| 1946 | Born December 18 in Cincinnati, Ohio, the eldest child of Arnold and Leah Posner Spielberg. |
| 1952 | Moves with his family to Haddon Township in suburban Camden, New Jersey. |
| 1957 | Directs his first 8 mm film, The Last Train Wreck (3 mins.). |
| 1958-61 | Directs a series of films of increasing complexity: The Last Gunfight, A Day in the Life of Thunder, Fighter Squad, Film Noir, and Scary Hollow. |
| 1962 | Escape to Nowhere, his forty-minute war film, wins a filmmaking contest. |
| 1964 | Firelight (140 mins.), Spielberg’s first feature length film, is shown in Phoenix, Arizona. His family moves to San Francisco where in 1966 his parents divorce. |
| 1965-69 | Attends Long Beach State College. |
| 1968 | Produces and directs a short 35 mm film, Amblin, which the next year wins an award at the Atlanta Film Festival. |
| 1969 | Leaves college before earning his degree to become a professional director when he is offered a seven-year contract by Sid Sheinberg, vice-president of production for Universal Studios, after he sees Amblin. Directs “Eyes” segment of Night Gallery written by Rod Serling and starring Joan Crawford, Barry Sullivan, and Tom Bosley, which airs on November 8. |
| 1970 | Amblin receives national distribution paired as a short with Love Story. Directs “The Daredevil Gesture” a segment of Marcus Welby, M.D. starring Robert Young and James Brolin, which airs on March 17. |
| 1971 | Continues to work at Universal directing segments of television shows: “Make Me Laugh” (Night Gallery), “LA 2017” (The Name of the Game), “The Private World of Martin Dalton” (The Psychiatrist), “Murder by the Book” (Columbo), and “Eulogy for a Wide Receiver” (Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law). Directs his first feature, Duel, as an ABC Movie of the Weekend, which is aired on November 13. |
| 1972 | Something Evil, his second television movie, is telecast on January 21. |
| 1973 | Savage, another television movie, airs on March 31. Gets his first screenplay credit for Ace Eli and Roger of the Skies. Shoots his first theatrical film, The Sugarland Express. |
| 1974 | The Sugarland Express is released by Universal Pictures. Duel is released in Europe with added footage by Spielberg. Hired by producers Richard Zanuck and David Brown to film Peter Benchley’s best-selling novel Jaws, which is completed by early fall. |
| 1975 | Jaws is released by Universal Pictures during the summer and becomes the highest grossing picture to that date, earning over $100 million on its initial release. |
| 1976 | Begins production on Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The special effects by Douglas Trumbull take a year to complete after the initial shooting. |
| 1977 | Close Encounters of the Third Kind is released by Columbia Pictures in the fall, and the film earns Spielberg his first Oscar nomination for Best Director. |
| 1978 | Executive Producer for I Wanna Hold Your Hand. Reshoots and reedits Close Encounters of the Third Kind for a special edition which is released by Universal the next year. |
| 1979 | Universal Studios and Columbia Pictures release the comedy 1941. |
| 1980 | Begins work on Raiders of the Lost Ark with George Lucas. |
| 1981 | Raiders of the Lost Ark released by Paramount Pictures. |
| 1982 | Poltergeist, written by Spielberg and directed by Tobe Hooper, is released by Paramount Pictures. E. T.: The Extra-Terrestrial is released by Universal Pictures. Receives his second Oscar nomination for Best Director. Produces and directs one segment, “Kick the Can,” of Twilight Zone: The Movie. A tragic accident on the set kills Vic Morrow and two child actors, but Spielberg is cleared of any charges. |
| 1983 | Twilight Zone: The Movie is released. Begins work on the second Indiana Jones film, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Acts as executive producer for Gremlins, directed by Joe Dante. |
| 1984 | Gremlins and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom are released by Paramount. |
| 1985 | Color Purple is released by Warner Brothers. Produces four films: The Goonies, for which he wrote the screenplay, Back to the Future, Young Sherlock Holmes, and The Money Pit. Strikes a deal with NBC for a weekly series, Amazing Stories, for which he directs two segments, “The Mission” and “Ghost Train.” His son, Max Samuel is born. Marries actress Amy Irving. |
| 1987 | Empire of the Sun is released. Receives from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award for “creative production.” |
| 1989 | Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Always are both released. Divorces Amy Irving. |
| 1990 | Birth of daughter Sasha. Marries actress Kate Capshaw. Adopts Theo, an African-American foster child. |
| 1991 | Hook is released. |
| 1992 | Birth of his second son, Sawyer. |
| 1993 | Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List are both released. Schindler’s List wins Oscar for Best Director and Best Picture. |
| 1994 | Opens new studio, Dreamworks SKG, with Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. Establishes Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation to record on videotape the stories of Holocaust survivors. |
| 1996 | Birth of second daughter Destry and adopts another African-American child, a daughter, Mikaela. |
| 1997 | The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Amistad are released. |
| 1998 | Saving Private Ryan is released. Wins Oscar for Best Director. |
| 2001 | A J.: Artifiicial Intelligence is released. |
| 2002 | Minority Report is released. |