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 Kevin Spacey Fowler, better known by his stage name Kevin Spacey, is an American actor of screen and stage, film director, producer, screenwriter and singer. He began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s before obtaining supporting roles in film and television. He gained critical acclaim in the early 1990s that culminated in his first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the neo-noir crime thriller The Usual Suspects (1995), and an Academy Award for Best Actor for midlife crisis-themed drama American Beauty (1999).His other starring roles have included the comedy-drama film Swimming with Sharks (1994), psychological thriller Seven (1995), the neo-noir crime film L.A. Confidential (1997), the drama Pay It Forward (2000), the science fiction-mystery film K-PAX (2001)In Broadway theatre, Spacey won a Tony Award for his role in Lost in Yonkers. He was the artistic director of the Old Vic theatre in London from 2004 until stepping down in mid-2015. Since 2013, Spacey has played Frank Underwood in the Netflix political drama series House of Cards. His work in House of Cards earned him Golden Globe Award and Emmy Award nominations for Best Actor.As enigmatic as he is talented, Kevin Spacey for years kept the details of his private life closely guarded. As he explained in a 1998 interview with the London Evening Standard, "the less you know about me, the easier it is to convince you that I am that character on screen. It allows an audience to come into a movie theatre and believe I am that person". In October 2017, he ended many years of media speculation about his personal life by confirming that he had had sexual relations with both men and women but now identified as gay.There are, however, certain biographical facts to be had - for starters, Kevin Spacey Fowler was the youngest of three children born to Kathleen Ann (Knutson) and Thomas Geoffrey Fowler, in South Orange, New Jersey. His ancestry includes Swedish (from his maternal grandfather) and English. His middle name, "Spacey," which he uses as his stage name, is from his paternal grandmother. His mother was a personal secretary, his father a technical writer whose irregular job prospects led the family all over the country. The family eventually settled in southern California, where young Kevin developed into quite a little hellion - after he set his sister's tree house on fire, he was shipped off to the Northridge Military Academy, only to be thrown out a few months later for pinging a classmate on the head with a tire. Spacey then found his way to Chatsworth High School in the San Fernando Valley, where he managed to channel his dramatic tendencies into a successful amateur acting career. In his senior year, he played "Captain von Trapp" opposite classmate Mare Winningham's "Maria" in "The Sound of Music" (the pair later graduated as co-valedictorians). Spacey claims that his interest in acting - and his nearly encyclopedic accumulation of film knowledge - began at an early age, when he would sneak downstairs to watch the late late show on TV. Later, in high school, he and his friends cut class to catch revival films at the NuArt Theater. The adolescent Spacey worked up celebrity impersonations (James Stewart and Johnny Carson were two of his favorites) to try out on the amateur comedy club circuit.He briefly attended Los Angeles Valley College, then left (on the advice of another Chatsworth classmate, Val Kilmer) to join the drama program at Juilliard. After two years of training he was anxious to work, so he quit Juilliard sans diploma and signed up with the New York Shakespeare Festival. His first professional stage appearance was as a messenger in the 1981 production of "Henry VI".Festival head Joseph Papp ushered the young actor out into the "real world" of theater, and the next year Spacey made his Broadway debut in Henrik Ibsen's "Ghosts". He quickly proved himself as an energetic and versatile performer (at one point, he rotated through all the parts in David Rabe's "Hurlyburly"). In 1986, he had the chance to work with his idol and future mentor, Jack Lemmon, on a production of Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey Into Night". While his interest soon turned to film, Spacey would remain active in the theater community - in 1991, he won a Tony Award for his turn as "Uncle Louie" in Neil Simon's Broadway hit "Lost in Yonkers" and, in 1999, he returned to the boards for a revival of O'Neill's "The Iceman Cometh".Spacey's film career began modestly, with a small part as a subway thief in Heartburn (1986). Deemed more of a "character actor" than a "leading man", he stayed on the periphery in his next few films, but attracted attention for his turn as beady-eyed villain "Mel Profitt" on the TV series Wiseguy (1987). Profitt was the first in a long line of dark, manipulative characters that would eventually make Kevin Spacey a household name: he went on to play a sinister office manager in Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), a sadistic Hollywood exec in Swimming with Sharks (1994), and, most famously, creepy, smooth-talking eyewitness Verbal Kint in The Usual Suspects (1995).The "Suspects" role earned Spacey an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor and catapulted him into the limelight. That same year, he turned in another complex, eerie performance in David Fincher's thriller Se7en (1995) (Spacey refused billing on the film, fearing that it might compromise the ending if audiences were waiting for him to appear). By now, the scripts were pouring in. After appearing in Al Pacino's Looking for Richard (1996), Spacey made his own directorial debut with Albino Alligator (1996), a low-key but well received hostage drama. He then jumped back into acting, winning critical accolades for his turns as flashy detective Jack Vincennes in L.A. Confidential (1997) and genteel, closeted murder suspect Jim Williams in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997). In October 1999, just four days after the dark suburban comedy American Beauty (1999) opened in US theaters, Spacey received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Little did organizers know that his role in Beauty would turn out to be his biggest success yet - as Lester Burnham, a middle-aged corporate cog on the brink of psychological meltdown, he tapped into a funny, savage character that captured audiences' imaginations and earned him a Best Actor Oscar.No longer relegated to offbeat supporting parts, Spacey seems poised to redefine himself as a Hollywood headliner. He says he's finished exploring the dark side - but, given his attraction to complex characters, that mischievous twinkle will never be too far from his eyes.In February 2003 Spacey made a major move back to the theatre. He was appointed Artistic Director of the new company set up to save the famous Old Vic theatre, The Old Vic Theatre Company. Although he did not undertake to stop appearing in movies altogether, he undertook to remain in this leading post for ten years, and to act in as well as to direct plays during that time. His first production, of which he was the director, was the September 2004 British premiere of the play Cloaca by Maria Goos (made into a film, Cloaca (2003)). Spacey made his UK Shakespearean debut in the title role in Richard II in 2005. In 2006 he got movie director Robert Altman to direct for the stage the little-known Arthur Miller play Resurrection Blues, but that was a dismal failure. However Spacey remained optimistic, and insisted that a few mistakes are part of the learning process. He starred thereafter with great success in Eugene O'Neill's A Moon for the Misbegotten along with Colm Meaney and Eve Best, and in 2007 that show transferred to Broadway. In February 2008 Spacey put on a revival of the David Mamet 1988 play Speed-the-Plow in which he took one of the three roles, the others being taken by Jeff Goldblum and Laura Michelle Kelly.In 2013, Spacey took on the lead role in an original Netflix series, House of Cards (2013). Based upon a British show of the same name, House of Cards is an American political drama. The show's first season received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination to include Outstanding lead actor in a drama series. In 2017, he played a memorable role as a villain in the action thriller Baby Driver (2017).
Bio:
Kevin Spacey Fowler, better known by his stage name Kevin Spacey, is an American actor of screen and stage, film director, producer, screenwriter and singer. He began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s before obtaining supporting roles in film and television. He gained critical acclaim in the early 1990s that culminated in his first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the neo-noir crime thriller The Usual Suspects (1995), and an Academy Award for Best Actor for midlife crisis-themed drama American Beauty (1999).His other starring roles have included the comedy-drama film Swimming with Sharks (1994), psychological thriller Seven (1995), the neo-noir crime film L.A. Confidential (1997), the drama Pay It Forward (2000), the science fiction-mystery film K-PAX (2001)In Broadway theatre, Spacey won a Tony Award for his role in Lost in Yonkers. He was the artistic director of the Old Vic theatre in London from 2004 until stepping down in mid-2015. Since 2013, Spacey has played Frank Underwood in the Netflix political drama series House of Cards. His work in House of Cards earned him Golden Globe Award and Emmy Award nominations for Best Actor.As enigmatic as he is talented, Kevin Spacey for years kept the details of his private life closely guarded. As he explained in a 1998 interview with the London Evening Standard, "the less you know about me, the easier it is to convince you that I am that character on screen. It allows an audience to come into a movie theatre and believe I am that person". In October 2017, he ended many years of media speculation about his personal life by confirming that he had had sexual relations with both men and women but now identified as gay.There are, however, certain biographical facts to be had - for starters, Kevin Spacey Fowler was the youngest of three children born to Kathleen Ann (Knutson) and Thomas Geoffrey Fowler, in South Orange, New Jersey. His ancestry includes Swedish (from his maternal grandfather) and English. His middle name, "Spacey," which he uses as his stage name, is from his paternal grandmother. His mother was a personal secretary, his father a technical writer whose irregular job prospects led the family all over the country. The family eventually settled in southern California, where young Kevin developed into quite a little hellion - after he set his sister's tree house on fire, he was shipped off to the Northridge Military Academy, only to be thrown out a few months later for pinging a classmate on the head with a tire. Spacey then found his way to Chatsworth High School in the San Fernando Valley, where he managed to channel his dramatic tendencies into a successful amateur acting career. In his senior year, he played "Captain von Trapp" opposite classmate Mare Winningham's "Maria" in "The Sound of Music" (the pair later graduated as co-valedictorians). Spacey claims that his interest in acting - and his nearly encyclopedic accumulation of film knowledge - began at an early age, when he would sneak downstairs to watch the late late show on TV. Later, in high school, he and his friends cut class to catch revival films at the NuArt Theater. The adolescent Spacey worked up celebrity impersonations (James Stewart and Johnny Carson were two of his favorites) to try out on the amateur comedy club circuit.He briefly attended Los Angeles Valley College, then left (on the advice of another Chatsworth classmate, Val Kilmer) to join the drama program at Juilliard. After two years of training he was anxious to work, so he quit Juilliard sans diploma and signed up with the New York Shakespeare Festival. His first professional stage appearance was as a messenger in the 1981 production of "Henry VI".Festival head Joseph Papp ushered the young actor out into the "real world" of theater, and the next year Spacey made his Broadway debut in Henrik Ibsen's "Ghosts". He quickly proved himself as an energetic and versatile performer (at one point, he rotated through all the parts in David Rabe's "Hurlyburly"). In 1986, he had the chance to work with his idol and future mentor, Jack Lemmon, on a production of Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey Into Night". While his interest soon turned to film, Spacey would remain active in the theater community - in 1991, he won a Tony Award for his turn as "Uncle Louie" in Neil Simon's Broadway hit "Lost in Yonkers" and, in 1999, he returned to the boards for a revival of O'Neill's "The Iceman Cometh".Spacey's film career began modestly, with a small part as a subway thief in Heartburn (1986). Deemed more of a "character actor" than a "leading man", he stayed on the periphery in his next few films, but attracted attention for his turn as beady-eyed villain "Mel Profitt" on the TV series Wiseguy (1987). Profitt was the first in a long line of dark, manipulative characters that would eventually make Kevin Spacey a household name: he went on to play a sinister office manager in Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), a sadistic Hollywood exec in Swimming with Sharks (1994), and, most famously, creepy, smooth-talking eyewitness Verbal Kint in The Usual Suspects (1995).The "Suspects" role earned Spacey an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor and catapulted him into the limelight. That same year, he turned in another complex, eerie performance in David Fincher's thriller Se7en (1995) (Spacey refused billing on the film, fearing that it might compromise the ending if audiences were waiting for him to appear). By now, the scripts were pouring in. After appearing in Al Pacino's Looking for Richard (1996), Spacey made his own directorial debut with Albino Alligator (1996), a low-key but well received hostage drama. He then jumped back into acting, winning critical accolades for his turns as flashy detective Jack Vincennes in L.A. Confidential (1997) and genteel, closeted murder suspect Jim Williams in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997). In October 1999, just four days after the dark suburban comedy American Beauty (1999) opened in US theaters, Spacey received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Little did organizers know that his role in Beauty would turn out to be his biggest success yet - as Lester Burnham, a middle-aged corporate cog on the brink of psychological meltdown, he tapped into a funny, savage character that captured audiences' imaginations and earned him a Best Actor Oscar.No longer relegated to offbeat supporting parts, Spacey seems poised to redefine himself as a Hollywood headliner. He says he's finished exploring the dark side - but, given his attraction to complex characters, that mischievous twinkle will never be too far from his eyes.In February 2003 Spacey made a major move back to the theatre. He was appointed Artistic Director of the new company set up to save the famous Old Vic theatre, The Old Vic Theatre Company. Although he did not undertake to stop appearing in movies altogether, he undertook to remain in this leading post for ten years, and to act in as well as to direct plays during that time. His first production, of which he was the director, was the September 2004 British premiere of the play Cloaca by Maria Goos (made into a film, Cloaca (2003)). Spacey made his UK Shakespearean debut in the title role in Richard II in 2005. In 2006 he got movie director Robert Altman to direct for the stage the little-known Arthur Miller play Resurrection Blues, but that was a dismal failure. However Spacey remained optimistic, and insisted that a few mistakes are part of the learning process. He starred thereafter with great success in Eugene O'Neill's A Moon for the Misbegotten along with Colm Meaney and Eve Best, and in 2007 that show transferred to Broadway. In February 2008 Spacey put on a revival of the David Mamet 1988 play Speed-the-Plow in which he took one of the three roles, the others being taken by Jeff Goldblum and Laura Michelle Kelly.In 2013, Spacey took on the lead role in an original Netflix series, House of Cards (2013). Based upon a British show of the same name, House of Cards is an American political drama. The show's first season received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination to include Outstanding lead actor in a drama series. In 2017, he played a memorable role as a villain in the action thriller Baby Driver (2017).
Tivia:
Was expelled from Northridge (CA) Military Academy for throwing a tire at a classmate.In February 2001, he appears twice in Total Film's (U.K) '10 Greatest Villains of All Time' poll. His "John Doe", from Se7en (1995), reached #10, while his character in The Usual Suspects (1995) was voted #5.His mother was his date for the Academy Awards the night he won.Burned his sister's treehouse down when they were children. This caused his parents to opt for military school, which he promptly left for Chatsworth High School.His older brother, Randy Fowler, makes a living as a Rod Stewart impersonator and limousine driver based in Boise, Idaho.In a Butterfields L.A. auction on September 10, 2001, the Oscar won by George Stoll for Anchors Aweigh (1945) was being auctioned for $157,000. He bought it and returned it to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.In May 1999, he was voted greatest actor of the decade by Empire magazine.Has said that working with Jack Lemmon on a stage production of Long Day's Journey Into Night (1987) (the television edition of the stage production) changed his life. Previously possessive of a reckless ambition, he said he was amazed at how Lemmon was both a great actor and generous to a fault as both a co-star and a human being, teaching him that being a good person and a good actor were not mutually exclusive. He still considers Lemmon his role model.On April 17, 2004, he suffered a head injury in London after tripping over his dog while pursuing a young man who had stolen his cell phone. Initially, he reported that the injury was the result of a mugging, but later admitted the truth and stated that he was embarrassed by the situation.Was the first choice to play President Whitmore in Independence Day (1996), but an executive at 20th Century Fox refused to let producer Dean Devlin cast him in the role, feeling he didn't have the potential to be a big-time movie star. Ten months later, Spacey won his first Academy Award. Independence Day was about aliens attacking Earth. He would later play an alien visiting the Earth in K-PAX (2001).Is only one of seven actors who have a 2-0 winning record when nominated for an acting Oscar, his two wins for The Usual Suspects (1995) and American Beauty (1999). The others are Luise Rainer for The Great Ziegfeld (1936) and The Good Earth (1937); Vivien Leigh for Gone with the Wind (1939) and A Streetcar Named Desire (1951); Helen Hayes for The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931) and Airport (1970); Hilary Swank for Boys Don't Cry (1999) and Million Dollar Baby (2004); Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds (2009) and Django Unchained (2012); and Mahershala Ali for Moonlight (2016) and Green Book (2018).His performance as Verbal Kint in The Usual Suspects (1995) is ranked #100 on Premiere magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.Attended Chatsworth (CA) High School with Val Kilmer.After he dropped out of Julliard, he worked as a shoe salesman and a superintendent in his apartment building.Was the first choice to play the role of Lester Burnham in American Beauty (1999).Has twice shaved his head completely bald to play the main villain in movies. He did this to play John Doe in Se7en (1995) and Lex Luthor in Superman Returns (2006).He was well known in Hollywood for his impressions. When he appeared on Inside the Actors Studio (1994), he imitated James Stewart, Johnny Carson, Katharine Hepburn, Clint Eastwood, John Gielgud, Marlon Brando, Christopher Walken, Al Pacino and Jack Lemmon. As a young actor in New York City, he used his skill to pretend to be Carson's son to obtain free theater tickets and enter Studio 54.The character Deadshot from "Justice League" had his voice and personality based on Spacey.His production company, TriggerStreet, is named after an actual street in the San Fernando Valley where he grew up and dreamed of building a theatre and making movies. The late cowboy star Roy Rogers once owned a ranch on the land and named the street for his horse Trigger.In October 1997, he was ranked #56 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list.Spencer Tracy, Henry Fonda, James Stewart, Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino and Jason Robards are his idols.In Total Film's Top 100 Greatest Movie Villains, he ranked 65 for his role as Buddy Ackerman in Swimming with Sharks (1994). His Keiser Soze in The Usual Suspects (1995) was ranked 52 and his John Doe in Se7en (1995) was ranked 13.On October 29, 2017, Anthony Rapp alleged that Spacey, while appearing intoxicated, made a sexual advance toward him in 1986, when Rapp was 14 and Spacey was 26. Rapp had also shared this story in a 2001 interview with The Advocate, but Spacey's name was redacted from publication to avoid legal disputes and public outing. Spacey stated through Twitter that he did not remember the encounter, but that he owed Rapp "the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior" if he had behaved as asserted.Dedicated the Academy Award that he won for Best Actor in American Beauty (1999) to Jack Lemmon. Spacey has said in interviews that he based his performance of Lester Burnham on Lemmon's C.C. Baxter in The Apartment (1960). Appropriately, there is also a family connection between those films: Lemmon's love interest was Shirley MacLaine, whose sister-in-law, Annette Bening played Spacey's wife.On November 16 2017, the Old Vic confirmed that it had received 20 testimonies of alleged inappropriate behavior by Spacey, with three persons stating that they had contacted the police.During his appearance on BBC TV's Parkinson (1971) in March 2002, he did impressions of Jack Lemmon, Bill Clinton, Judi Dench, Katharine Hepburn, Al Pacino, Ian McKellen, Peter O'Toole and James Stewart.Thanked by the rock band Matchbox Twenty in the liner notes of their album "Yourself or Someone Like You" (1996).In October 2008, he started the Kevin Spacey Foundation in the United Kingdom to encourage youth involvement in the arts. Headquartered in England and Wales, its purpose was to provide grants to individuals and organizations to help young people study the arts, particularly theatre. The charity shut down in February 2018 following sexual misconduct allegations against Spacey.To pay his way through Juilliard School, he worked in the school's admin office.Fifteen individuals accused him of sexual abuse, including journalist Heather Unruh (who alleged that Spacey sexually assaulted her son); Norwegian author and former royal family member Ari Behn; filmmaker Tony Montana; actor Roberto Cavazos; Richard Dreyfuss' son Harry; and eight people who worked on House of Cards (2013). The Guardian was contacted by "a number of people" who worked at the Old Vic, where Spacey was artistic director for 11 years; they alleged that he "groped and behaved in an inappropriate way with young men at the time".When they were both performing on Broadway (1998), he would often meet Dame Judi Dench during intermission or between shows.Was the first Academy Award winner to be on The Daily Show (1996).Divides his time between London, England and Los Angeles, California.Auditioned for The Gong Show (1976) and was rejected (1978).Ranked #10 in the 2008 Telegraph's list "the 100 most powerful people in British culture".Co-hosted the Nobel Peace Prize concert for Al Gore because Tommy Lee Jones had to drop out at the last minute.In March 2011 - following Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko's crackdown on the Belarusian democracy movement - Spacey joined Jude Law on the street in a protest against Lukashenko's regime.Voted Man of the Year in Theater by GQ magazine (1999).Attended Chatsworth (CA) High School in Los Angeles with Mare Winningham. During their senior year, he played Von Trapp and she played Maria in a school production of "The Sound of Music". Upon hearing of their Oscar nominations in 1996, Winningham sent a telegram to Spacey saying: "Captain Von Trapp--congratulations on your nomination--Maria".Father Thomas Fowler passed away (1992). Mother Kathleen Fowler passed away of a brain tumor (2003).Was co-valedictorian of his high school class at Chatsworth (CA) High School (1977).In January 2016 it was announced that Relativity Media, which was just emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, had acquired Trigger Street Productions and that Spacey would become chairman of Relativity Studios while Dana Brunetti would become the studio's president. Spacey called the move "an incredible opportunity to make great entertainment" and said he considered it the "next evolution in my career". However, when the paperwork for the studio was filed for the court, it emerged that Spacey had opted out of assuming the chairmanship of the studios, and by the end of 2016 Brunetti had also left Relativity whilst both remained Executive Producers on House of Cards (2013) and Manifesto (2015).Credits Mel Profitt on Wiseguy (1987) as being his "breakthrough role".As part of his research for the role of Bobby Darin in Beyond the Sea (2004), he watched several of Michael Bubl��'s performances.He was considered for the role of Raoul Silva in Skyfall (2012), which went to Javier Bardem.In September 2000, he made People magazine's (USA) 'Best-Dressed' list.Listed as one of "Entertainment Weekly's 25 Best Actors. (1998)His father, Thomas Fowler, was a technical writer.He has appeared in one film that has been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: L.A. Confidential (1997).Studied drama at Juilliard School for two years. |
| Name: |
Kevin Spacey |
Type: |
Actor,Producer,Writer (IMDB) |
| Area: |
All World |
Platform: |
IMDB |
| Category: |
|
Business scope: |
Actor,Producer,Writer |
| Products for sale: |
Actor,Producer,Writer |
| Model rank: |
102 |
| Last update: |
2024-07-01 03:10:06 |
| Height: |
5' 9?' (1.77 m) |
| Biography: |
Kevin Spacey Fowler, better known by his stage name Kevin Spacey, is an American actor of screen and stage, film director, producer, screenwriter and singer. He began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s before obtaining supporting roles in f |
| Trivia: |
Was expelled from Northridge (CA) Military Academy for throwing a tire at a classmate.In February 2001, he appears twice in Total Film's (U.K) '10 Greatest Villains of All Time' poll. His "John Doe", from Se7en (1995), reached #10, while his character in The Usual Suspects (1995) was voted #5.His mother was his date for the Academy Awards the night he won.Burned his sister's treehouse down when they were children. This caused his parents to opt for military school, which he promptly left for Chatsworth High School.His older brother, Randy Fowler, makes a living as a Rod Stewart impersonator and limousine driver based in Boise, Idaho.In a Butterfields L.A. auction on September 10, 2001, the Oscar won by George Stoll for Anchors Aweigh (1945) was being auctioned for $157,000. He bought it and returned it to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.In May 1999, he was voted greatest actor of the decade by Empire magazine.Has said that working with Jack Lemmon on a stage production of Long Day's Journey Into Night (1987) (the television edition of the stage production) changed his life. Previously possessive of a reckless ambition, he said he was amazed at how Lemmon was both a great actor and generous to a fault as both a co-star and a human being, teaching him that being a good person and a good actor were not mutually exclusive. He still considers Lemmon his role model.On April 17, 2004, he suffered a head injury in London after tripping over his dog while pursuing a young man who had stolen his cell phone. Initially, he reported that the injury was the result of a mugging, but later admitted the truth and stated that he was embarrassed by the situation.Was the first choice to play President Whitmore in Independence Day (1996), but an executive at 20th Century Fox refused to let producer Dean Devlin cast him in the role, feeling he didn't have the potential to be a big-time movie star. Ten months later, Spacey won his first Academy Award. Independence Day was about aliens attacking Earth. He would later play an alien visiting the Earth in K-PAX (2001).Is only one of seven actors who have a 2-0 winning record when nominated for an acting Oscar, his two wins for The Usual Suspects (1995) and American Beauty (1999). The others are Luise Rainer for The Great Ziegfeld (1936) and The Good Earth (1937); Vivien Leigh for Gone with the Wind (1939) and A Streetcar Named Desire (1951); Helen Hayes for The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931) and Airport (1970); Hilary Swank for Boys Don't Cry (1999) and Million Dollar Baby (2004); Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds (2009) and Django Unchained (2012); and Mahershala Ali for Moonlight (2016) and Green Book (2018).His performance as Verbal Kint in The Usual Suspects (1995) is ranked #100 on Premiere magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.Attended Chatsworth (CA) High School with Val Kilmer.After he dropped out of Julliard, he worked as a shoe salesman and a superintendent in his apartment building.Was the first choice to play the role of Lester Burnham in American Beauty (1999).Has twice shaved his head completely bald to play the main villain in movies. He did this to play John Doe in Se7en (1995) and Lex Luthor in Superman Returns (2006).He was well known in Hollywood for his impressions. When he appeared on Inside the Actors Studio (1994), he imitated James Stewart, Johnny Carson, Katharine Hepburn, Clint Eastwood, John Gielgud, Marlon Brando, Christopher Walken, Al Pacino and Jack Lemmon. As a young actor in New York City, he used his skill to pretend to be Carson's son to obtain free theater tickets and enter Studio 54.The character Deadshot from "Justice League" had his voice and personality based on Spacey.His production company, TriggerStreet, is named after an actual street in the San Fernando Valley where he grew up and dreamed of building a theatre and making movies. The late cowboy star Roy Rogers once owned a ranch on the land and named the street for his horse Trigger.In October 1997, he was ranked #56 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list.Spencer Tracy, Henry Fonda, James Stewart, Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino and Jason Robards are his idols.In Total Film's Top 100 Greatest Movie Villains, he ranked 65 for his role as Buddy Ackerman in Swimming with Sharks (1994). His Keiser Soze in The Usual Suspects (1995) was ranked 52 and his John Doe in Se7en (1995) was ranked 13.On October 29, 2017, Anthony Rapp alleged that Spacey, while appearing intoxicated, made a sexual advance toward him in 1986, when Rapp was 14 and Spacey was 26. Rapp had also shared this story in a 2001 interview with The Advocate, but Spacey's name was redacted from publication to avoid legal disputes and public outing. Spacey stated through Twitter that he did not remember the encounter, but that he owed Rapp "the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior" if he had behaved as asserted.Dedicated the Academy Award that he won for Best Actor in American Beauty (1999) to Jack Lemmon. Spacey has said in interviews that he based his performance of Lester Burnham on Lemmon's C.C. Baxter in The Apartment (1960). Appropriately, there is also a family connection between those films: Lemmon's love interest was Shirley MacLaine, whose sister-in-law, Annette Bening played Spacey's wife.On November 16 2017, the Old Vic confirmed that it had received 20 testimonies of alleged inappropriate behavior by Spacey, with three persons stating that they had contacted the police.During his appearance on BBC TV's Parkinson (1971) in March 2002, he did impressions of Jack Lemmon, Bill Clinton, Judi Dench, Katharine Hepburn, Al Pacino, Ian McKellen, Peter O'Toole and James Stewart.Thanked by the rock band Matchbox Twenty in the liner notes of their album "Yourself or Someone Like You" (1996).In October 2008, he started the Kevin Spacey Foundation in the United Kingdom to encourage youth involvement in the arts. Headquartered in England and Wales, its purpose was to provide grants to individuals and organizations to help young people study the arts, particularly theatre. The charity shut down in February 2018 following sexual misconduct allegations against Spacey.To pay his way through Juilliard School, he worked in the school's admin office.Fifteen individuals accused him of sexual abuse, including journalist Heather Unruh (who alleged that Spacey sexually assaulted her son); Norwegian author and former royal family member Ari Behn; filmmaker Tony Montana; actor Roberto Cavazos; Richard Dreyfuss' son Harry; and eight people who worked on House of Cards (2013). The Guardian was contacted by "a number of people" who worked at the Old Vic, where Spacey was artistic director for 11 years; they alleged that he "groped and behaved in an inappropriate way with young men at the time".When they were both performing on Broadway (1998), he would often meet Dame Judi Dench during intermission or between shows.Was the first Academy Award winner to be on The Daily Show (1996).Divides his time between London, England and Los Angeles, California.Auditioned for The Gong Show (1976) and was rejected (1978).Ranked #10 in the 2008 Telegraph's list "the 100 most powerful people in British culture".Co-hosted the Nobel Peace Prize concert for Al Gore because Tommy Lee Jones had to drop out at the last minute.In March 2011 - following Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko's crackdown on the Belarusian democracy movement - Spacey joined Jude Law on the street in a protest against Lukashenko's regime.Voted Man of the Year in Theater by GQ magazine (1999).Attended Chatsworth (CA) High School in Los Angeles with Mare Winningham. During their senior year, he played Von Trapp and she played Maria in a school production of "The Sound of Music". Upon hearing of their Oscar nominations in 1996, Winningham sent a telegram to Spacey saying: "Captain Von Trapp--congratulations on your nomination--Maria".Father Thomas Fowler passed away (1992). Mother Kathleen Fowler passed away of a brain tumor (2003).Was co-valedictorian of his high school class at Chatsworth (CA) High School (1977).In January 2016 it was announced that Relativity Media, which was just emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, had acquired Trigger Street Productions and that Spacey would become chairman of Relativity Studios while Dana Brunetti would become the studio's president. Spacey called the move "an incredible opportunity to make great entertainment" and said he considered it the "next evolution in my career". However, when the paperwork for the studio was filed for the court, it emerged that Spacey had opted out of assuming the chairmanship of the studios, and by the end of 2016 Brunetti had also left Relativity whilst both remained Executive Producers on House of Cards (2013) and Manifesto (2015).Credits Mel Profitt on Wiseguy (1987) as being his "breakthrough role".As part of his research for the role of Bobby Darin in Beyond the Sea (2004), he watched several of Michael Bubl��'s performances.He was considered for the role of Raoul Silva in Skyfall (2012), which went to Javier Bardem.In September 2000, he made People magazine's (USA) 'Best-Dressed' list.Listed as one of "Entertainment Weekly's 25 Best Actors. (1998)His father, Thomas Fowler, was a technical writer.He has appeared in one film that has been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: L.A. Confidential (1997).Studied drama at Juilliard School for two years. |
| Trademarks: |
Recognizable drawling voice
Often plays deceptively intelligent and ruthless men
Often plays cold-blooded and sadistic characters
Distinctive clipped manner of speaking
Deadpan delivery |
| Quotes: |
[on winning the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in American Beauty (1999))] This has definitely been the highlight of my day.
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[on American Beauty (1999)] I read the screenplay and nearly fell out of bed. I thought I better meet him quick before someone else read it.
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[on assumptions by women that he is gay (NOTE: In 2017 he admitted that he was gay after years of unconfirmed speculation)] For them it's a challenge. They want to be the one to turn me around. I let them.
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My idea of credibility is primarily self-imposed and it all relates to the thing that I've been interested in as an actor and a director, which is what are you WILLING to live with as a human being? And there's things I'm just not willing to live with--and I won't. And if it means that I stop and find something else in life that interests me or challenges me, so be it.
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The less you know about me, the easier it is to convince you that I am that character on screen. It allows an audience to come into a movie theatre and believe I am that person. |
| Salaries: |
Baby Driver (2017) - $2,000,000
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The Negotiator (1998) - $4,500,000 |
| Job title: |
Actor,Producer,Writer |
| Others works: |
Music video: Appeared in the David A. Stewart video "Jealousy".
(4/98) Stage: Appeared (as "Theodore 'Hickey' Hickman") in "The Iceman Cometh" by Eugene O'Neill. Almeida Theater, London, England. NOTES: (1) He |
| Children: |
No Children |
| Parents: |
Kathleen Ann Fowler (Knutson)
Thomas Geoffrey Fowler |
| Relatives: |
Sibling (Sibling)
Sibling (Sibling) |
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