(born 1959). Although he had many stage, screen, and television credits before making the film The Usual Suspects (1995), it was his portrayal of a sleazy, talkative criminal in that drama that gained U.S. actor Kevin Spacey widespread critical and popular notice. Among the honors he received was an Academy award for best supporting actor. His success continued with a masterful performance as a frustrated husband and father obsessed with his teenage daughter's beautiful classmate in the dark comedy American Beauty (1999), for which he earned a second Oscar for best actor. Kevin Spacey Fowler was born on July 26, 1959, in South Orange, N.J., but his family moved to Los Angeles, Calif., a few years later. He often got into trouble as a youth, and a school guidance counselor suggested acting classes as a positive outlet for his energy. After getting good grades in high school and starring in the school's musical, Spacey studied drama at The Juilliard School in New York City. He dropped out two years later to begin building a professional career. Because Henry Fonda and other actors he greatly admired had started out doing theater, Spacey decided to look for stage roles. A job assisting Joseph Papp at the New York Shakespeare Festival led to a small part in Henry IV, Part I (1981). Spacey made his Broadway debut the following year in Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts and later played opposite Jack Lemmon in Long Day's Journey Into Night (1986). He earned a Drama Desk award and a Tony award as best featured actor in a drama for his portrayal of mobster Uncle Louie in Neil Simon's Lost in Yonkers (1991). In 1998 Spacey returned to the stage and received the Evening Standard, London Theatre Critics' Circle, and Laurence Olivier best actor awards for his performance as Hickey in Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh. Spacey met director Mike Nichols in the mid-1980s while serving as the understudy for the male roles in Broadway's Hurlyburly. This led to small parts in the Nichols-directed films Heartburn (1986) and Working Girl (1988). Other early film appearances included See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989), Dad (1990), and Henry and June (1990). His Hollywood career picked up speed in 1992 with the critically acclaimed Glengarry Glen Ross and a starring role in Consenting Adults. In 1995, the year of The Usual Suspects, Spacey also was on screen in Outbreak, Swimming with Sharks, and Seven. Later films included A Time to Kill (1996), Looking for Richard (1996), L.A. Confidential (1997), Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997), A Bug's Life (voice, 1998), and Pay It Forward (2000). He made his directorial debut with Albino Alligator, which premiered in 1996 at the Toronto Film Festival and was released to United States theaters in 1997. Spacey first became known to television audiences in 1988 through his portrayal of a psychotic villain on several episodes of the series Wiseguy. In 1990 he played evangelist Jim Bakker in the television movie Falling from Grace, and the following year he starred in the teleplay Darrow. |