Abrams was born on June 27, 1966, inNew York City, New York, to veteran television producerGerald W. Abrams (born 1939) ofPolish-Jewish descent andCarol Ann Abrams (née Kelvin; 1942–2012), aPeabody Award winning television executive producer as well as author and law academic.[3] His sister is the screenwriter Tracy Rosen. His father worked atCBS inMidtown Manhattan the year prior to Abrams's birth. By 1971, the family had relocated to Los Angeles. His mother worked as a real estate agent while Abrams and his sister were at school.[3]
In 1994, he was part of the "Propellerheads" withRob Letterman, Loren Soman, and Andy Waisler. The Propellerheads were a group of Sarah Lawrence alums experimenting withcomputer animation technology. They were contracted byJeffrey Katzenberg to develop animation for the filmShrek.[7] Abrams worked on the screenplay for the 1998 filmArmageddon with producerJerry Bruckheimer and directorMichael Bay. That same year, he made his first foray into television withFelicity, which ran for four seasons onThe WB Network, serving as the series' co-creator (withMatt Reeves) and executive producer. He also composed its openingtheme music.
Under his production company,Bad Robot, which he founded withBryan Burk in 2001,[8] Abrams created and executive-producedABC'sAlias and is co-creator (along withDamon Lindelof andJeffrey Lieber) and was executive producer ofLost. As withFelicity, Abrams also composed the openingtheme music forAlias andLost. Abrams directed and wrote the two-part pilot forLost and remained active producer for the first half of the season. Also in 2001, Abrams co-wrote and produced the horror-thrillerJoy Ride.[9] In 2006, he served as executive producer ofWhat About Brian andSix Degrees, also on ABC. He also co-wrote the teleplay forLost's third-season premiere "A Tale of Two Cities" and the same year, he made his feature directorial debut withMission: Impossible III, starringTom Cruise. Abrams spoke at theTED conference in 2007.[10][importance?]
In 2008, Abrams produced themonster movieCloverfield, which Matt Reeves directed.[11] In 2009, he directed thescience fiction filmStar Trek,[12] which he produced withLost co-creator Damon Lindelof. While it was speculated that they would be writing and producing an adaptation ofStephen King'sThe Dark Tower series of novels, they publicly stated in November 2009 that they were no longer looking to take on that project.[13] In 2008, Abrams co-created, executive produced, and co-wrote (along withRoberto Orci andAlex Kurtzman) theFOX science fiction seriesFringe, for which he also composed the theme music. He was featured in the2009 MTV Movie Awards 1980s-style digital short "Cool Guys Don't Look at Explosions", withAndy Samberg andWill Ferrell, in which he plays a keyboard solo.NBC picked up Abrams'sUndercovers as its first new drama series for the 2010–11 season.[14] However, it was subsequently cancelled by the network in November 2010.
Abrams directed the sequel toStar Trek,Star Trek Into Darkness, released in May 2013.[16] The film was interpreted as a looseremake ofStar Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.[17] Critics generally reacted positively to the film, whileNicholas Meyer, the director ofThe Wrath of Khan, called it a "gimmick".[18] Abrams was criticized for the film's treatment of classic villainKhan Noonien Singh (Benedict Cumberbatch). Many felt that much of the character, originally played byMexican actorRicardo Montalbán, had been lost, especially his ethnic identity.[a] Two years after the film's release, Abrams said of the film, "there were certain things I was unsure of. ... Any movie ... has a fundamental conversation happening during it. And [forInto Darkness,] I didn't have it... [The weakness of the plot] was not anyone's fault but mine. ... [The script] was a little bit of a collection of scenes that were written by my friends ... And yet, I found myself frustrated by my choices, and unable to hang my hat on an undeniable thread of the main story. So then I found myself on that movie basically tap-dancing as well as I could to try and make the sequences as entertaining as possible. ... I would never say that I don't think that the movie ended up working. But I feel like it didn't work as well as it could have, had I made some better decisions before we started shooting."[20]
On January 25, 2013,Disney andLucasfilm introduced Abrams as director and producer ofStar Wars: The Force Awakens, the seventh entry in theStar Wars film saga,[21] with Bryan Burk and Bad Robot producing the film.[22] Following this news, speculation arose as to Abrams's future with Paramount Pictures, under which he had released all of his previous feature work as a director, and which had a first-look deal with his company, Bad Robot. Paramount vice-chairman Rob Moore stated that Abrams would continue to have a hand in theStar Trek andMission: Impossible franchises going forward.[23]
Abrams directed, produced, and co-wrote the screenplay forThe Force Awakens,[24] which opened in theaters on December 18, 2015.[25][26] Despite its strong box office performance and positive reviews, the film was considered by some, includingStar Wars creatorGeorge Lucas, to be too similar tothe original 1977 film.[27][28] In 2016, Abrams responded towards these complaints, stating: "What was important for me was introducing brand new characters using relationships that were embracing the history that we know to tell a story that is new — to go backwards to go forwards".[29][b]
In September 2017, Abrams returned to direct and co-writeStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker withChris Terrio.[35] The film was released in December 2019 and received mixed reviews from critics and fans,[36][37] while audience reactions were also mixed.[38][39]
On May 8, 2024, it was announced that Abrams would write and direct an untitled new film, withGlen Powell in early talks to star in the project with Bad Robot signing on as the production company.[44][45] The company's five-year deal with Warner Bros. was also extended in August 2024, although it was expected to be less expensive than the previous agreement with future projects having significant budget cuts.[46]
In July 2002, Abrams wrote a script for a possible fifthSuperman film entitledSuperman: Flyby.[48]Brett Ratner andMcG entered into talks to direct,[49] although Abrams tried to get the chance to direct his own script.[50] However, the project was finally cancelled in 2004 and insteadSuperman Returns was released in 2006.
As of November 2015, a video game calledSpyjinx was in development, with Abrams in a collaboration with Bad Robot andChair Entertainment.[58][59][clarification needed] A beta test was launched on April 2, 2020, byEpic Games.[60][61] The beta test ended a year later, and the game was not finished or released.[62]
On October 29, 2013,S., a novel written byDoug Dorst based on a concept by Abrams, was released.[63]
In 2019, Abrams made his debut as a writer forMarvel Comics, co-authoring the company's titleSpider-Man from September of that year with his son Henry.[64] The first issue of the comic includes the death ofMary Jane Watson, and a twelve-year time shift, with the series' protagonist being Ben Parker, son of Peter Parker and Mary Jane.[65]
Abrams is married to public relations executive Katie McGrath and has three children.[5][66] His daughter,Gracie Abrams, is a pop singer-songwriter.[67] He resides inPacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California.[68][69] He isJewish and his wife isCatholic, and he sometimes takes his children to religious services on Jewish holidays.[70]
In September 2024, Abrams signed a letter along with over 125 other Hollywood professionals urging California GovernorGavin Newsom to sign AI safety billSB 1047.[73][74]
^Khan is an explicitly non-white character in theStar Trek canon, introduced as aSikh and former ruler of much of eastern Eurasia.[19]
^In 2017, Abrams said he would not do more remakes or reboots, to instead focus on his own creations, saying: "You know, I do think that if you're telling a story that is not moving anything forward, not introducing anything that's relevant, that's not creating a new mythology or an extension of it, then a complete remake of something feels like a mistake."[30]
^Fleming, Michael; McNary, Dave (August 12, 2004)."Par girding up for 'War'".Variety.Archived from the original on January 4, 2018. RetrievedDecember 10, 2017.
^"EW Gets the Stories Behind Those Goofy TV Production-Company Logos"Archived July 17, 2011, at theWayback Machine,Entertainment Weekly, December 7, 2001: "The title came to creator J.J. Abrams during a writers' meeting, and he recorded his children, Henry and Gracie (ages 2 and 3), saying the words into his Powerbook's microphone. 'That day in the office while editing,' says Abrams, 'I put together sound effects on my computer, burned a QuickTime movie on a CD, gave it to postproduction, and three days later it was on national television.'"
