (shared) was on the 1987 film, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), directed by Chuck Russell. Darabont is one of only six filmmakers in history with the unique distinction of having his first two feature films receive nominations for the Best Picture Academy Award: 1994's The Shawshank Redemption (1994) (with a total of seven nominations) and 1999's The Green Mile (1999) (four nominations). Darabont himself collected Oscar nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay for each film (both based on works by Stephen King), as well as nominations for both films from the Director's Guild of America, and a nomination from the Writers Guild of America for The Shawshank Redemption (1994). He won the Humanitas Prize, the PEN Center USA West Award, and the Scriptor Award for his screenplay of "The Shawshank Redemption". For "The Green Mile", he won the Broadcast Film Critics prize for his screenplay adaptation, and two People's Choice Awards in the Best Dramatic Film and Best Picture categories. The Majestic (2001), starring Jim Carrey, was released in December 2001. He executive-produced the thriller, Collateral (2004), for DreamWorks, with Michael Mann directing and Tom Cruise starring. Future produced-by projects include "Way of the Rat" at DreamWorks with Chuck Russell adapting and directing the CrossGen comic book series and "Back Roads", a Tawni O'Dell novel, also at DreamWorks, with Todd Field attached to direct. Darabont and his production company, "Darkwoods Productions", have an overall deal with Paramount Pictures.Young Indiana Jones Adventures
Shawshank Redemption, Green Mile- Writer
- Additional Crew
- Producer
Paul Dini is an American animator and writer known for his contributions to DC Comics, including Batman: The Animated Series, Gotham Girls and fan favorite character Harley Quinn. He also worked on Batman: Arkham Asylum and it's sequel Batman: Arkham City as well as a 2003 animated pilot based on Zatanna starring Tara Strong. He is seen as the curator of the DC Animated Universe alongside Bruce Timm.Ewoks, Star Wars Droids
Batman The Animated Series, Justice League, The New Batman Adventures- Writer
- Additional Crew
- Producer
Michael Reaves was born on 14 September 1950 in San Bernardino, California, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for Batman: The Animated Series (1992), Star Trek Phase II (2004) and Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993). He was married to Brynne Chandler. He died on 20 March 2023 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Ewoks, Star Wars Droids
Batman The Animated Series- Director
- Visual Effects
- Producer
Joseph Eggleston Johnston II is an American film director from Texas who is known for directing the cult classic film The Rocketeer, Jumanji, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, The Wolfman, October Sky, The Pagemaster, Jurassic Park III and Captain America: The First Avenger. He was an art director for Raiders of the Lost Ark and the Star Wars original trilogy.Indiana Jones, Star Wars Droids, Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
Captain America The First Avenger- Producer
- Writer
- Director
Dave grew up in Mt. Lebanon, a suburb southwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was in the marching band, and was the starting goaltender for half of his senior year on the hockey team. He graduated from high school in 1992 and Edinboro University of Pennsylvania in 1996, where he played club hockey.
He served on animation staff on The Oblongs (2001) and Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) before working his way up to director on episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005). His work there stood out to Lucasfilm Animation when he was hired to oversee direction on Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008). Due to his love for the franchise, he thought the initial phone call for the job was a practical joke. He worked alongside George Lucas on creating the series, which was canceled after six seasons when the Walt Disney Company acquired the studio. He was kept on staff to create Star Wars: Rebels (2014), which continued the character arc of fan favorite Ahsoka Tano, originally introduced in Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008). In 2017, he became the executive producer of all animated Star Wars series, including Star Wars: Forces of Destiny (2017).Star Wars The Clone Wars
The Mandolorian- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Lawrence Kasdan is an American filmmaker, producer and screenwriter. He directed Body Heat, Grand Canyon, The Big Chill, Silverado and Dreamcatcher. He wrote Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Bodyguard, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, The Force Awakens and Solo: A Star Wars Story. He is married to Meg Goldman since 1971 and has two sons.Star Wars Empire Strikes Back, Return Of The Jedi, Indiana Jones
The Big Chill, Wyatt Earp, Silverado- Producer
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Although born in Hollywood, John and his twin sister Johanna were raised in Whittier near Los Angeles. His parents were Jewell Mae (Risley), an art teacher, and Paul Eual Lasseter, a parts manager at a Chevrolet dealership. His mother's profession contributed to his interest in animation and particularly the Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck cartoons which he would watch on television. It was when he was in High School that he realized that he could have a career in animation and he wrote to the Walt Disney Studios but nothing happened then In 1975 the Disney company started an animation course at Calarts - The California Institute of the Arts- and John, with encouragement from his mother, was one of the first to sign up. He and his class mates, who included the future animators and directors Brad Bird, and Tim Burton were taught by some of Disney's veteran animators such as Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas. During his time there John produced two animated shorts - Lady and the Lamp (1979) and Nitemare (1980) - which both won the Student Academy Award for Animation. On graduating in 1979 John was taken on as an animator at the Disney Studios. In 1983, while working on Mickey's Christmas Carol some friends invited him to see some footage of Tron that they were working on using CGI and he immediately saw the potential of it to enhance animated films. John and a colleague made a short test film and satisfied with the result and full of enthusiasm started work on a feature without consulting their superiors who when they found out about it canceled it and sacked John. Having made contacts in the computer industry he was quickly taken on by Lucasfilm which was bought by Steve Jobs for $5 million with a further $5 million invested as working capital and the company renamed Pixar. John soon convinced Steve that the future lay in computer animation by bringing his desk lamp to life in the short 'Luxor Jr' which was shown at a computer graphics conference and got a standing ovation. The first computer animated feature soon followed in the form of 'Toy Story' winning John an Oscar for Special Achievement to go with one he got for Animated Short Film - Tin Toy. He's also had Oscar nominations for Animated Feature - Monster Inc and Cars, Original Screenplay -Toy Story, Animated Short Story - Luxor Jr while the short Knick Knack was selected by Terry Gilliam as one of the best 10 animated films of all time. In 2008, he was honored with the Winsor McCay Award, - the lifetime achievement award for animators. He oversees 3 animation studios - Pixar, Disney Animation and DisneyToon He spent 9 year (2005 - 2014) on the board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, only relinquishing his seat due to term limits. He was presented with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood in November 2011.Pixar Shorts
Cars, Toy Story- Visual Effects
- Additional Crew
- Producer
Jim Morris is President of Pixar Animation Studios, where he oversees all of the company's productions and operations. Morris began working at Pixar in 2005. Films under his supervision include "Ratatouille," "Up," "Toy Story 3," "Cars 2," "Brave," "Monsters University," "Inside Out," "The Good Dinosaur," "Finding Dory," "Cars 3," "Coco" and "Incredibles 2." As a producer, Morris most recently made the live-action Disney feature "John Carter" with director Andrew Stanton. He also produced Pixar's "WALL.E," which won the Academy Award® for Best Animated Feature. Morris was also awarded Producer of the Year in Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures from the Producer's Guild of America, the AFI Award, the Golden Globe and the Visual Effects Society Best Animated Feature Award for "WALL.E."
Prior to joining Pixar, Morris held a range of key positions for 17 years in various divisions of Lucasfilm Ltd. He served as President of Lucas Digital Ltd., and managed its three divisions, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), Skywalker Sound and Lucasfilm Animation. As ILM's General Manager for more than 13 years, he supervised a staff of over 1,400 artists and technicians, and guided the largest visual effects facility in the entertainment industry.
With Morris' oversight, ILM created the groundbreaking and Academy Award®-winning visual effects in "Jurassic Park," "Death Becomes Her," "Terminator 2" and "Forrest Gump." Other notable projects completed under his management include "Mission: Impossible," "Twister," "Saving Private Ryan," "Star Wars: Episodes I," "Star Wars: Episode II," "The Perfect Storm," "Pearl Harbor," "Minority Report," "Pirates of the Caribbean," "Master and Commander," and three films in the "Harry Potter" series.
Morris joined ILM in 1987 as a Producer of visual effects for films and commercials. Among Morris' producing credits are James Cameron's "The Abyss" (which earned the Academy Award® for Best Achievement in Visual Effects), and Steven Spielberg's "Always."
Before joining ILM, Morris was Executive Producer at Arnold & Associates, where he oversaw the company's three offices and produced commercials for clients such as Atari, Chevron and Mattel. Prior to that, Morris was Executive Producer at One Pass, where he headed the commercial production division. He also served in the production departments at advertising agencies J. Walter Thompson, and Foote, Cone & Belding in San Francisco. Morris worked as a producer and director for PBS, and began his career as a cameraman and editor at NBC
Morris is the recipient of the Producers Guild Digital 50 Award, the Visual Effects Society Board of Directors Award and the Visual Effects Society Founders Award. He has also been named a VES Fellow. Morris served for many years as President of the San Francisco Film Commission, and is Founding Chair of the VES. He is a member of AMPAS, PGA, BAFTA, VES and ASIFA, and currently serves as a member of Motion Picture Academy's Finance Committee. Morris earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Film and a Master of Science degree in Television/Radio from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University.Star Wars Special Effects
Jurassic Park, Pirates Of The Caribbean- Writer
- Director
- Producer
Willard Huyck was born on 8 September 1945 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is a writer and director, known for Howard the Duck (1986), American Graffiti (1973) and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984). He was previously married to Gloria Katz.American Graffiti, Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom, Howard The Duck, Radioland Murders- Writer
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Henry Gilroy was born on 4 November 1976 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Star Wars: Rebels (2014), Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) and The Wacky World of Tex Avery (1997).Star Wars The Clone Wars
Star Wars Rebels, Marvel Shows