Highlighting Women Behind the Galaxy Far, Far Away: Kathleen Kennedy

Women's History Month is nearing its end, and we have one more celebratory article to share- this time, all about accomplished film producer and the president of Lucasfilm herself, Kathleen Kennedy!

Kennedy started her film career as a production assistant, and one of her earliest jobs was working for Steven Spielberg on Raiders of the Lost Ark, a film where she quickly proved her skills for making movies happen. The connections she made in those early days and the strong reputation she built herself made her a strong figure for filmmaking. Throughout the course of her career she's had producing and executive producing credits on iconic films like E.T., The Goonies, Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Jurassic Park, and many more. Films she's produced have also given her an Oscar nomination eight times- E.T. (her first producing credit), The Color Purple, The Sixth Sense, Seabiscuit, Munich, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, War Horse and Lincoln.

In 2012, her career path shifted when she became co-chair of Lucasfilm alongside George Lucas himself- only for Lucas to sell the company to Disney shortly after. Using her experience as co-founder of Amblin Entertainment in 1981, Kennedy took the reigns as president of both Lucasfilm and Industrial Light and Magic. She forged a new path for the studio and Star Wars itself- bringing us the entire sequel trilogy, Rogue One, Solo and the entire slate of Star Wars television, including The Mandalorian, Andor and most recently, Skeleton Crew. Outside of Star Wars, she's also help revitalized other Lucasfilm franchises like Indiana Jones and Willow, and even produced the documentary series Light & Magic showing the history (and magic) of the effects artists over at ILM.

Kathleen Kennedy continues to shepherd storytellers through the new generations of stories in the galaxy far, far away. As Star Wars fans, I believe we're fortunate to have someone with as much experience with, knowledge of, and passion for the craft of storytelling in the position to direct the franchise as it expands beyond our wildest dreams, and she's definitely someone I'm happy to celebrate for Women's History Month.