Nancy Spielberg (born June 7, 1956) is an American film producer who has produced multiple documentaries on Jewish and Israeli history. She is the third and youngest sister of

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

and producer

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...

Early life and education

She was born on June 7, 1956, the youngest of four children. Her family moved to

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

in February 1957, when she was 7 months old, when her father,

Arnold Spielberg Arnold Meyer Spielberg (February 6, 1917 – August 25, 2020) was an American electrical engineer who was instrumental in contributions to "real-time data acquisition and recording that significantly contributed to the definition of modern f ...

, was hired by

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

. Her family attended synagogue only a couple times each year, but often had Shabbat meals. Their neighbors and children at school sometimes made antisemitic remarks towards her and her family. The family went on to relocate to California, and Nancy's parents divorced in 1966. Following the divorce, Spielberg returned to Arizona with her mother. She began attending an

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is a collective term for the traditionalist branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as literally revealed by God on Mount Sinai and faithfully tra ...

school in the fifth grade, alongside her older sister Anne. The household also began keeping kosher. She initially attended

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

, and later studied writing at

Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College (SLC) is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York, United States. Founded as a Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in 1926, Sarah Lawrence College has been coeducational ...

and

The New School The New School is a Private university, private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for p ...

in New York.

Career

She started working on her brother

's early films. Spielberg produced the 2014 documentary '' Above and Beyond'', which told the story of the origins of the

Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; , commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial and space warfare branch of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Indep ...

. In 2016, Spielberg was a co-executive producer for the documentary ''On the Map'', directed by Dani Menkin, which followed the

Israeli national basketball team The Israel men's national basketball team () represents Israel in international basketball tournaments. They are administered by the Israeli Basketball Association. Israel is currently ranked 39th in the FIBA World Ranking. Israel has qualifi ...

as they won the 1977 European Cup. She worked again with Menkin while producing the 2019 documentary ''Picture of His Life'', about Israeli nature photographer Amos Nachoum, and the 2020 documentary ''Aulcie'', about the titular basketball player

Aulcie Perry Aulcie Perry (; born July 3, 1950) is a retired American-Israeli professional basketball player. He helped Maccabi Tel Aviv win two EuroLeague championships, during his nine seasons with the team. During his playing career, he was listed at tal ...

. In 2021, Spielberg became a part of Jewish Story Partners, an initiative launched by her brother and his wife. In 2022, Spielberg served as a consultant for ''

The Fabelmans ''The Fabelmans'' is a 2022 American coming-of-age drama film directed and co-produced by Steven Spielberg, who co-wrote the screenplay with Tony Kushner. Loosely based on Spielberg's early life and beginnings as a filmmaker, the semi-autobiog ...

'', a film by Steven Spielberg loosely based on his and his sisters' childhoods.

Filmography

Personal life

In 1983, Spielberg married Shimon Katz. The couple had two daughters: Jessica Katz, who performed on ''

The Voice Israel ''The Voice Israel'' (Hebrew: ''The Voice ישראל'') is the Israeli version of ''The Voice of Holland''. It is part of the international syndication ''The Voice (TV series), The Voice'' based on the reality singing competition launched in th ...

'' in 2014, and Melissa Katz. As of 2015, Spielberg and her husband lived in

Riverdale, New York Riverdale is a residential neighborhood in the northwestern portion of the New York City borough of the Bronx. Riverdale, which had a population of 47,850 as of the 2000 United States Census, contains the city's northernmost point at the Colle ...

. Spielberg considers herself a

Modern Orthodox Jew Modern Orthodox Judaism (also Modern Orthodox or Modern Orthodoxy) is a movement within Orthodox Judaism that attempts to synthesize Jewish values and the observance of Jewish law with the modern world. Modern Orthodoxy draws on several teach ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spielberg, Nancy 1956 births Living people 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American people 21st-century American women American Modern Orthodox Jews American women documentary filmmakers Film producers from Arizona Jews from Arizona Mass media people from Phoenix, Arizona Sarah Lawrence College alumni The New School alumni