J. J. Abrams

J. J. Abrams, born Jeffrey Jacob Abrams in New York City on June 27, 1966, became a filmmaker, television creator, writer, producer, and composer whose career repeatedly joined mystery-driven storytelling with large popular franchises. He grew up in Los Angeles after his family moved there when he was young. His father, Gerald W. Abrams, worked as a television producer, and his mother, Carol Ann Abrams, worked in real estate. Abrams attended Palisades High School and later studied at Sarah Lawrence College. At seventeen, he wrote music for Don Dohler's 1982 science-fiction film Nightbeast, an early professional credit in the industry. With Bryan Burk, Abrams formed Bad Robot Productions in 2001, making the company a central vehicle for his film and television projects. His breakthrough as a television co-creator came with Felicity, which premiered on The WB in 1998 and starred Keri Russell as college student Felicity Porter. He created Alias, an ABC spy drama that began in 2001 and made Jennifer Garner widely known as agent Sydney Bristow. In 2004, Abrams co-created Lost with Damon Lindelof and Jeffrey Lieber. The ABC series began after Oceanic Flight 815 crashes on an island, and its pilot episode became notably expensive to produce. Lost ran for six seasons, ending in 2010, and received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series for its first season. Abrams also co-created Fringe, a Fox science-fiction series that ran from 2008 to 2013, and co-created the 2011 CBS drama Person of Interest with Jonathan Nolan. On film, he directed Mission: Impossible III in 2006, with Tom Cruise returning as IMF agent Ethan Hunt. He then directed Star Trek (2009), a reboot that recast the Enterprise crew with Chris Pine as James T. Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock. Its alternate timeline preserved established continuity for longtime fans too. Abrams directed Star Trek Into Darkness in 2013 before moving to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, released in 2015. Set decades after Return of the Jedi, it introduced Daisy Ridley as Rey, John Boyega as Finn, and Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron. The film became a major box-office success. He returned to direct and co-write Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), completing the sequel trilogy. Abrams produced Cloverfield, Super 8, Westworld, and Star Trek films. In 2019, Bad Robot announced a five-year overall deal with WarnerMedia. He has three children with Katie McGrath. Reports valued it above $250 million.