Robert Zemeckis

Robert Zemeckis is an American filmmaker who built a career on comedies, visual effects and storytelling, and he won an Academy Award for directing Forrest Gump (1994). Born in Chicago, he studied at the University of Southern California, where his short A Field of Honor brought him a Student Academy Award and the attention of Steven Spielberg, who produced his first two features, I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978) and Used Cars (1980). Romancing the Stone (1984) was a sleeper hit, opening the way for the Back to the Future trilogy (1985 to 1990) and Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). Later films include Contact (1997), Cast Away (2000), Flight (2012), The Walk (2015) and Allied (2016). He pioneered motion capture in The Polar Express (2004), Beowulf (2007) and A Christmas Carol (2009), and has worked with composer Alan Silvestri since 1984, directing Tom Hanks in five films.