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Kevin Spacey : Biography, Pictures, Photos, Trivia, Address, Filmography (Wiseguy)

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Kevin Spacey

Mel Profitt in Wiseguy

Photos Kevin Spacey Birth name: Kevin Spacey Fowler
Birth date: 1959/07/26 (64 years old)
Birth place : South Orange New Jersey
Height: 1.80 m
Salary : Le Negotiateur (1998) : 4.500.000$

French Traduire

Biography for Kevin Spacey

As enigmatic as he is talented, Kevin Spacey has always kept the details of his private life closely guarded. As he explained in a 1998 interview with the London Evening Standard, "It's not that I want to create some bullshit mystique by maintaining a silence about my personal life, it is just that 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."

There are, however, certain biographical facts to be had--for starters, Kevin Spacey Fowler was the youngest of three children born to Thomas and Kathleen Fowler in South Orange, New Jersey. His mother was a personal secretary, his father a technical writer whose irregular job prospects led the family all over the country. They 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 (Jimmy 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 satire 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.

Kevin Spacey is experiencing an eventful and itinerant childhood, because his father, editor in the high technology sector, moves very often.

A student at least unruly, his models are then James Stewart and Johnny Carson. He took drama lessons at the famous Juilliard School and started at the theater in 1981, in Henry IV, of Shakespeare. The following year, we saw him in Broadway in two pieces of Tchekhov and Ibsen, with in particular Liv Ullmann. In 1986, he obtained his first great success in the long journey at night, by Eugene O'Neill, where he met his future mentor, Jack Lemmon. His passion for the theater will never deny himself, since he goes up on the boards several times, even winning a Tony Award in 1991 for the play Lost in Yonkers.

He also plays on television, where we see him in particular in series like the law of Los Angeles and a cop in the mafia. In the cinema, it was Mike Nichols who gave him his first chance in 1986, in the burn. Then he holds modest secondary roles in Working Girl and Rocket Gibraltar (1988), alongside Burt Lancaster. In 1992, his notoriety grew up and he won two major roles in Glengarry, by James Foley (with Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Ed Harris and Jonathan Pryce), and adult games, Alan J. Pakula.

He became a real star from 1994, with The Ref, from Ted Demme. Praised by criticism and by the public, he becomes one of the most prominent "bad guys" in Hollywood, turning in particular in Swimming with Sharks, by George Huang (1994), Usual Suspects, by Bryan Singer (1995) and Seven , by David Fincher (1995). In 1996, Kevin Spacey embarked on a new adventure by staging his first film, Albino Alligator. Apart from his roles as a psychopathic killer, he embodies, among other things, a journalist in Iron Will, by Charles Heid (1994), a judge in the right to kill, by Joel Schumacher, (1996), a police officer in the memorable L.A. Confidential, by Curtis Hanson (1997) and a great criminal bourgeois in Minuit in the Garden of Good and Evil, by Clint Eastwood (1997).

His performance in American Beauty, by Sam Mendes (1999), where he plays the role of a quiet father who decides one day to change his life, earned him the Oscar for best actor.

Kevin Spacey is an American actor, director and film producer born July 26, 1959 in South Orange, New Jersey. He started his acting career in the 1980s and quickly gained popularity thanks to his performances in films such as "The Usual Suspects", for which he won the Oscar for best actor in a supporting role in 1996 , and "American Beauty", for which he won the Oscar for best actor in 2000.

Spacey has also made many appearances on Broadway boards, especially in "Lost in Yonkers" and "Long Day's Journey Into Night" productions. In addition to his numerous prizes for his cinematographic and theatrical performances, he was also rewarded for his contribution to the entertainment industry as an artistic director of the Old Theater in London from 2004 to 2015.

Despite his professional success, Spacey was widely criticized for his behavior outside the stage. In 2017, he was accused of several sexual assaults and was largely ostracized by the entertainment industry since. He was sentenced to imprisonment and fines for some of these crimes in 2019.

In summary, Kevin Spacey is a famous and talented actor who was very successful in the entertainment industry, but was also criticized for his actions outside the stage.

Photos

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Filmography

Title Role
Superman Returns (2006) (filming) Lex Luthor
Edison (2005) (post-production)
Beyond the Sea (2004) Bobby Darin
The Life of David Gale (2003) David Gale
The United States of Leland (2003) Albert T. Fitzgerald
The Tower of Babble (2002) Narrator
The Shipping News (2001) Quoyle
K-PAX (2001) Prot/Robert Porter
Pay It Forward (2000) Eugene Simonet
Ordinary Decent Criminal (2000) Michael Lynch
The Big Kahuna (1999) Larry Mann
American Beauty (1999) Lester Burnham
It's Tough to Be a Bug (1999) (voice) Hopper
A Bug's Life (1998) (voice) Hopper
Hurlyburly (1998) Mickey
The Negotiator (1998) Lt. Chris Sabian
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997) James 'Jim' Williams
L.A. Confidential (1997) Sgt. Jack Vincennes
A Time to Kill (1996) D.A. Rufus Buckley
Se7en (1995) John Doe
The Usual Suspects (1995) Roger 'Verbal' Kint
Outbreak (1995) Maj. Casey Schuler
Swimming with Sharks (1994) Buddy Ackerman
Doomsday Gun (1994) (TV) Jim Price
The Ref (1994) Lloyd Chasseur
Iron Will (1994) Harry Kingsley
Consenting Adults (1992) Eddy Otis
Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) John Williamson
Darrow (1991) (TV) Clarence Darrow
When You Remember Me (1990) (TV) Wade
Henry & June (1990) Richard Osborn
A Show of Force (1990) Frank Curtin
Fall from Grace (1990) (TV) Jim Bakker
Dad (1989) Mario
See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989) Kirgo
Wiseguy (1987) TV Series Mel Profitt (1988)
Working Girl (1988) Bob Speck
Rocket Gibraltar (1988) Dwayne Hanson
The Murder of Mary Phagan (1988) (TV) Wes Brent
Long Day's Journey Into Night (1987) (TV) James 'Jamie' Tyrone, Jr.
Heartburn (1986) Subway Thief

Trivia

Auditioned for The Gong Show in 1978 and was rejected.

Also attended Chatsworth High School with Val Kilmer.

His mother was his date for the Oscars the night he won.

Was Co-Valedictorian of his high school class at Chatsworth HS (1977).

Was paid 225 pounds per week for appearing in the play "The Iceman Cometh" at the Almeida Theatre in London (1998).

Ranked #56 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997]

Went to Chatsworth High School in Los Angeles with Mare Winningham. During their senior year, Kevin played von Trapp and Mare 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."

The use of the name Spacey, while rumored as a combination of Spencer Tracy's names, is actually his mother's maiden name.

Voted greatest actor of the decade by Empire Magazine. [May 1999]

Kevin burnt his sister's tree house down when they were children. This caused his parents to opt for military school, which Kevin promptly left for Chatsworth.

On Christopher Walken, Walter Matthau, and Jack Lemmon.

Was the first choice to play the role of Lester Burnham in American Beauty (1999).

Appears twice in Total Film's (U.K) '10 Greatest Villains of All Time' poll. His "John Doe", from 'Se7en' (1995), came in at number 10, while his character in 'The Usual Suspects' (1995) was voted fifth. [February 2001]

Listed as one of Entertainment Weekly's 25 Best Actors [1998]

On People's (USA) 'Best-Dressed' list. [September 2000]

Studied drama at Juilliard School for 2 years.

Was expelled from Northridge Military Academy (in California) for throwing a tire at a classmate.

Won Broadway's 1991 Tony Award as Best Actor (Featured Role - Play) for "Lost in Yonkers." He was also nominated in 1999 as Best Actor (Play) for a revival of Eugene O'Neill's "The Iceman Cometh."

His Labrador dog's name is Legacy. [2001]

Was the first Academy Award winner to be on the Daily Show.

During his appearance on BBC TV's "Parkinson" 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.

Supporter of London's Old Vic Theater, co-hosting fund-raiser for it in NYC, April 2002.

Owns a Mini-Cooper.

Dedicated the Oscar that he won for Best Actor in 'American Beauty' (1999) to Jack Lemmon.

Kevin Spacey's production company, TriggerStreet, is named after an actual street in the San Fernando Valley where Spacey 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.

Named as Artistic Director of the Old Vic Theatre in London, England, UK.

Attended the UK Labour Party Conference with former US President Bill Clinton. [2 October 2002]

He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1999 (1998 season) for Best Actor for his performance in The Iceman Cometh.

Often appears in films with a major twist at the end of movie, such as 'Se7en' (1995), 'The Usual Suspects' (1995), and 'The Life of David Gale' (2003).

When they were both performing on Broadway in 1998, he would often meet Dame Judi Dench during intermission or between shows.

He was awarded the 1998 London Critics Circle Theatre Award (Drama) for Best Actor for his performance in The Iceman Cometh at the Almeida and at the Old Vic Theatres.

He was awarded the 1998 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Iceman Cometh.

17 April 2004, London - suffered a head injury after tripping over his dog while pursuing a young man who stole 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.

His Oscar-winning performance as Verbal Kint from his film 'The Usual Suspects' (1995) was ranked #48 on the American Film Institute's Villains list in their compilation of the 100 years of The Greatest Screen Heroes and Villains.

Has said that working with Jack Lemmon on a stage production of "A Long Day's Journey into Night" 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.

Went to high school with and briefly dated April Winchell

Shares a birthday with Sandra Bullock, Kate Beckinsale and Jeremy Piven.

Spencer Tracy, Henry Fonda, James Stewart, Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, and Jason Robards are his idols.

Quotes

"Moins vous en savez sur moi, plus c'est facile de vous convaincre que je suis un personnage sur l'Ă©cran".

Family

Has an older brother, Randall, and an older sister, Julie Ann. Has a nephew and a niece.

His father was a technical writer.

Author of the card

  • Creation date: 01/07/2003 by abdest

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