- Born
- Birth nameJeffrey Jacob Abrams
- Height5′ 7″ (1.70 m)
- Jeffrey Jacob Abrams was born in New York City and raised in Los Angeles, the son of TV producer parents. At 15, he wrote the music for Don Dohler's Nightbeast (1982). In his senior year of college, he and Jill Mazursky teamed up to write a feature film, which became Taking Care of Business (1990). He went on to write and produce Regarding Henry (1991) and Forever Young (1992). He also co-wrote Gone Fishin' (1997) with Mazursky. Along with other Sarah Lawrence alumni, he experimented with computer animation and was contracted to develop pre-production animation for Shrek (2001).
Abrams worked on the screenplay for Armageddon (1998) and co-created (as well as composing the opening theme of) Felicity (1998), which ran for four seasons. He founded the production company Bad Robot in 2001 with Bryan Burk. He created and executive-produced Alias (2001) and Lost (2004), composing the theme music for both, and co-writing episodes of "Lost". He also co-wrote and produced thriller Joy Ride (2001). He made his feature directing debut with Mission: Impossible III (2006), reinvigorating the series. He produced the hit mystery film Cloverfield (2008) and co-created Fringe (2008).
He directed the Star Trek (2009) reboot, proving successful with fans and newcomers to the franchise. He next directed Super 8 (2011), co-produced by Steven Spielberg and produced Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011). He returned to direct the follow-up to his reboot, Star Trek Into Darkness (2013). Disney and Lucasfilm announced J.J. as their choice for director of the first episode in the new 'Star Wars' trilogy, Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015). He initially resisted, as he didn't want to travel away from his family to London, but Kathleen Kennedy convinced him that his voice would be the best to reinvigorate this franchise, as he had done with two others before. He also produced Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015) and Star Trek Beyond (2016), and executive-produced Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017). When it was announced that Colin Trevorrow would no longer direct Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019), it was announced that J.J. would return to complete the trilogy he started.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Travis Brainerd
- SpouseKatie McGrath(September 29, 1996 - present) (3 children)
- ChildrenAugust Abrams
- Parents
- High-tech, action-packed entertainment
- Often includes a subplot about a box with mysterious contents
- [Cold opening] A suspenseful sequence before the opening credits used to pull the audience directly into the story (Mission: Impossible III (2006), Star Trek (2009)).
- Often uses music by Michael Giacchino
- Often makes references to elements of Star Trek (1966)
- He says he got the job directing Mission: Impossible III (2006) after Tom Cruise watched early episodes of Alias (2001) on DVD and loved them. The two started hanging out together and Cruise offered him the job.
- His debut film Mission: Impossible III (2006) was the most expensive film ever made by a first-time director until Tron: Legacy (2010), directed by Joseph Kosinski, which cost nearly $20 million more than MI3.
- Is the first director to have directed both a Star Trek film and a Star Wars film.
- Is a huge fan of The Twilight Zone (1959), with his favorite episode being Walking Distance (1959).
- Frequently uses the name Kelvin in his movies, which was the name of his grandfather. Examples: the character Kelvin Inman from Lost (2004); the postcard addressed to H. Kelvin from Mission: Impossible III (2006); the USS Kelvin from Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), Kelvin Gasoline from Super 8 (2011) and a location named "Kelvin Ridge" from Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015).
- Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) is probably the most influential film of my generation. It's the personification of good and evil and the way it opened up the world to space adventure, the way westerns had to our parents' generations, left an indelible imprint. So, in a way, everything that any of us does is somehow directly or indirectly affected by the experience of seeing those first three films.
- I feel like in telling stories, there are the things the audience thinks are important, and then there are the things that are actually important.
- Directing's the best part. Whenever I've directed something, there's this feeling of demand and focus that I like. And secondly, it means that you've gotten through all the writing stuff, and the producing stuff, and casting, and prep, and all those stages that are seemingly endless. So directing is sort of the reward for all the work you put in before. And then there's the editing, which is another amazing stage of the process. It's incredible the moments you can create.
- I'm an impatient guy and tend not to like to stay with one thing for a long time. I'll never be able to write as many scripts as I did for Felicity (1998) or Alias (2001) ever again. I'm just too impatient these days. I want to get on to the next project.
- I've always liked working on stories that combine people who are relatable with something insane. The most exciting thing for me is crossing that bridge between something we know is real and something that is extraordinary. The thing for me has always been how you cross that bridge.
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