Jeffrey Jacob "J. J." Abrams (born June 27, 1966) is an American film and television producer, screenwriter, director, actor, composer, and founder of Bad Robot Productions. An Emmy and Golden Globe-winner, he is known as the creator or co-creator of the television series Felicity, Alias, Lost, and Fringe, and as a director of the films Mission: Impossible III and the critically-acclaimed Star Trek reinvention. He is also known as the creator of the film Cloverfield.
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. Under his production company, Bad Robot, Abrams created and executive-produced ABC's Alias and is co-creator (with Damon Lindelof) and executive producer of Lost. He also 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. He later co-wrote the teleplay for Lost's third season premiere A Tale of Two Cities, and continued to participate in creative meetings with Damon Lindleof and Carlton Cuse about the direction and mythology of the show until its finish.
Abrams contributed in the writing process in Superman Flyby, and co-wrote and produced the 2001 film Joy Ride. He made his feature directorial debut in 2006 with Mission: Impossible III, starring Tom Cruise. He also directed the 2009 blockbuster film Star Trek. Abrams is also the producer of the 2008 monster movie, Cloverfield. His partnership with Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof has grown into the duo producing Star Trek together and while it was speculated that they would be writing and producing an adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower series of novels, they have publicly stated in November 2009, that they were no longer looking at that right now. Abrams composed the opening theme music for Alias, Lost, Fringe, and co-wrote both of the opening theme songs for Felicity. He signed deals with Warner Bros. for new television shows and Paramount Pictures for new films worth around $50 million.
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.