Kathleen Kennedy

'Kathleen Kennedy' (qv) worked in San Diego local television, spending years at KCST before moving to Los Angeles, where she was approached by 'John Milius' (qv) as an assistant, and she met 'Steven Spielberg' (qv) during the production of _1941 (1979)_ (qv). Both later reported that she was lacking as a typist but had good production ideas. In 1979, she joined Spielberg's Amblin production studio, and the following year, she met 'Frank Marshall' (qv), who she married in 1987. She was an associate to Mr. Spielberg on _Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)_ (qv) and associate producer on his production of _Poltergeist (1982)_ (qv). She moved on to producing with Spielberg's _E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)_ (qv), which went on to become the highest grossing film of 1982. At Amblin, she collaborated with directors such as 'Martin Scorsese' (qv), 'Robert Zemeckis' (qv), 'Barry Levinson' (qv) and 'Clint Eastwood' (qv). Amblin made Kennedy a freelance in 1991, while being approached by Marshall to produce _Alive (1993)_ (qv).Kennedy founded The Kennedy/Marshall Company with her husband in 1992 with a deal at Paramount Pictures. She would serve as executive producer for Spielberg's _Jurassic Park (1993)_ (qv) and _Schindler's List (1993)_ (qv), and producer of _War of the Worlds (2005)_ (qv) and the Best Picture-nominated _Munich (2005)_ (qv).Her career would take a turn to a galaxy far, far away when she was named co-chair of Lucasfilm Ltd. alongside 'George Lucas' (qv). With the sale of Lucasfilm to Disney, she was promoted to Lucasfilm president. She has spearheaded every major Star Wars film project since then, including assembling a creative team for _Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)_ (qv) and its sequels, as well as successful spin-offs such as _Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)_ (qv).::Travis Brainerd