J.J. Abrams

Jeffrey Jacob Abrams was born in New York City and raised in Los Angeles, the son of TV producer parents. Abrams planned on going to dental school, but decided to study film at Sarah Lawrence College. At 15, he wrote the music for 'Don Dohler' (qv)'s _Nightbeast (1982)_ (qv). In his senior year, he and 'Jill Mazursky' (qv) teamed up to write a feature film, which became _Taking Care of Business (1990)_ (qv). He went on to write and produce _Regarding Henry (1991)_ (qv) and _Forever Young (1992)_ (qv). He also co-wrote _Gone Fishin' (1997)_ (qv) with Mazursky. Along with other Sarah Lawrence alumni, he experimented with computer animation and was contracted to develop pre-production animation for _Shrek (2001)_ (qv).Abrams worked on the screenplay for _Armageddon (1998)_ (qv) and co-created (as well as composing the opening theme of) _Felicity (1998)_ (qv), which ran for four seasons. He founded the production company Bad Robot in 2001 with 'Bryan Burk' (qv). He created and executive-produced _Alias (2001)_ (qv) and _Lost (2004)_ (qv), composing the theme music for both, and co-writing episodes of "Lost". He also co-wrote and produced thriller _Joy Ride (2001)_ (qv). He made his feature directing debut with _Mission: Impossible III (2006)_ (qv), reinvigorating the series. He produced the hit mystery film _Cloverfield (2008)_ (qv) and co-created _Fringe (2008)_ (qv).He directed the _Star Trek (2009)_ (qv) reboot, proving successful with fans and newcomers to the franchise. He next directed _Super 8 (2011)_ (qv), co-produced by 'Steven Spielberg' (qv) and produced _Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)_ (qv). He returned to direct the follow-up to his reboot, _Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)_ (qv). 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)_ (qv). He initially resisted, as he didn't want to travel away from his family to London, but 'Kathleen Kennedy' (qv) 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)_ (qv) and _Star Trek Beyond (2016)_ (qv), and executive-produced _Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)_ (qv). When it was announced that 'Colin Trevorrow' (qv) would no longer direct _Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019)_ (qv), it was announced that J.J. would return to complete the trilogy he started.::Travis Brainerd