George Lucas is donating 175 millionU.S. dollars to the University of Southern Californa.

Photo Gallery >>>BEIJING. Sept. 21 (Xinhuanet) -- Legendary filmmaker George Lucas on Tuesday announced he would donate 175 million U.S. dollars to the University of Southern Californa (USC). Lucas is an alumnus of USC and the donation is the largest ever received by the private university.

A 137,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art complex for the university's acclaimed cinema school will be built at a projected cost of 75 million dollars. The remaining 100 million dollars is to be used to endow the school.

"I discovered my passion for film and making movies when I was a student at USC in the 1960s, and my experiences there shaped the rest of my career," Lucas said in a statement.

Lucas, who created the "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" films, made the donation through the Lucasfilm Foundation. Forbes magazine in March estimated his net worth as 3.5 billion dollars.

USC's School of Cinematic Arts is the oldest film school in the United States. Lucas graduated from the school in 1966. Enditem

(Agencies)