Kathleen Kennedy (producer)

Kathleen Kennedy (born June 5, 1953) is an American film producer. In 1981, she co-founded the production company Amblin Entertainment with Steven Spielberg and Frank Marshall. She has been the president of Lucasfilm since 2012.

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 co-founded 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 over $11 billion worldwide, including three of the highest-grossing films in motion picture history. Kennedy is third only to Kevin Feige and Steven Spielberg in domestic box office receipts, with over $7 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, who hired Kennedy as his assistant. Both Spielberg and Kennedy agree she was a terrible typist who was kept on only because of her good production ideas. 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 1982, she helped co-found 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 executive producer for both Jurassic Park (1993) and 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 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. When Lucas sold Lucasfilm to Disney, Kennedy was promoted to president.

Kennedy sits on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Producers Branch). For the 2001–02 period, she was co-president (with Tim Gibbons) of the Producers Guild of America.

In 2018, Kennedy's contract to remain president of Lucasfilm was extended another three years, through 2021.

In 2019, she was appointed Honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire, for services to film production in the United Kingdom.

Filmography

 * Raiders of the Lost Ark (associate to Steven Spielberg, 1981)
 * Poltergeist (associate producer, 1982)
 * E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (producer, 1982)
 * Creepshow (associate producer, segment: "The Crate", 1982)
 * Twilight Zone: The Movie (associate producer, segment 2, 1983)
 * Gremlins (executive producer, 1984)
 * Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (associate producer, 1984)
 * The Color Purple (producer, 1985)
 * Young Sherlock Holmes (executive producer, 1985)
 * Back to the Future (executive producer, 1985)
 * The Goonies (executive producer, 1985)
 * Fandango (executive producer, 1985)
 * An American Tail (executive producer, 1986)
 * The Money Pit (producer, 1986)
 * *batteries not included (executive producer, 1987)
 * Empire of the Sun (producer, 1987)
 * Innerspace (co-executive producer, 1987)
 * The China Odyssey: 'Empire of the Sun', a Film by Steven Spielberg (associate producer, 1987)
 * The Land Before Time (co-executive producer, 1988)
 * Who Framed Roger Rabbit (executive producer, 1988)
 * Always (producer, 1989)
 * Back to the Future Part II (executive producer, 1989)
 * Dad (executive producer, 1989)
 * Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (associate producer, 1989)
 * Tummy Trouble (executive producer, 1989)
 * Arachnophobia (producer, 1990)
 * Gremlins 2: The New Batch (executive producer, 1990)
 * Roller Coaster Rabbit (executive producer, 1990)
 * Back to the Future Part III (executive producer, 1990)
 * Joe Versus the Volcano (executive producer, 1990)
 * Hook (producer, 1991)
 * An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (executive producer, 1991)
 * Cape Fear (executive producer, 1991)
 * A Brief History of Time (uncredited executive producer, 1991)
 * A Wish for Wings That Work (executive producer, TV, 1991)
 * Noises Off (executive producer, 1992)
 * Schindler's List (executive producer, 1993)
 * We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story (executive producer, 1993)
 * A Dangerous Woman (executive producer, 1993)
 * Jurassic Park (producer, 1993)
 * A Far Off Place (executive producer, 1993)
 * Trail Mix-Up (executive producer, 1993)
 * Alive (producer, 1993)
 * Milk Money (producer, 1994)
 * The Flintstones (executive producer, 1994)
 * Balto (executive producer, 1995)
 * The Indian in the Cupboard (producer, 1995)
 * Congo (producer, 1995)
 * The Bridges of Madison County (producer, 1995)
 * Twister (producer, 1996)
 * The Best of Roger Rabbit (executive producer, 1996)
 * The Lost World: Jurassic Park (executive producer, 1997)
 * A Map of the World (producer, 1999)
 * Snow Falling on Cedars (producer, 1999)
 * The Sixth Sense (producer, 1999)
 * Olympic Glory (executive producer, 1999)
 * Jurassic Park III (producer, 2001)
 * A.I. Artificial Intelligence (producer, 2001)
 * The Sports Pages (executive producer, TV, 2001)
 * Signs (executive producer, 2002)
 * The Young Black Stallion (executive producer, 2003)
 * Seabiscuit (producer, 2003)
 * Munich (producer, 2005)
 * War of the Worlds (producer, 2005)
 * Persepolis (executive producer, 2007)
 * The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (producer, 2007)
 * The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (producer, 2008)
 * Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (executive producer, 2008)
 * Ponyo (U.S. version co-producer, 2009)
 * The Last Airbender (executive producer, 2010)
 * Hereafter (co-producer with Clint Eastwood, Robert Lorenz & Steven Spielberg, 2010)
 * The Adventures of Tintin (producer, 2011)
 * War Horse (producer, 2011)
 * The Secret World of Arrietty (U.S. version executive producer, 2012)
 * Lincoln (producer, 2012)
 * Star Wars: The Force Awakens (producer, 2015)
 * The BFG (executive producer, 2016)
 * The Girl on the Train (uncredited executive producer, 2016)
 * Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (producer, 2016)
 * Star Wars: The Last Jedi (producer, 2017)
 * Solo: A Star Wars Story (producer, 2018)
 * Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (producer, 2019)
 * Untitled Indiana Jones fifth film (producer, 2021)