J. J. Abrams

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December 5, 2011

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Cast & Characters

Jeffrey Jacob “J. J.” Abrams (born June 27, 1966) is an American film and television producer, screenwriter, director, actor, and composer. He wrote and produced feature films before co-creating the television series Felicity (1998–2002). He also created Alias (2001–2006) and co-created Lost (2004–2010), Fringe (2008–present), Undercovers (2010) and produces the television series Person of Interest (2011-present) and Alcatraz (2012). Abrams directed the films Mission: Impossible III (2006), Star Trek (2009), and Super 8 (2011), and produced the films Cloverfield (2008) and Morning Glory (2010).

Early life
Abrams was born in New York City and raised in Los Angeles where he attended Palisades Charter High School. He is the son of television producer Gerald W. Abrams and executive producer Carol Abrams, who is Jewish, and attended Sarah Lawrence College.

Career
Abrams’s first job in the movie business started when he was 16 when he wrote music for Don Dohler’s film Nightbeast. During his senior year at college, he teamed with Jill Mazursky to write a feature film treatment. Purchased by Touchstone Pictures, the treatment was the basis for Taking Care of Business, Abrams’s first produced film, which starred Charles Grodin and Jim Belushi. He followed that up with Regarding Henry, starring Harrison Ford, and Forever Young, starring Mel Gibson.

Abrams collaborated with producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Michael Bay on the 1998 film, Armageddon. That same year, he made his first foray into television with Felicity, which ran for four seasons on The WB Network, serving as the show’s co-creator (with Matt Reeves) and executive producer. He also composed its opening theme music.

Under his production company Bad Robot, which he founded with Bryan Burk in 2001, Abrams created and executive-produced ABC’s Alias and is co-creator (along with Damon Lindelof and Jeffrey Lieber) and executive producer of Lost. He later co-wrote the teleplay for Lost’s third season premiere “A Tale of Two Cities”. As with Felicity, Abrams also composed the opening theme music for Alias and Lost.

In 2001, Abrams co-wrote and produced the thriller Joy Ride, and wrote an unproduced screenplay for a fifth Superman film in 2002.

In 2006, he served as executive producer of What About Brian and Six Degrees, also on ABC. Abrams directed and wrote the two-part pilot for Lost and remained active producer for the first half of the season. That same year he made his feature directorial debut in 2006 with Mission: Impossible III, starring Tom Cruise.

Abrams spoke at the TED conference in 2007.

In 2008, Abrams produced the monster movie, Cloverfield.[5] In 2009, he directed the science fiction film Star Trek,[6] which he produced with Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof. While it was speculated that they would be writing and producing an adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series of novels, they publicly stated in November 2009 that they were no longer looking to take on that project.

In 2008, he co-created, executive produced, and co-wrote (along with Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman) the FOX science-fiction series Fringe, for which he composed the theme music for as well.

Abrams is featured in the 2009 MTV Movie Awards 1980s-style digital short “Cool Guys Don’t Look at Explosions”, with Andy Samberg and Will Ferrell, in which he plays a keyboard solo.

The NBC network picked up Abrams’s Undercovers as its first new drama series for the 2010–11 season. However, it was subsequently cancelled by NBC in November 2010.

He wrote and directed the Paramount supernatural blockbuster Super 8, while co-producing with Steven Spielberg and Bryan Burk; it was released on June 10, 2011.

J.J. Abrams will return to the Directors’ chair for The Untitled Star Trek Sequel – due for release by Summer 2013.

Personal life
Abrams is married to public relations exec Katie McGrath and has three children: sons August and Henry and daughter Gracie. He resides in Pacific Palisades, California.

Abrams has made donations to the Democratic Party. Campaigns he has contributed to include those of Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Bill Bradley, John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, Bob Casey, Jr., Mark Udall, Harry Reid, Russ Feingold, and Patrick J. Kennedy. However, he has also donated $2,000 to the Republican Robert Vasquez.

Filmography
Taking Care of Business (writer with Jill Mazursky) (1990)
Regarding Henry (writer and co-producer) (1991)
Forever Young (writer and executive producer) (1992)
Gone Fishin’ (writer with Jill Mazursky) (1997)
The Pallbearer (1996) (producer)
Armageddon (writer with Jonathan Hensleigh, Tony Gilroy, Shane Salerno and Robert Roy Pool) (1998)
The Suburbans (1999) (producer)
Joy Ride (writer with Clay Tarver and producer) (2001)
Mission: Impossible III (director, and writer with Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci) (2006)
Cloverfield (2008) (producer)
Star Trek (2009) (director and producer)
Morning Glory (2010) (producer)
Super 8 (2011) (director, writer and producer)
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (producer, and writer with Christopher McQuarrie, Andre Nemec and Josh Applebaum) (2011)
Untitled Star Trek sequel (2013) (director and producer)

Television
Felicity (1998–2002) (co-creator, writer, executive producer, director, co-composer of theme music)
Alias (2001–2006) (creator, writer, executive producer, director, theme music composer)
Lost (2004-2010) (Executive producer, theme music composer, co-creator, writer, director)
The Office (2005–present) (guest director)
What About Brian (2006–2007) (executive producer)
Six Degrees (2006–2007) (executive producer)
Jimmy Kimmel Live! (2006) (guest director)
Fringe (2008–present) (co-creator, writer, executive producer, theme music composer)
Anatomy of Hope (2009) (executive producer, writer, director)
Undercovers (2010) (co-creator, executive producer, writer, director)
Person of Interest (2011-present) (executive producer)
Alcatraz (2012) (executive producer)

Awards and nominations
Wins
2005 Emmy Award Winner, Outstanding Drama Series (Lost)[19]
2005 Emmy Award Winner, Outstanding Directing for A Drama Series (Lost)[19]
2006 Golden Globe Award Winner, Best Television Series —Drama (Lost)

Nominations
2002 Emmy Award Nomination, Outstanding Writing for A Drama Series (Alias)[19]
2005 Emmy Award Nomination, Outstanding Writing for A Drama Series (Lost)[19]
2007 Golden Globe Award Nomination, Best Television Series —Drama (Lost)
2006 Writers Guild of America Award Nomination for Best Dramatic Series (Lost season 1)[20]