Famous Spotlight: George Lucas

Lucas with C-3PO on the set of Star Wars
(Image Source)

Star Wars is a household name. The franchise, with too many movies, TV adaptations, and streaming series to count, is massive. But do you know about the man behind it all? The creator of Star Wars? George Lucas is a science fiction legend-- and the focus of today's Famous Face spotlight!

George Lucas was born on May 14, 1944 in California. His parents owned a walnut ranch, and they lived in a suburb outside of Modesto, CA. He love car racing, and he originally wanted to be a race car driver. After a devastating car accident, though, he changed his mind. He decided to give film school a try at the University of Southern California.

Before releasing Star Wars, Lucas showed his talent for film with American Graffiti. The film made more that 100 million dollars in the US when it was released in 1973. With this success under his belt, Lucas sought out to make his dreams reality-- a film that would be "part fairy tale, part Flash Gordon and complete fantasy and adventure set in the imaginary frontier of outer space." This movie, of course, is Star Wars: A New Hope.

Star Wars astonished audiences in 1977, and it earned almost $513 million worldwide-- and started the rollercoaster that was Star Wars. In 2019, audiences are eagerly waiting for the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker on December 20th.

Lucas, on top of being a filmmaker, is also a strong advocate for education. Lucas and his wife donate millions to his education fund: The George Lucas Education Fund. The fund, "organization encourages the use of project-based and team-based learning, among other education reforms." Lucas supports the arts, and encourages everyone-- especially students-- to embrace their creativity.

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