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Steven Spielberg  | ||||||||||
| Spielberg was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of Jewish parents Leah Adler (née Posner), a restaurateur and concert pianist, and Arnold Spielberg, a computer engineer. Throughout his early teens, Spielberg made amateur 8 mm "adventure" movies with his friends, the first of which he shot at a restaurant (Pinnacle Peak Patio) in Scottsdale, Arizona. He charged admission (25 cents) to his home movies (which involved the wrecks he staged with his Lionel train set) while his sister sold popcorn. He became a Boy Scout and in 1958, he fulfilled a requirement for the photography merit badge by making a nine-minute 8mm film entitled The Last Gunfight. Spielberg recalled years later to a magazine interviewer, "My dad’s still camera was broken, so I asked the scoutmaster if I could tell a story with my father’s movie camera. He said yes, and I got an idea to do a Western. I made it and got my merit badge. That was how it all started." At age 13, Spielberg won a prize for a 40-minute war movie he titled "Escape to Nowhere". In 1963, at age 16, Spielberg wrote and directed his first independent movie, a 140-minute science fiction adventure called Firelight (which would later inspire Close Encounters). The movie, which had a budget of US$400, was shown in his local movie theater and generated a profit of $1. After his parents divorced, he moved to California with his father. His three sisters  and mother remained in Arizona, where he attended Passover seders at the home of Zalman and Pearl Segal on an annual basis. Although he attended Arcadia High School in Phoenix, Arizona for three years, Spielberg ended up graduating from Saratoga High School in Saratoga, California, in 1965, which he called the "worst experience" of his life and "hell on Earth".It was during this time Spielberg attained the rank of Eagle Scout.After moving to California, he applied to attend film school at the University of Southern California School of Theater, Film and Television three separate times but was unsuccessful due to his C grade average. He attended California State University, Long Beach. While attending Long Beach State in the 1960s, Spielberg became member of Theta Chi Fraternity. His actual career began when he returned to Universal studios as an unpaid, seven-day-a-week intern and guest of the editing department. After Spielberg became famous, USC awarded him an honorary degree in 1994, and in 1996 he became a trustee of the university. In 2002, thirty-five years after starting college, Spielberg finished his degree via independent projects at CSULB, and was awarded a B.A. in Film Production and Electronic Arts with an option in Film/Video Production. As an intern and guest of Universal Studios, Spielberg made his first short film for theatrical release, the 24 minute movie Amblin' in 1968. After Sidney Sheinberg, then the vice-president of production for Universal's TV arm, saw the film, Spielberg became the youngest director ever to be signed to a long-term deal with a major Hollywood studio (Universal). He dropped out of Long Beach State in 1969 to take the television director contract at Universal Studios and began his career as a professional director. Early career (1968–1975) His first professional TV job came when he was hired to do one of the segments for the 1969 pilot episode of Night Gallery. The segment, "Eyes", starred Joan Crawford , and she and Spielberg were reportedly close friends until her death. The episode is unusual in his body of work, in that the camerawork is more highly stylized than his later, more "mature" films. After this, and an episode of Marcus Welby, M.D., Spielberg got his first feature-length assignment: an episode of The Name of the Game called "L.A. 2017." This futuristic science fiction episode impressed Universal Studios and they signed him on a short contract. He did another segment on Night Gallery and did some work for shows such as Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law and The PsychiatristColumbo (previous episodes were actually TV movies) Based on the strength of his work, Universal signed Spielberg to do three TV movies. The first was a Richard Matheson adaptation called Duel about a monstrous tanker truck which tries to run a small car off the road. Special praise of this film by the influential British critic Dilys Powell was highly significant to Spielberg's career. Another TV film (Something Evil) was made and released to capitalize on the popularity of The Exorcist, then a major best-selling book which had not yet been released as a movie. He fulfilled his contract by directing the TV movie length pilot of a show called Savage, starring Martin Landau. Spielberg's debut theatrical feature film was The Sugarland Express, about a married couple who are chased by police as the couple tries to regain custody of their baby. Spielberg's cinematography for the police chase was praised by reviewers, and The Hollywood Reporter stated that "a major new director is on the horizon". However, the film fared poorly at the box office and received a limited release. Before landing the first series episode of Studio producers Richard Zanuck and David Brown offered Spielberg the director's chair for Jaws, a horror film based on the Peter Benchley novel about an enormous killer-shark. Spielberg has often referred to the grueling shoot as his professional crucible. Despite the film's ultimate, enormous success, it was nearly shut down due to delays and budget over-runs. But Spielberg persevered and finished the film. It was an enormous hit, winning three Academy Awards (for editing, original score and sound) and grossing $470,653,000 worldwide at the box office. It also set the domestic record for box office gross, leading to what the press described as "Jawsmania".Jaws made him a household name, as well as one of America's youngest multi-millionaires, and allowed Spielberg a great deal of autonomy for his future projects. It was nominated for Best Picture and featured Spielberg's first of three collaborations with actor Richard Dreyfuss. Mainstream breakthrough (1975–1994) Rejecting offers to direct Jaws 2, King Kong and Superman, Spielberg and actor Richard Dreyfuss re-convened to work on a film about UFOs, which became Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). One of the rare movies both written and directed by Spielberg, Close Encounters was a critical and box office hit, giving Spielberg his first Best Director nomination from the Academy as well as earning six other Academy Awards nominations. It won Oscars in two categories (Cinematography, Vilmos Zsigmond, and a Special Achievement Award for Sound Effects Editing, Frank E. Warner). This second blockbuster helped to secure Spielberg's rise. His next film, 1941, a big-budgeted World War II farce, flopped with audiences and critics alike. Spielberg then revisited his Close Encounters project and, with financial backing from Columbia Pictures, released Close Encounters: The Special Edition in 1980. For this, Spielberg fixed some of the flaws he thought impeded the original 1977 version of the film and also, at the behest of Columbia, shot additional footage showing the audience the interior of the mothership seen at the end of the film (a decision Spielberg would later regret as he felt the interior of the mothership should have remained a mystery). Next, Spielberg teamed with Star Wars creator and friend George Lucas on an action adventure film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, the first of the Indiana Jones films, was an homage to the cliffhanger serials of the Golden Age of Hollywood, with Harrison Ford (whom Lucas had previously cast in his Star Wars films) as the archaeologist and adventurer hero Indiana Jones. It became the biggest film at the box office in 1981, and the recipient of numerous Oscar nominations including Best Director (Spielberg's second nomination) and Best Picture (the second Spielberg film to be nominated for Best Picture). Raiders is still considered a landmark example of the action genre. A year later, Spielberg returned to the science fiction genre with E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. It was the story of a young boy and the alien whom he befriends, who was accidentally left behind by his people and is trying to get back home to outer space. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial went on to become the top-grossing film of all time. E.T. was also nominated for nine Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director. Between 1982 and 1985, Spielberg produced three high-grossing movies: PoltergeistThe Twilight Zone (for which he also co-wrote the screenplay), a big-screen adaptation of (for which he directed the segment "Kick The Can") and The Goonies (Spielberg, executive producer, also wrote the story on which the screenplay was based). His next directorial feature was the Raiders prequel Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Teaming up once again with Lucas and Ford, the film was plagued with uncertainty for the material and script. Reviews were generally less positive than they were for its predecessor (although critic Roger Ebert gave the film four stars and Pauline Kael praised the movie after criticizing the original), and it was criticized for lacking the energy of the original, its questionable depiction of East Indian culture, and for the level of violence in a movie with a large audience of young viewers. This film and the Spielberg-produced Gremlins led to the creation of the PG-13 rating due to the high level of violence in movies targeted at younger audiences. In spite of this, Temple of Doom is rated PG by the MPAA, even though it is the darkest and, possibly, most violent "Indy" movie yet. Nonetheless, the film was still a huge blockbuster hit in 1984. It was on this project that Spielberg also met his future wife, actress Kate Capshaw. In 1985, Spielberg released The Color Purple, an adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name, about a generation of empowered African-American women during depression-era America. Starring Whoopi Goldberg and future talk-show superstar Oprah Winfrey, the film was a box office smash and critics hailed Spielberg's successful foray into the dramatic genre. Roger Ebert proclaimed it the best movie of the year and later entered it into his Great Films archive. The film received eleven Academy Award nominations, including two for Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey. However, much to the surprise of many, Spielberg did not get a Best Director nomination. The Color Purple is the second of two Spielberg films not to be scored by John Williams, the first being Duel. In 1987, as China began opening to the world, Spielberg shot the first American movie in Shanghai since the 1930s, an adaptation of J.G. Ballard's autobiographical novel Empire of the Sun, starring John Malkovich and a young Christian Bale. The film garnered much praise from critics and was nominated for several Oscars, but did not yield substantial box office revenues. Reviewer Andrew Sarris called it the best film of the year and later included it among the best films of the decade. After two forays into more serious dramatic films, Spielberg then directed the third Indiana Jones film, 1989's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Once again teaming up with Lucas and Ford, Spielberg also cast actor Sean Connery in a supporting role as Ford's father. The film earned generally positive reviews and was another box office success, becoming the highest grossing film worldwide that year; its total box office receipts even topped those of Tim Burton's much-anticipated film Batman, which had been the bigger hit domestically. Also in 1989, he re-united with actor Richard DreyfussAlways for the romantic comedy-drama , about a daredevil pilot who extinguishes forest fires. Spielberg's first romantic film, Always was only a moderate success and had mixed reviews. In 1991, Spielberg directed Hook, about a middle-aged Peter Pan, played by Robin Williams, who returns to Neverland. Despite innumerable rewrites and creative changes coupled with mixed reviews, the film made over $300 million worldwide (from a $70 million budget). In 1993, Spielberg returned to the adventure genre with the film version of Michael Crichton's novel Jurassic Park, about a theme park with genetically engineered dinosaurs. With revolutionary special effects provided by friend George Lucas's Industrial Light and Magic company, the film would eventually become the highest grossing film of all time (at the worldwide box office) with $914 million. This would be the third time that one of Spielberg's films became the highest grossing film ever. Spielberg's next film, Schindler's List, was based on the true story of Oskar Schindler,Schindler's ListSchindler's List is the most accurate portrayal of the Holocaust, and in 1997 the American Film Institute listed it among the 10 Greatest American Films ever Made a man who risked his life to save 1,100 people from the Holocaust. earned Spielberg his first Academy Award for Best Director (it also won Best Picture). With the film a huge success at the box office, Spielberg used the profits to set up the Shoah Foundation, a non-profit organization that archives filmed testimony of the Holocaust survivors. Some critics maintain that In 1994, Spielberg took a hiatus from directing to spend more time with his family and build his new studio, DreamWorks. In 1997, he helmed the sequel to 1993's Jurassic Park with The Lost World: Jurassic Park, which generated over $618 million worldwide despite mixed reviews, and was the second biggest hit of 1997 behind James Cameron's Titanic (which topped the original Jurassic Park to become the new recordholder for box office receipts). His next film, Amistad, was based on a true story (like Schindler's List), specifically about an African slave rebellion. Despite decent reviews from critics, it did not do well at the box office. Spielberg released Amistad under DreamWorks Pictures,which has issued all of his movies since Amistad, a streak that ended in May 2008. In 1998, Spielberg released the World War II film Saving Private Ryan, about a group of U.S. soldiers led by Capt. Miller (Tom Hanks) who try to find a soldier missing in France. The film was a huge box office success, grossing over $481 million worldwide and was the biggest film of the year at the U.S./domestic box office. Spielberg won his second Academy Award for his direction. The film's graphic, realistic depiction of combat violence influenced later war movies such as Black Hawk Down and Enemy at the Gates. The film was also the first major hit for DreamWorks, which co-produced the film with Paramount Pictures (as such, it was Spielberg's first release from the latter that was not part of the Indiana Jones series). Later, Spielberg and Hanks presented a TV mini-series based on Stephen Ambrose's book Band of Brothers. The ten-part HBO mini-series follows Easy Company of the 101st Airborne Division's 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. The series won a number of awards at the Golden Globes and the Emmys.  In 2001, Spielberg filmed fellow director and friend Stanley Kubrick's final project, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence which Kubrick was unable to begin during his lifetime. A futuristic movie about a humanoid android longing for love, A.I. featured groundbreaking visual effects and a multi-layered, allegorical storyline, adapted by Spielberg himself. Spielberg and actor Tom Cruise collaborated for the first time for the futuristic neo-noir Minority Report, based upon the sci-fi short story written by Philip K. Dick about a Washington, D.C., police captain who has been foreseen to murder a man he has not yet met. The film was praised as a futuristic homage to film noir, with its intelligent premise and "whodunit" structure. The film earned over $358 million worldwide. Roger Ebert, who named it the best film of 2002, praised its breathtaking vision of the future as well as for the way Spielberg blended CGI with live-action. Spielberg's 2002 film Catch Me If You Can is about the daring adventures of a youthful con artist (played by Leonardo DiCaprio). It earned Christopher Walken an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The film is known for John Williams' score and its unique title sequence. It was a hit both commercially and critically. Spielberg collaborated again with Tom Hanks along with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Stanley Tucci in 2004's The Terminal, a warm-hearted comedy about a man of Eastern European descent who is stranded in an airport. It received mixed reviews but performed relatively well at the box office. In 2005, Empire magazine ranked Spielberg number one on a list of the greatest film directors of all time.Also in 2005, Spielberg directed a modern adaptation of War of the Worlds (a co-production of Paramount and DreamWorks), based on the H. G. Wells book of the same name (Spielberg had been a huge fan of the book and the original 1953 film). It starredTom Cruise and Dakota Fanning, and, as with past Spielberg films,  Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) provided the visual effects. Unlike E.T. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which depicted friendly alien visitors, War of the Worlds featured violent invaders. The film was another huge box office smash, grossing over $591 million worldwide. Spielberg's film Munich, about the events following the 1972 Munich Massacre of Israeli athletes at the Olympic Games, was his second film essaying Jewish relations in the world (the first being Schindler's List). The film is based on Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team, a book by Canadian journalist George Jonas– a book whose veracity has been largely questioned by journalists. The film received strong critical praise, but underperformed at the U.S. and world box-office; it remains one of Spielberg's most controversial films to date. Munich received five Academy Awards nominations, including Best Picture, Film Editing, Original Music Score (by John Williams), Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Director for Spielberg. It was Spielberg's sixth Best Director nomination and fifth Best Picture nomination. Spielberg directed Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which wrapped filming in October 2007 and was released on May 22, 2008. This was his first film not to be released by DreamWorks since 1997. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, and has performed very well in theaters. As of June 30 2008, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has grossed $315 million domestically, and over $785 million worldwide. Production Credits  Since the mid-1980s Spielberg has increased his role as a film producer. He headed up the production team for several cartoons, including the Warner Brothers hits Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, Toonsylvania, and Freakazoid!, for which he collaborated with Jean MacCurdy and Tom Ruegger. Spielberg also produced the Don Bluth animated features, An American Tail and The Land Before Time. He was furthermore, for a short time, the executive producer of the long-running medical drama ER. In 1989, he brought the concept of The Dig to LucasArts. He contributed with the project from that time to 1995 when the game was released. He also collaborated with software publishersKnowledge Adventure on the multimedia game Steven Spielberg's Director's Chair, which was released in 1996. Spielberg appears, as himself, in the game to direct the player. Spielberg was branded for a Lego Moviemaker kit, the proceeds of which went to the Starbright Foundation. In 1993, Spielberg acted as executive producer for the highly anticipated television series seaQuest DSV; a science fiction series set "in the near future" starring Roy Scheider (who Spielberg had directed in Jaws) and Jonathan Brandis akin to Star Trek: The Next Generation . While the first season was moderately successful, the second season did less well. Spielberg's name no longer appeared in the third season and the show was cancelled mid way through the third season. Spielberg served as an uncredited executive producer on The Haunting, The Prince of Egypt, Shrek, and Evolution. In 2005, he served as a producer of Memoirs of a Geisha, an adaptation of the best-selling novel by Arthur Golden, a film he was previously attached to as director. In 2006 Spielberg co-executive produced with famed filmmaker Robert Zemeckis a CGI children's movie called Monster House, marking their first collaboration together since 1990's Back to the Future Part III. He also teamed with Clint Eastwood for the first time in their careers, co-producing Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima with Robert Lorenz and Eastwood himself. He earned his twelfth Academy Award nomination for the latter film as it was nominated for Best Picture. Spielberg served as executive producer for Disturbia and the Transformers live action film with Brian Goldner, an employee of Hasbro. The film was directed by Michael Bay and written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, and Spielberg will continue to collaborate on the sequels, including Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Other major television series Spielberg produced were Band of Brothers and Taken. He was an executive producer on the critically acclaimed 2005 TV miniseries Into the West which won two Emmy awards, including one for Geoff Zanelli's score. In 2007, Steven Spielberg and Mark Burnett co-produced On the Lot an ill-fated TV reality show about filmmaking. Involvement in video games. Other than films, Spielberg has also revealed an interest in video games, revealing himself to be a gamer. In 2005 the director signed with Electronic Arts to collaborate on three games including a currently unnamed action game and a puzzle game for the Wii called Boom Blox. Previously, he was involved in creating the scenario for the adventure game The Dig. He is also the creator of the Medal of Honor series by Electronic Arts Spielberg's films often deal with several recurring themes. Most of his films deal with ordinary characters searching for or coming in contact with extraordinary beings or finding themselves in extraordinary circumstances. This is especially evident in the Indiana Jones series. In an AFI interview in August 2000 Spielberg commented on his interest in the possibility of extra terrestrial life and how it has influenced some of his films.
Spielberg described himself as feeling like an alien during childhood, and his interest came from his father, a science fiction fan, and his opinion that aliens would not travel light years for conquest, but instead curiosity and sharing of knowledge.A strong consistent theme in his family-friendly work is a childlike, even naïve, sense of wonder and faith, as attested by works such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Hook, and A.I.. According to Warren Buckland, these themes are portrayed through the use of low height camera tracking shots, which have become one of Spielberg's directing trademarks. In the cases when his films include children (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Empire of the Sun, Jurassic Park, etc.), this type of shot is more apparent, but it is also used in films like Munich, Saving Private Ryan, The Terminal, Minority Report, and Amistad. If one views each of his films, one will see this shot utilized by the director, notably the water scenes in Jaws are filmed from the low-angle perspective of someone swimming. Another child oriented theme in Spielberg's films is that of loss of innocence and coming-of-age. In Empire of the Sun, Jim, a well-groomed and spoiled English youth, loses his innocence as he suffers through World War II China. Similarly, in Catch Me If You Can Frank naively and foolishly believes that he can reclaim his shattered family if he accumulates enough money to support them.The most persistent theme throughout his films is tension in parent-child relationships. Parents (often fathers) are reluctant, absent or ignorant. Peter Banning in Hook starts off in the beginning of the film as a reluctant married-to-his-work parent who through the course of his film regains the respect of his children.
The notable absence of Elliott's father in E.T., is the most famous example of this theme. In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, it is revealed that Indy has always had a very strained relationship with his father, who is a professor of medieval literature, as his father always seemed more interested in his work, specifically in his studies of the Holy Grail, than in his own son, although his father does not seem to realize or understand the negative effect that his aloof nature had on Indy (he even believes he was a good father in the sense that he taught his son "self reliance", which is not how Indy saw it). Even Oskar Schindler, from Schindler's List, is reluctant to have a child with his wife. Munich depicts Avner as man away from his wife and newborn daughter. There are of course exceptions; Brody in Jaws is a committed family man, while John Anderton in Minority Report is a shattered man after the disappearance of his son. This theme is arguably the most autobiographical aspect of Spielberg's films, since Spielberg himself was affected by his parents' divorce as a child and by the absence of his father. Furthermore to this theme, protagonists in his films often come from families with divorced parents, most notably E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (protagonist Elliot's mother is divorced) and Catch Me If You Can (Frank Abagnale's mother and father split early on in the movie). Little known also is Tim in Jurassic Park (early in the movie another, secondary character mentions Tim and Lex's parents' divorce). The family often shown divided is often resolved in the ending as well. Following this theme of reluctant fathers and father figures, Tim looks to Dr. Alan Grant as a father figure. Initially, Dr. Grant is reluctant to return those paternal feelings to Tim . However, by the end of the film, he has changed, and the kids even fall asleep with their heads on his shoulders.Most of his films are generally optimistic in nature. Critics frequently accuse his films of being overly sentimental, though Spielberg feels it's fine as long as it is disguised. The influence comes from directors Frank Capra and John Ford. | ||||||||||
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| Career Highlights | ||||||||||
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| Steven Spielberg's Awards & Honors |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 2007 | Oscar | Nominated | |
| 2006 | Oscar |
| Nominated |
| 1999 | Oscar |
| Nominated |
| 1999 | Oscar |
| Won |
| 1994 | Oscar |
| Won |
| 1986 | Oscar | Best Picture for: The Color Purple(1985) Shared with:
| Nominated |
| 1983 | Oscar | Best Director for:
Kathleen Kennedy | Nominated |
| 1982 | Oscar | Best Director
| Nominated |
| 1978 | Oscar | Best Director
| Nominated |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result | |
| 2006 | Saturn Award | Best Director
| Nominated | |
| 2005 | Saturn Award | Best Director
| Won | |
| 2002 | Saturn Award | Best Writing
| Won | |
| 2002 | Saturn Award | Best Director
| Nominated | |
| 1998 | Saturn Award | Best Director
| Nominated | |
| 1994 | Saturn Award | Best Director
| Won | |
| 1985 | Saturn Award | Best Director for: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom 1984 | Nominated | |
| 1983 | Saturn Award | Best Director
| Nominated | |
| 1982 | Saturn Award | Best Director
| Won | |
| 1978 | Saturn Award | Best Director
| Won | |
| 1978 | Saturn Award | Best Writing
| Won | |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 1999 | Amanda | Best Foreign Feature Film (Årets utenlandske spillefilm)
| Nominated |
| 1994 | Amanda | Best Foreign Feature Film (Årets utenlandske spillefilm)
| Won |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 1990 | Golden Eddie Filmmaker of the Year Award |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 1989 | American Cinematheque Award |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 1995 | Life Achievement Award |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 1982 | Marquee | Best Director for: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) | Won |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 1994 | Board of the Governors Award |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 2006 | Contribution to Cinematic Imagery Award |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 1973 | Grand Prize | for: Duel (1971) (TV) | Won |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 1999 | BAFTA | Best Film for: Saving Private Ryan(1998) Shared with
| Nominated |
| 1999 | David Lean Award for Direction | For: Saving Private Ryan | Nominated |
| 1994 | Bafta Film Award | Best Filmf or: Schindler's List (1993) Shared with:
| Won |
| 1994 | David Lean Award for Direction | For: Schindler`s List (1993) | Won |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 2001 |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 1994 | Blue Ribbon | Won | |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 1993 | |||
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 2006 | |||
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 1974 |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 2006 | |||
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 2006 |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 2002 | |||
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 1999 | |||
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 2003 | |||
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 1994 |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 2004 | |||
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 2000 | |||
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 2006 | Nominated | ||
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 2006 | Emmy | Nominated | |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 2006 | Empire Award | Best Director for: War of the Worlds (2005) | Nominated |
| 2003 | Empire Award | Best Director for: Minority Report (2002) | Won |
| 2002 | Empire Award | Best Director for: Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001) | Nominated |
| 1999 | Empire Award | Best Director for: Saving Private Ryan (1998) | Won |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 2002 | Screen International Award | for: Minority Report (2002) USA. | Nominated |
| 1998 | Screen International Award | for: Saving Private Ryan (1998) USA. | Nominated |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 1984 | International Fantasy Film Award | Best Film for:
| Nominated |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 1983 | Fotogramas de Plata | Best Foreign Film (Major Pelicula Extranjera) for:
| Won |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 1984 | Nocciala d`Oro | Won |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| | |||
| 2008 | Cecil B. DeMille Award | Due to the ceremony canceled in 2008 the award will be handed out at the 2009 ceremony. | Won |
| 2006 | Golden Globe | Best Director - Motion Picture for:
| Nominated |
| 2002 | Golden Globe | Best Director - Motion Picture for:
| Nominated |
| 1999 | Golden Globe | Best Director - Motion Picture for:
| Won |
| 1998 | Golden Globe | Best Director - Motion Picture for:
| Nominated |
| 1994 | Golden Globe | Best Director - Motion Picture for:
| Won |
| 1986 | Golden Globe | Best Director - Motion Picture for:
| Nominated |
| 1983 | Golden Globe | Best Director - Motion Picture for:
| Nominated |
| 1982 | Golden Globe | Best Director - Motion Picture for:
| Nominated |
| 1978 | Golden Globe | Nominated Best Director - Motion Picture for:
Best Screenplay - Motion Picture for:
| Nominated |
| 1976 | Golden Globe | Best Director - Motion Picture for:
| Nominated |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 1983 | Man of the Year |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 1994 | Hochi Film Award | Best Foreign Language Film for:
| Won |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 2002 | Hollywood Movie of the Year | For: Minority Report 2002 | Won |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 2000 | Vanguard Award |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 2006 | Founders Award |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 2003 | Silver Ribbon | Best Director - Foreign Film (Regista del Miglior Film Straniero)
| Nominated |
| 1999 | Silver Ribbon | Best Director - Foreign Film (Regista del Miglior Film Straniero) for:
| Won |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 2006 | KCFCC Award | Best Directorfor: Munich (2005) | Won |
| 1999 | KCFCC Award | Best Director for:
| Won |
| 1994 | KCFCC Award | Best Director for:
| Won |
1988 | KCFCC Award | Best Director for:
| Won |
| 1986 | KCFCC Award | Best Director for:
| Won |
| 1983 | KCFCC Award | Best Director for:
| Won |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 1995 | Readers' Choice Award | Best Foreign Language Film for:
| Won |
| 1983 | Kinema Junpo Award | Best Foreign Language Film for:
| Won |
| 1982 | Readers`Choice Award | Best Foreign Language Film for:
| Won |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 1998 | Sierra Award | Best Director for
| Won |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 1999 | ALFS Award | Director of the Year for:
| Nominated |
| 1995 | ALFS Award | Director of the Year for:
| Won |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 1998 | LAFCA Award | Best Director for:
| Won |
| 1982 | LAFCA Award | Best Director for:
| Won |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 2002 | Readers' Choice Award | Best Foreign Language Film for:
| Won |
| 1995 | Readers`Choice Award | Best Foreign Language Film for:
| Won |
| 1994 | Readers`Choice Award | Best Foreign Language Film for:
| Won |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 2001 | Billy Wilder Award | ||
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 1994 | NSFC Award | Best Director for:
| Won |
| 1983 | NSFC Award | Best Director for:
| Won |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 2006 | OFCS Award | Best Director for:
| Nominated |
| 2003 | OFCS Award | Best Director for:
| Nominated |
| 2002 | OFCS Award | Best Screenplay, Adapted for:
| Nominated |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 2006 | for:"Into the West"(2005) Shared with:
| Nominated | |
| 2002 | Television Producer of the Year Award in Longform | for:"Band of Brothers"(2001) Shared with:
| Won |
| 2000 | PGA Hall of Fame- Motion Pictures | for: E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial(1982) Shared with:
| Won |
| 1999 | Motion Picture Producer of the Year Award | for: Saving Private Ryan (1998) Shared with:
| Won |
| 1998 | Vision Award | Theatrical Motion Picture for: Amistad(1997) Shared with:
| Won |
| 1998 | Motion Picture Producer of the Year Award | for: Amistad(1997) Shared with:
| Nominated |
| 1994 | Motion Picture Producer of the Year Award | for: Schindler`s List(1993) Shared with:
| Won |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 1998 | Audience Award | Best Director for: The Lost World: Jurassic Park(1997) | Won |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 1990 | Wise Owl Award | Television and Theatrical Film Fiction for: Dad (1989) Shared with:
| Won |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 1983 | Sant Jordi | Mejor Película Infantilfor: E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) | Won |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 1999 | Golden Satellite Award | Best Director of a Motion Picture for: Saving Private Ryan(1998) | Nominated |
| 1999 | Golden Satellite Award | Best Motion Picture - Drama for: Saving Private Ryan (1998) Shared with:
| Nominated |
| 1998 | Golden Satellite Award | Best Director of a Motion Picture for: Amistad(1997) | Nominated |
| 1998 | Golden Satellite Award | Best Motion Picture - Drama for: Amistad (1997) Shared with:
| Nominated |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 2002 | Lifetime Achievement Award | ||
| 1994 | ShoWest Award | Director of the Year | |
| 1984 | ShoWest Award | Director of the Year |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 1994 | Governors Award |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 1999 | SEFCA Award | Best Director for:
| Won |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 2004 | Akira Kurosawa Award |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 1998 | TFCA Award | Best Director for:
| Won |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 2001 | Future Film Festival Digital Award | for: Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001) | Won |
| 1993 | Career Golden Lion |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 2008 | Lifetime Achievement Award |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 2003 | Star on the Walk of Fame | Motion Picture on January 2003: at 6801 Hollywood Blvd. |  |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 2005 | WAFCA Award | Best Director for: Munich (2005) | Won |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 2006 | Bronze Wrangler | Outstanding Television Feature Film for: "Into the West" (2005) Shared with:
| Won |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 1978 | WGA Award (Screen) | Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen for: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) | Nominated |
| 1975 | WGA Award (Screen) | Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen for: The Sugarland Express(1974) Shared with:
| Nominated |
| Year | Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
| 1994 | Jackie Coogan Award |
|
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