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Kathleen Kennedy (producer)

American film producer (born 1953) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kathleen Kennedy (producer)

Kathleen Kennedy (born June 5, 1953) is an American film producer who has been president of Lucasfilm since 2012.

Quick Facts CBE, Born ...
Kathleen Kennedy
CBE
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Kennedy in 2015
Born (1953-06-05) June 5, 1953 (age 71)
Berkeley, California, U.S.
Alma materSan Diego State University
OccupationFilm producer
Years active1979–present
TitlePresident of Lucasfilm (2012–present)
Spouse
​
(m. 1987)​
Children2
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In 1981, Kennedy co-founded the production company Amblin Entertainment with Steven Spielberg and her eventual husband Frank Marshall. Her first film as a producer was E.T. (1982). A decade later, again with Spielberg, she produced the Jurassic Park franchise, the first two of which became two of the top ten highest-grossing films of the 1990s. In 1992, she and Marshall founded The Kennedy/Marshall Company. In 2012, Kennedy became the president of Lucasfilm after The Walt Disney Company acquired the company.[1]

As Lucasfilm's president, Kennedy has overseen the development, production, and release of projects such as the Star Wars sequel trilogy (2015–2019), the Star Wars standalone films Rogue One (2016) and Solo (2018) as well as the fifth Indiana Jones film, The Dial of Destiny (2023). She has also produced various Star Wars series including six live-action series for Disney+, The Mandalorian (2019–present), The Book of Boba Fett (2021), Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022), Andor (2022–present), Ahsoka (2023–present), and The Acolyte (2024).

Kennedy has produced films which have earned over $11 billion worldwide, including five of the fifty highest-grossing movies in film history.[2] As a producer, she has received eight Best Picture Academy Award nominations.

Early life and education

Kathleen Kennedy was born on June 5, 1953, in Berkeley, California,[3] to Donald R. Kennedy, a judge and attorney, and his wife Dione Marie "Dede" (née Dousseau), a one-time theater actress.[4] She has two sisters. Her twin sister, Connie, formerly a location manager in British Columbia, Canada, is now the executive producer of the Virtual Production company Profile Studios.[citation needed] Her other sister is Dana Middleton-Silberstein, a television host and anchor, and press secretary/communications director for former Governor Gary Locke (D-WA).[4]

Kennedy graduated from Shasta High School in Redding, California, in 1971. She continued her education at San Diego State University where she majored in telecommunications and film. In her final year, Kennedy gained employment at a local San Diego TV station, KCST (now KNSD), taking on various roles including camera operator, video editor, floor director and finally as KCST news production coordinator.[5]

Career

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1978–2011

After her employment with KCST, she produced a local talk show entitled You're On for the station for four years before moving to Los Angeles. In Los Angeles, Kennedy secured her first film production job working as an assistant to John Milius, who at the time was executive producer of Spielberg's 1941 (1979).[6]

While working under Milius during the production of 1941, Kennedy caught the attention of Steven Spielberg,[7] who stated in 2015:

She was horrible at taking notes... but what she did know how to do was interrupt somebody in midsentence. We'd be pitching ideas back and forth, and Kathy—who was supposed to be writing these ideas down—suddenly put her pencil down and would say something like, "And what if he didn't get the girl, but instead he got the dog?"[8]

Spielberg asked Kennedy to become his secretary for her organization abilities, and Kennedy gradually took on larger roles in the moviemaking process.[8] Kennedy was credited as associate to Spielberg on Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), then associate producer on Spielberg's production of Tobe Hooper's Poltergeist (1982).[9]

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Kennedy during the Paris premiere of The Adventures of Tintin, 2011

Kennedy began receiving producer credit with Spielberg on the major box-office hit E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), and continued serving the role on most of his films for the next three decades. In 1982, she helped co-found and run the production company Amblin Entertainment with Spielberg and her future husband Frank Marshall.[9] She also produced Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) with George Lucas and Marshall, and appeared in the film's opening sequence as a dancer.[10] Following her work on the Indiana Jones films, she rose to become one of Hollywood's leading producers. With Amblin, she produced the Back to the Future trilogy, collaborating with such directors as Martin Scorsese, Robert Zemeckis, Barry Levinson, and Clint Eastwood. In 1991, she and Marshall formed The Kennedy/Marshall Company[11] with a deal at DreamWorks. She continued her business relationship with Spielberg and became producer for Jurassic Park (1993) and executive producer for the historical drama Schindler's List (also 1993).[9] Non-Spielberg films that she produced during this time include The Bridges of Madison County (1995), Twister (1996), and The Sixth Sense (1999).

Kennedy was a producer on the Spielberg films War of the Worlds and Munich (both 2005), the latter of which earned her an Academy Award nomination. Marshall and Kennedy were producers for the US versions of two Studio Ghibli animated features Ponyo (2009) and The Secret World of Arrietty (2012).[12][13] She also produced Spielberg's Lincoln (2012), which was nominated for seven Golden Globes and twelve Academy Awards.[14][15]

2012–present

In May 2012, she stepped down from Kennedy/Marshall, leaving Marshall as sole principal of their film company.[16][17] In the following month, Kennedy became co-chair of Lucasfilm Ltd. alongside George Lucas.[18][19] On October 30, 2012, when Lucas sold his company to Disney, Kennedy was promoted to president.[20] Kathleen Kennedy played a key role in revitalizing Star Wars, overseeing the sequel trilogy starting with The Force Awakens in 2015 and the acclaimed spin-off Rogue One. She also expanded the franchise into streaming with series like The Mandalorian and Andor.[21]

Despite this success, her future at Lucasfilm has been the subject of speculation. The Force Awakens remains the highest-grossing domestic film at $936 million ($2 billion worldwide), but subsequent films saw diminishing returns. The Rise of Skywalker earned $1 billion, about half of The Force Awakens. This followed Solo: A Star Wars Story, the first Star Wars film to lose money at the box office.[22] According to insiders, a succession plan to find her replacement has been underway for a couple of years, but she still does not know when she will step down as the head of Lucasfilm.[23]

Filmography

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Film

Executive producer

Producer

Associate producer

Co-executive producer

Co-producer

  • Ponyo (2009) (U.S. version)

Television

Producer

Executive producer

Accolades

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She has received eight Academy Award for Best Picture nominations as a producer. Five of the nominations are for Spielberg directed projects such as E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial (1982), The Color Purple (1985), Munich (2005), War Horse (2011), and Lincoln (2012). As a producer, she is third behind Kevin Feige and Spielberg in domestic box office receipts, with over $7.5 billion as of 2020.[24] In 2019 she received the Irving J. Thalberg Award along with Marshall.[25][26] That same year Kennedy was appointed an honorary commander of the Order of the British Empire, for services to film production in the United Kingdom.[27] In that same year, it was announced that she would receive the BAFTA Fellowship in 2020.[28]

During the 1980s and 1990s, Kennedy served on the advisory board of the National Student Film Institute and in 1991 was a "Grimmy Award" recipient in recognition for her outstanding support of student film making. Kennedy was also an Honorary Chairperson of the institute.[29][30] In 1995, she was awarded the Women in Film Crystal Award for outstanding women who, through their endurance and the excellence of their work, have helped to expand the role of women within the entertainment industry.[31] In 1996, she and Marshall received the American Academy of Achievement's Golden Plate Award.[32] For the 2001–02 period, she was co-president (with Tim Gibbons) of the Producers Guild of America.[33] In 2007, Kennedy was the first recipient of Women in Film's Paltrow Mentorship Award, for showing extraordinary commitment to mentoring and supporting the next generation of filmmakers and executives.[34]

References

External links

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