George Lucas American Director From Modesto

George Lucas is an American film director, writer and producer, and the creator of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises. He was born George Walton Lucas Jr. on 14 May 1944 in Modesto, California. Beyond directing, he founded several companies that shaped film production, among them Lucasfilm, Industrial Light & Magic and THX.

Early life

Lucas was born and raised in Modesto, a farming city in California's Central Valley. His father owned a stationery shop. As a teenager he was keen on racing cars, and he later said a serious crash shortly before he finished school ended that ambition. He studied at Modesto Junior College, where he began filming with an 8 mm camera, and then moved to the University of Southern California, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in filmmaking in 1967. He had attended Downey High School.

Career

At university Lucas made the short film Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB, and his earliest credits include the student films Herbie and Freiheit (both 1966) and Anyone Lived in a Pretty How Town (1967). After graduating he settled in the San Francisco area and co-founded the studio American Zoetrope with Francis Ford Coppola. He expanded the short into his first feature, THX 1138 (1971), which he directed and co-wrote.

American Graffiti (1973) drew on his youth in Modesto and was made through his new company, Lucasfilm. He wrote and directed it. Star Wars, later retitled Episode IV: A New Hope, followed in 1977 and he again wrote and directed. He wrote the next two films in the original trilogy, The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983).

In parallel he developed the adventure series that began with Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), writing it and its sequels Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). He also wrote the fantasy film Willow (1988) and the Ewok adventures Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure (1984) and Ewoks: The Battle for Endor (1985). He also made a brief cameo appearance in Temple of Doom.

After a long break from directing, Lucas returned for the prequel trilogy: The Phantom Menace (1999), Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005), all of which he directed and wrote. His records list 45 screen credits, the latest being Behind the Scenes (2017). In 2012 he sold Lucasfilm to The Walt Disney Company, after serving as its chairman.

Recognition

Lucas received four Academy Award nominations: Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for American Graffiti, and the same two categories for Star Wars. He won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation five times, for A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Return of the Jedi and The Last Crusade.

Other honours include the AFI Life Achievement Award (2005), the Kennedy Center Honors, the National Medal of Arts, induction into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame (2006) and the California Hall of Fame (2009), the Jane Fonda Humanitarian Award (2013), and recognition as a Disney Legend (2015). He was named a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and received an Inkpot Award in 1977. He received an Honorary Palme d'Or at Cannes in 2024 and was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour in 2026. His recorded totals are 16 wins and 4 nominations.

Personal life

Lucas married Marcia Lucas in 1969, and the marriage ended in 1983. He married Mellody Hobson in 2013. His daughters Amanda Lucas and Katie Lucas are among his notable children. Together with Hobson he developed the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles, and he has supported education through the George Lucas Educational Foundation.