Kathleen Kennedy (producer)

Kathleen Kennedy (born June 5, 1953) is an American film producer and current president of Lucasfilm. In 1981, she co-founded the production company Amblin Entertainment with Steven Spielberg and Frank Marshall.
Her first film as a producer was "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" (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 The Kennedy/Marshall Company with her husband Frank Marshall. On October 30, 2012, she became the president of Lucasfilm after The Walt Disney Company acquired the company for over $4 billion. She received the Irving G. Thalberg Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2018.
Kennedy has participated in the making of over 60 films that garnered 8 Academy Award nominations and earned over $11 billion worldwide, including three of the highest-grossing films in motion picture history. As a producer, she is third behind Kevin Feige and Steven Spielberg in domestic box office receipts, with over $7.5 billion .
Early life.
Kennedy was born in Berkeley, California, to Dione Marie "Dede" (née Dousseau), a one-time theater actress, and Donald R. Kennedy, a judge and attorney. 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. Her other sister is Dana Middleton-Silberstein, a television host and anchor, and press secretary/communications director for former Governor Gary Locke (D-WA).
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.
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).
Film producer.
During the production of "1941", while working for screenwriter John Milius, Kennedy came to the attention of Steven Spielberg. "I remember Kathy came into the room with her steno pad and her pencil, and she was horrible at taking notes," Spielberg recalls. "She was terrible, and didn't know how to do it very well. But what she did know how to do was interrupt somebody in midsentence. Spielberg was so impressed with Kennedy's organizing skills that he asked her to be his secretary. As Kennedy continued to make creative contributions, Spielberg gave her more responsibilities and challenges. 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).
She 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 1981, she helped and run the production company Amblin Entertainment with Spielberg and her future husband Frank Marshall. She also produced "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" (1984) with George Lucas and Frank Marshall, and appeared in the film's opening sequence as a dancer. 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. She took over a large portion of running of Amblin and served as its president until 1991, when she and Marshall formed The Kennedy/Marshall Company 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).
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. 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. In 1996, she received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement presented alongside Frank Marshall by Awards Council member George Lucas. In 2007, she 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.
Kennedy was a producer on Spielberg's 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). She also produced Spielberg's "Lincoln" (2012), which was nominated for seven Golden Globes and twelve Academy Awards.
In May 2012, she stepped down from Kennedy/Marshall, leaving Marshall as sole principal of their film company. In the following month, Kennedy became co-chair of Lucasfilm Ltd. alongside George Lucas. On October 30, 2012, When Lucas sold Lucasfilm to Disney, Kennedy was promoted to president. In 2018, Kennedy's contract to remain president of Lucasfilm was extended another three years, through October 30, 2021. For the 2001–02 period, she was co-president (with Tim Gibbons) of the Producers Guild of America.
In 2019, she was appointed an honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire, for services to film production in the United Kingdom. In that same year, it was announced that she would receive the BAFTA Fellowship in 2020.