George Walton Lucas, Jr. was born and raised on a walnut ranch in Modesto, California, the son of a stationery store owner, with three siblings. As a teenager, he attended Thomas Downey High School and developed a passion for drag racing, intending to become a professional driver. However, a devastating car accident after his high school graduation forced him to reevaluate his priorities.
Lucas went on to attend Modesto Junior College and later enrolled in the University of Southern California film school, where he made several short films, including Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138 4EB, which won first prize at the 1967-68 National Student Film Festival. This achievement earned him a scholarship to observe the production of Finian's Rainbow, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and the two became close friends.
In 1969, Lucas and Coppola co-founded American Zoetrope, with Lucas' full-length version of THX 1138 as their first project. Coppola went on to direct The Godfather, and Lucas formed his own company, Lucasfilm Ltd., in 1971.
Lucas wrote and directed the semi-autobiographical American Graffiti in 1973, which won the Golden Globe and received five Academy Award nominations, giving him the credibility he needed to pursue his next project. From 1973 to 1974, he worked on the screenplay for Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, drawing inspiration from Flash Gordon and Planet of the Apes.
Lucas established Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) in 1975 to produce the visual effects for Star Wars and founded Sprocket Systems, which later became Skywalker Sound. The film was initially rejected by several studios before 20th Century Fox gave Lucas a chance, and he agreed to forego his directing salary in exchange for a percentage of the box-office take and merchandising rights. The film went on to break box office records and earn seven Academy Awards, redefining the term "blockbuster."
Lucas continued to work on the Star Wars franchise, creating the other films in the series, and collaborated with Steven Spielberg on the Indiana Jones series. He also founded Skywalker Ranch, which served as the creative, technical, and administrative hub for Lucasfilm, and revolutionized movie theaters with the THX system.
Throughout his career, Lucas has been a pioneer in filmmaking technology and has produced several groundbreaking films. He is also chairman of the George Lucas Educational Foundation and was honored with the Irving G. Thalberg Award in 1992 for his lifetime achievement.
Lucas returned to directing with the Star Wars prequel trilogy, starting with Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace in 1999. Although the films received mixed reviews, they were commercially successful and have become a part of popular culture. He supervised the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars in 2008 and sold Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012, with Kathleen Kennedy taking over as president.
