Robert Zemekis
| Robert Zemeckis | |
|---|---|
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Zemeckis at the 2015 Tokyo International Film Festival.
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| Born |
Robert Lee Zemeckis May 14, 1952 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Residence | Santa Barbara, California, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of Southern California |
| Occupation |
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| Years active | 1972–present |
| Notable work | |
| Spouse(s) |
Mary Ellen Trainor (1980–2000; divorced) Leslie Harter (2001–present) |
| Children | 3 |
Robert Lee Zemeckis (born May 14, 1952) is an American filmmaker and screenwriter frequently credited as an innovator in visual effects. Credited as "one of the greatest visual storytellers in filmmaking", he first came to public attention in the 1980s as the director of Romancing the Stone (1984) and the science-fiction comedy Back to the Future film trilogy, as well as the live-action/animated comedy Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). In the 1990s he diversified into more dramatic fare, including 1994's Forrest Gump, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Director. The film itself won Best Picture. The movies he has directed have ranged across a wide variety of genres, for both adults and families.
Zemeckis' films are characterized by an interest in state-of-the-art special effects, including the early use of the insertion of computer graphics into live-action footage in Back to the Future Part II (1989) and Forrest Gump, and the pioneering performance capture techniques seen in The Polar Express (2004), Beowulf (2007) and A Christmas Carol (2009). Though Zemeckis has often been pigeonholed as a director interested only in effects, his work has been defended by several critics, including David Thomson, who wrote that "No other contemporary director has used special effects to more dramatic and narrative purpose."
Zemeckis was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Rosa (née Nespeca) and Alphonse Zemeckis. His father was Lithuanian American and his mother was Italian American. Zemeckis grew up on the south side of the city. He attended a Roman Catholic grade school and Fenger Academy High School. Zemeckis has said "the truth was that in my family there was no art. I mean, there was no music, there were no books, there was no theater... The only thing I had that was inspirational, was television—and it actually was."
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