J.J. Abrams - Biography

Last Editor: sunscreen48				J.J. Abrams Biography -   Name : J.J. Abrams Birth name : Jeffrey Jacob Abrams Date of birth : June 27, 1966 Place of birth : New York, New York, U.S. Profession : Film and television producer, director, screenwriter, actor and composer. Height : 5' 7" (1.70 m) Spouse : Katie McGrath (1996 - present) 3 children

J.J. Abrams Trivia -

J.J. Abrams is son of Gerald W. Abrams. He graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1988. He gave "Alias" (2001) star Jennifer Garner a pink bicycle for her birthday. She would often greet the production crew by ringing the bells on the bike's handlebars. 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. While he was writing scripts in college, he used the Alvin Sargent screenplay to Ordinary People (1980) as a guide. He was named one of Fade In Magazine's "100 People in Hollywood You Need to Know" in 2005 He has three children with wife Katie: Henry (b. 1998), Gracie (b. 1999) and August (b. 11 January, 2006). His debut film Mission: Impossible III is the most expensive film ever made by a first time director. He is a fan of the Star Trek franchise and has announced that he intends to make an 11th Star Trek film. He has discussed wanting to be more involved in the 3rd season of "Lost" (2004) (interminently with his film schedule) because he hasn't been directly involved in the show since the 6th episode of the first season. Sold his script for "Forever Young" (1992) for 2 million dollars. He once worked as a home inspector in the San Fernando Valley with Jay Fesler and Dan Johnson. He was one of 115 people invited to join AMPAS in 2007. In 2007, he ranked #29 on EW's The 50 Smartest People in Hollywood. In 2007, Forbes Magazine estimated his earnings for the year at $17 million. Abrams has been involved with several projects that avail themselves of the social theory called the "Milgram Small World Phenomenon," after the social psychologist Stanley Milgram, who conducted acquaintance path experiments. John Guare's play Six Degrees of Separation (1993) (and its subsequent film adaptation) is heavily responsible for introducing to the pop culture at large the notion that everyone in the world is separated by only six other people; Abrams had a small acting role in the film version. Abrams went on to produce "Six Degrees" (2006), a TV show with a premise predicated on this theory, and "Lost" (2004), a TV show in which seemingly unconnected and disparate characters often end up having hidden or unknown links to each other. He is a fan of Howard Stern, who is also a fan of of his work (particularly Lost) and personally called Artie Lange through his agent to congratulate him on his being hired to replace Jackie "The Joke Man" Martling as a sidekick in 2002. Although he loves "Star Trek" (1966), he's more of a "Star Wars" fan, and his favorite TV series is "The Twilight Zone" (1959).

J.J. Abrams Detailed Biography -

Jeffrey Jacob Abrams (usually credited as Jeffrey Abrams or J. J. Abrams), born to a Jewish family June 27, 1966, is an American film and television producer, writer, actor, composer and director. His greatest successes have been the ABC dramas Alias, which he created; Lost, co-created with Jeffrey Lieber and Damon Lindelof; and the WB drama Felicity, co-created with Matt Reeves. Abrams was born in New York City and raised in Los Angeles. He was an active participant in theater during high school at Palisades Charter High School. He played Tevye in the school's Fiddler on the Roof. He attended Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. His father, Gerald W. Abrams, and mother, Carol Abrams, are both also producers. At age 15, Abrams wrote music for the cult sci-fi/horror film Nightbeast, directed by Don Dohler. He attended Palisades Charter High School. On July 14, 2006, Abrams signed a five year contract with Paramount Pictures and a six year contract with Warner Bros., worth more than $55 million dollars. On February 14, 2007, Joblo.com announced that plans were underway for Abrams to do an adaptation of Stephen King's epic Dark Tower series. Shortly thereafter on February 23, 2007, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed Abrams will direct the 11th motion picture installment of the Star Trek franchise. In 2007, Abrams was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Abrams is on the National Advisory Board of the Young Storytellers Foundation. Abrams is on the Board Of Directors of The Liberty Hill Foundation along with his wife Katie McGrath.