George Lucas

George Lucas was born on May 14, 1944, in Modesto, California. He is best known as the creator of the *Star Wars* and *Indiana Jones* franchises, and as the founder of Lucasfilm, Industrial Light & Magic, and THX. After graduating from the University of Southern California in 1967, he co-founded American Zoetrope with Francis Ford Coppola and moved to San Francisco. His first feature as writer-director, *THX 1138* (1971), earned critical praise but failed financially. He found major success with *American Graffiti* (1973), a nostalgic look at his own youth that earned five Academy Award nominations. His next film, *Star Wars* (1977), became a cultural phenomenon and the highest-grossing movie of its time, winning six Oscars. Lucas wrote and produced the original trilogy's sequels and, with Steven Spielberg, co-created the *Indiana Jones* series. He later wrote and directed the *Star Wars* prequel trilogy and oversaw the CGI *Star Wars: The Clone Wars* series. Lucas received two Emmy Awards and nominations for four Oscars and two Golden Globes. He sold Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012. Though often associated with blockbuster spectacle, he remained an independent filmmaker for most of his career.