Steven Spielberg

Billionaire, Filmmaker, Producer

Steven Spielberg has won three Academy Awards, for directing and producing Schindler's List (1993) and directing Saving Private Ryan (1998). He directed Jaws, E.T. and Jurassic Park, cofounded DreamWorks in 1994 and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015.

Steven Spielberg's 8 Book Recommendations

• James: “James by Percival Everett. So good, which is how I was able to insinuate myself into that project and purchase the film rights.”
• East of Eden: “The other thing I've recommended to my kids, and I've got all the first editions... East of Eden. My favorite Steinbeck book of all time is East of Eden.”
• Team of Rivals: “Anything that Doris Kearns Goodwin writes, I read. I love it. Lincoln was a film I made that came from her book. She's extraordinary. A Team of Rivals.”
• The BFG: “I read this book to my children several times and I fell under its spell.”
• Empire of the Sun: “From the moment I read the novel, I secretly wanted to do it myself. I had never read anything with an adult setting - even 'Oliver Twist' -where a child saw things through a man's eyes as opposed to a man discovering things through the child in him.”
• Ready Player One: “I think anybody who read the book, who was connected, at all, with the movie industry, would have loved to have made this into a movie. The book had seven movies in it, maybe twelve.”
• Schindler's List: “I needed those two steppingstones to really feel courageous enough to then take on the story that Thomas Keneally brought to the world in “Schindler’s Ark.””
• War Horse: “So I read the book first. Then I flew to London, fell in love with the play.”