James Spader Biography

James Spader
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James Spader

James Spader in 2007
Born James Todd Spader
February 7, 1960 (1960-02-07) (age 49)
Boston, Massachusetts,
United States
Occupation actor
Years active 1978–present
Spouse(s) Victoria Spader (1987–2004)

James Todd Spader (born February 7, 1960) is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his eccentric roles in movies such as Pretty in Pink, Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Mannequin, Crash, Stargate, Secretary, and his portrayal of the colorful attorney Alan Shore on the television series The Practice and its spin-off Boston Legal.

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Early life

Spader was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of teachers Jean and Todd Spader.1 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.2 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.2

Career

Spader's first major movie role was in 1981 as Brooke Shields' brother in Endless Love, and his first starring role was in Tuff Turf alongside good friend Robert Downey, Jr. But he did not rise to stardom until 1986, when he played Molly Ringwald's foil Steff in Pretty in Pink. He starred opposite Andrew McCarthy, another friend, in Mannequin, and in the film adaptation of Less Than Zero, where he played a drug dealer named Rip. Supporting roles in movies such as 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 this performance, he received the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival. His roles in the early 1990s included playing a young, affluent widower opposite Susan Sarandon in White Palace, John Cusack's 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. He played 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. In 2000, he played a drug-addicted detective tracking down serial killer Keanu Reeves in The Watcher. In 2001, he starred as Maggie Gyllenhaal's sadomasochistic boss in the critically acclaimed Secretary.

From 2004 to 2008, Spader starred as the lead character Alan Shore in the TV series Boston Legal, in which he 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 and 2007 for Boston Legal.3 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 also won the Satellite Award for Best Actor in a Series, Comedy or Musical for Boston Legal in 2006.

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

His latest assignment is Race, a play written and directed by David Mamet, in which he will star alongside Richard Thomas and Kerry Washington. It opens on December 6, 20095 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on Broadway.6

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 1980s. They married in 1987 and have two sons, Elijah and Sebastian. Spader filed for divorce from Kheel in 2004 and currently has plans to marry his girlfriend (and his former co-star), Leslie Stefanson,7 with whom he had a child in September 2008.

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.8

Filmography

References

  1. ^ "James Spader Biography (1960-)". filmreference.com. http://www.filmreference.com/film/9/James-Spader.html. Retrieved 2008-01-31. 
  2. ^ a b "James Spader Biography". TV Guide. http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/james-spader/bio/155526. Retrieved 2007-09-23. 
  3. ^ "Awards for James Spader". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000652/awards. Retrieved 2007-09-17. 
  4. ^ Greenberg, Karl (2006-10-13). "Acura Targets 'Alpha' Driver In New Ads". Marketing Daily. http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=49536. 
  5. ^ "New York Production Listings." Backstage. 24 June 2009. (accessed June 25, 2009).
  6. ^ James Spader Rips Into Mamet's Race NY Times
  7. ^ "James Spader Plans to Wed Again". Contact Music. 2005-12-29. http://www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/mndwebpages/spader%20plans%20to%20wed%20again. Retrieved 2007-09-17. 
  8. ^ "Biography for James Spader". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000652/bio. Retrieved 2007-09-17. 

External links

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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) · Bryan Cranston (2008) · Bryan Cranston (2009)