The nerd-chic TV superstar JJ Abrams has emerged as one of the most successful names in television, creating, writing, and producing some of today’s highest-rated shows.
Born in New York City on June 27, 1966, Abrams attended Sarah Lawrence College and began writing and acting in the early 90s. His first success was penning the script for the James Belushi vehicle “Taking Care of Business” in 1990 when he was only 24 years old. He went on to write and co-produce the Mel Gibson tearjerker “Forever Young” and fill the same roles for the Harrison Ford-Annette Bening drama “Regarding Henry”.
Enormously successful for his young age, Abrams soon found license to work with action and sci-fi films and TV shows, and it has become clear that genre pictures are where his primary interests lie. After finding success with his WB show “Felicity” and writing the screenplay for the head-spinning disaster movie “Armageddon” in 1998, Abrams became a household name with the debut of the Jennifer Garner-starring series “Alias” in 2001, which became a massive hit making Garner and Abrams huge stars. His winning streak continued with ABC’s “Lost”, a plodding yet hugely popular hybrid of “The X-Files” and tired-but-true deserted island plots. Some of the most popular episodes of both “Lost” and “Alias” have been written or directed by Abrams himself, and unsurprisingly he is moving on to mega-budget Hollywood blockbusters.
His terrific work as an action director is currently on display with the Tom Cruise opus “Mission: Impossible 3”, easily the most expensive film ever directed by a feature first-timer. He has two other high-profile film projects in development: an account of the famous USS Indianapolis titled “The Good Sailor”, and he’s rumored to have been charged with reviving Paramount’s fledgling “Star Trek” series. Though notoriously picky “Trek” purists will likely be befuddled by his involvement in the series, Abrams’s keen eye for pacing and obvious talent as a genre director could make him one of the most beloved Hollywood directors for a new generation of blockbusters.