George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. He created the Star Wars franchise and its fictional universe, as well as the Indiana Jones franchise, and founded Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic, and THX.

Career

Lucas graduated from the University of Southern California in 1967 and later co-founded American Zoetrope with filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola in San Francisco. His feature film debut was THX 1138 (1971), an expansion of his student short Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB. He followed it with American Graffiti (1973), based on his teenage experiences. He then wrote and directed Star Wars (1977), which became the highest-grossing film of all time and launched an eponymous franchise.

Although Lucas did not direct the next two films in the original Star Wars trilogy—The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983)—he was heavily involved in their creative control. Two decades later, he wrote and directed all three entries in the prequel trilogy: The Phantom Menace (1999), Attack of the Clones (2002), and Revenge of the Sith (2005).

Lucasfilm and later work

Lucas served as chairman of Lucasfilm before selling the company to The Walt Disney Company in 2012. He is the recipient of two Emmy Awards and has been nominated for four Academy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. He is considered one of the most significant figures of the 20th-century New Hollywood movement and a pioneer of the modern blockbuster, though he has remained an independent filmmaker for most of his career.

Other activities

Lucas founded the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art with his wife, businesswoman Mellody Hobson. The museum opened on September 22, 2026, in Exposition Park in Los Angeles, California, and showcases visual storytelling including painting, photography, sculpture, illustration, comic art, performance, and video.