James Spader

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2008)
James Spader

James Spader in 2007
Born James Todd Spader
February 7, 1960 (1960-02-07) (age 48)
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Years active 1978–present
Spouse(s) Victoria Spader (1987–2004)

James Todd Spader (born February 7, 1960) is a three-time Emmy-winning and Golden Globe-nominated[1] American actor. He is perhaps best known for his eccentric roles in movies such as sex, lies, and videotape, Stargate, and Secretary, and the television series Boston Legal and The Practice.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Spader was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of teachers Jean and Todd Spader.[2] During his early education, he attended The Pike School (where his mother taught art) and enrolled in the Brooks School (where his father taught) for one year in North Andover, Massachusetts. Spader later transferred to Phillips Academy, but dropped out of school in the eleventh grade to pursue acting at the Michael Chekhov School in New York City.[3] Before becoming a full-time actor, Spader held a variety of jobs including being a yoga instructor, busboy, truck driver, stable boy, and railroad-car loader.[3]

[edit] Career

Spader's first major movie role was in 1981 as Brooke Shields' brother in Endless Love, but he did not rise to stardom until 1987, when he played Molly Ringwald's foil Steff in Pretty in Pink. He starred opposite friend Andrew McCarthy again in Mannequin and the film adaptation of Less Than Zero, where he played a loathsome drug dealer named Rip. Supporting roles in movies like Baby Boom and Wall Street followed until his critical breakthrough in 1989. In sex, lies and videotape, he played a sexual voyeur named Graham who turns the lives of three Baton Rouge residents upside down. For his performance, he received the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival. His roles in the early 1990's included playing a young, affluent widower opposite Susan Sarandon in White Palace, John Cusack's moral best friend in True Colors, and a poker-playing drifter who collides with Mandy Patinkin in The Music of Chance. In 1994, he starred as Egyptologist Daniel Jackson in the blockbuster hit Stargate, but he did not remain in mainstream view for long, playing car fetishist James Ballard in the controversial Canadian film Crash in 1996 and assassin Lee Woods in 2 Days in the Valley. In 1997, Spader guest starred in an episode of Seinfeld as an angry recovering alcoholic who refuses to apologize to George for making fun of him, and he departed from his villain roots to play the drug-addicted detective tracking down killer Keanu Reeves in The Watcher. In 2001, he starred as Maggie Gyllenhaal's sadomasochistic boss in the critically-acclaimed Secretary .

Spader currently stars as the popular lead character Alan Shore in the TV series Boston Legal, where he has reprised his role from the TV series The Practice. Spader won the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series Emmy Award for his portrayal of Alan Shore in 2004 on The Practice and won it again in 2005 for Boston Legal.[1] Spader has become one of the few actors to win consecutive Emmy Awards for playing the same character on two different series (another being co-star William Shatner as Denny Crane). Spader won the Satellite Award for Best Actor in a Series, Comedy or Musical for Boston Legal in 2006 and took home his third Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 2007.[1]

In October 2006, Spader narrated China Revealed, the first episode of Discovery Channel's documentary series Discovery Atlas. He has also done the voice-over in several television commercials for Acura.[4]

[edit] Personal life

Spader met his first wife, Victoria Kheel, a decorator, while working in a yoga studio after he moved to New York in the 1980's. They married in 1987 and have two sons. Spader filed for divorce from Kheel in 2004 and currently has plans to marry his girlfriend, Leslie Stefanson.[5]

Spader is known to his friends as "Jimmy," loves to cook, has very poor eyesight, and likes to point out that even though his characters can be sleazy at times, he is actually a nice, friendly guy in real life.[6]

[edit] Filmography

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Awards for James Spader. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 2007-09-17.
  2. ^ James Spader Biography (1960-). filmreference.com. Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
  3. ^ a b James Spader Biography. TV Guide. Retrieved on 2007-09-23.
  4. ^ Greenberg, Karl. "Acura Targets 'Alpha' Driver In New Ads", Marketing Daily, 2006-10-13. 
  5. ^ "James Spader Plans to Wed Again", Contact Music, 2005-12-29. Retrieved on 2007-09-17. 
  6. ^ Biography for James Spader. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 2007-09-17.

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor - Drama Series

James Gandolfini (2001) · Michael Chiklis (2002) · James Gandolfini (2003) · James Spader (2004) · James Spader (2005) · Kiefer Sutherland (2006) · James Spader (2007)