Born and raised in Austin, Texas, director Joe Johnston originally intended to become a commercial artist, but a summer job drawing sketches and storyboards for George Lucas' "Star Wars" (1977) altered the course of his career forever. As an artistic director at the famed Industrial Light & Magic company, his work included designing "Yoda" for "The Empire Strikes Back" (1980), the first of three films for which he served as Visual Effects Art Director. He shared an Academy Award for the visual effects on Steven Spielberg's "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981), and after performing similar duty on "Return of the Jedi" (1983) and second unit work on "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" (1984), Johnston got the hankering to direct and returned to school to study filmmaking at USC.