Kevin Spacey
Birthday:
26 July 1959, South Orange, New Jersey, USA
Birth Name:
Kevin Spacey Fowler
Height:
178 cm
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 Academ...
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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 has always 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".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 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 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.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. Show less «
[on winning the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in American Beauty (1999))] This has definitely been the highlight of my day.
[on winning the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in American Beauty (1999))] This has definitely been the highlight of my day.
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"...Show more »
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". Show less «
Discussing occasional misconceptions by women that he is gay: For them it's a challenge. They want to be the one to turn me around. I let th...Show more »
Discussing occasional misconceptions by women that he is gay: For them it's a challenge. They want to be the one to turn me around. I let them. Show less «
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, wh...Show more »
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. Show less «
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 ...Show more »
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. Show less «
Success is like death. The more successful you become, the higher the houses in the hills get and the higher the fences get.
Success is like death. The more successful you become, the higher the houses in the hills get and the higher the fences get.
"Beyond the Sea (2004) is not a linear story at all. It's not what people will expect and it's not a biopic. It's my statement".
"Beyond the Sea (2004) is not a linear story at all. It's not what people will expect and it's not a biopic. It's my statement".
If you're lucky enough to do well, it's your responsibility to send the elevator back down.as quoted in Woman's World, 2-22-05 issue.
If you're lucky enough to do well, it's your responsibility to send the elevator back down.as quoted in Woman's World, 2-22-05 issue.
I was beginning to feel I just didn't want to go through another 10 years of living in hotels, making three or four movies a year. I long fo...Show more »
I was beginning to feel I just didn't want to go through another 10 years of living in hotels, making three or four movies a year. I long for the ritual of theater. I adore it. And I want to do plays that challenge me. Show less «
The movies are not my first priority - the theater is.
The movies are not my first priority - the theater is.
If you look at how most artistic beginnings have been greeted in this country [UK], I'm in very good company. I know I'm a bigger target as ...Show more »
If you look at how most artistic beginnings have been greeted in this country [UK], I'm in very good company. I know I'm a bigger target as long as I'm seen as a Hollywood movie star instead of as an actor of the theater, even an artistic director. They don't accept that I come in to work here every day, and have done for the last two-and-a-half years, and will continue to do so. Show less «
There is no prize, out there. The only prize is, this one, and what you feel and what you want to accomplish. And if you can, as you start o...Show more »
There is no prize, out there. The only prize is, this one, and what you feel and what you want to accomplish. And if you can, as you start out, these what could be lean years or could be fat years. I feel that I very often watch a lot of young people sort of meander around without any idea about why they're doing what they're doing. I mean to want and to be ambitious and to want to be successful, is not enough. That's just desire. To know what you want, to understand why you're doing it, to dedicate every breath in your body to achieve... If you feel you have something to give, if you feel that your particular talent is worth developing, is worth caring for then there's nothing you can't achieve. Show less «
"As far as I'm concerned, when I looked at what happened in my career in 2000 - after American Beauty (1999) - I thought it couldn't get muc...Show more »
"As far as I'm concerned, when I looked at what happened in my career in 2000 - after American Beauty (1999) - I thought it couldn't get much better. What was I going to spend the rest of my life doing? Trying to top myself? Trying to stay hot, trying to make sure I was in the right movies? I don't give a s**t. I'm trying to do something with my success which is bigger than myself. I'm no longer interested in my personal career. I am interested in the impact I can have on a lot of other people's careers and on audiences". Show less «
John Normington was a remarkable talent and all of us at the Old Vic are deeply saddened by his passing. We were fortunate to have John in t...Show more »
John Normington was a remarkable talent and all of us at the Old Vic are deeply saddened by his passing. We were fortunate to have John in the company of The Entertainer, where so many audiences had the chance to see his extraordinary performance as Archie Rice's father. John brought a wide range of experience to his characters throughout a diverse and successful career that touched the lives of all who worked with him. We were honored to have enjoyed John's company for as long as we had him. His spirit and influence remained throughout and now that same spirit joins the other great actors who have played the Old Vic stage, where he will always be remembered with admiration and affection. They don't make them like him anymore. We send our love and condolences to John's partner, family and friends. Show less «
[As Artistic Director of London's Old Vic Theatre] I'm living my dream. I'm doing it the way I want to do it. I'm working with an extraordin...Show more »
[As Artistic Director of London's Old Vic Theatre] I'm living my dream. I'm doing it the way I want to do it. I'm working with an extraordinary group of people at that theatre who are dedicated and who really have in so many ways helped us discover what our ethos is. Show less «
I don't care about my personal acting career any more. I'm done with it. After 10 years of making movies and going better than I ever could ...Show more »
I don't care about my personal acting career any more. I'm done with it. After 10 years of making movies and going better than I ever could have imagined, I sort of had to ask myself: What am I supposed to do with all of this success that I have had? Am I just going to keep making movie after movie and be concerned with all of that 'Are you up, are you down, are you hot, are you not?', and I don't really care. What I care about is working with people, what I care about is the remarkable experience of being able to be a part of bringing people together. Show less «
I was doing a play called 'The Iceman Cometh' at the Old Vic, and in the middle of the quietest moment of the second act, a phone started ri...Show more »
I was doing a play called 'The Iceman Cometh' at the Old Vic, and in the middle of the quietest moment of the second act, a phone started ringing. I felt the anger starting in my toes and it came right out of my mouth, as loud as anything else I'd said on the stage, I looked out to the audience and said, 'Tell them we're busy!' And it got a round of applause. Show less «
I love living in London. I can say with all sincerity that London is my home. This is my seventh year in London, fifth season at the Old Vic...Show more »
I love living in London. I can say with all sincerity that London is my home. This is my seventh year in London, fifth season at the Old Vic. I will never renounce being American but there is a part of me that is British now. I may go for dual citizenship, who knows? Show less «
(On traveling to Africa with Bill Clinton in 2002) He invited me. It was an opportunity to go to Africa, which I'd always been fascinated by...Show more »
(On traveling to Africa with Bill Clinton in 2002) He invited me. It was an opportunity to go to Africa, which I'd always been fascinated by. He's the first president to go there while he was in office. He went to raise money and awareness for a number of issues: AIDS, debt, economic relief. We went to seven different countries in 10 days-Ghana, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, and then to the town of Johannesburg for an event with Mandela. It was just a remarkable experience. Show less «
[on undertaking dark roles]: They're great parts! These are the parts audiences love to hate! First of all, you don't play a villain. You pl...Show more »
[on undertaking dark roles]: They're great parts! These are the parts audiences love to hate! First of all, you don't play a villain. You play a person who is doing things they think are quite justified. It's not one thing that makes a person do something. It's a lifetime of experience and motivations and relationships and terrors. We too often, conveniently and cutely, try to label everything so that we understand it, and there are things we'll never f---ing understand. ever. All we can do is just watch them. Show less «
[on Se7en (1995)] I liked it because it was such a dangerous script and showed just what human beings are capable of. Here was a movie in wh...Show more »
[on Se7en (1995)] I liked it because it was such a dangerous script and showed just what human beings are capable of. Here was a movie in which Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt, who always win in every movie they ever do, simply don't win. I felt that was outrageous for a commercial movie....It's a great thriller or mystery, but on another level it's a film about the fact that, if you only look at a person through one lens, or only believe what you're told, you can often miss the truth that is staring you in the face. It's so easy for us to misperceive and see the things in others that we want to see. And, when we're wrong, and often we're dead wrong, we miss the truth. Show less «
[on Albino Alligator (1996)] Directing a film was something I was yearning to do. I always wanted to see if I had the capacity to be a good ...Show more »
[on Albino Alligator (1996)] Directing a film was something I was yearning to do. I always wanted to see if I had the capacity to be a good storyteller. Show less «
Sometimes the person who is the most logical is the person whom we call insane.
Sometimes the person who is the most logical is the person whom we call insane.
I'm lucky if I find one movie a year that's worth doing, and when I do find one, it usually only takes 20-30 days to shoot.
I'm lucky if I find one movie a year that's worth doing, and when I do find one, it usually only takes 20-30 days to shoot.
I'm aware that, from the outside, this looks like I've got quite an ego.
I'm aware that, from the outside, this looks like I've got quite an ego.
[on House of Cards (2013) and Netflix] This is a really new perspective... to drop them [release the episodes] all at once but I think that'...Show more »
[on House of Cards (2013) and Netflix] This is a really new perspective... to drop them [release the episodes] all at once but I think that's how we watch TV now. Because this is the first time they [Netflix] are doing drama, they don't even have the offices to do this compared with the other networks. I feel sorry for the makers of the third series they do - when they have the offices (and can interfere). Show less «
[on the current state of film versus TV] I was lucky to get into film at a time (the 1990s) that was very interesting for drama. But if you ...Show more »
[on the current state of film versus TV] I was lucky to get into film at a time (the 1990s) that was very interesting for drama. But if you look now, the focus is not on the same kind of films that were made in the 90s. When I look now, the most interesting plots, the most interesting characters, they are on TV. Show less «
[on Netflix airing all 13 episodes of House of Cards (2013) at once] I think in some ways maybe this proves, with the way in which an audien...Show more »
[on Netflix airing all 13 episodes of House of Cards (2013) at once] I think in some ways maybe this proves, with the way in which an audience has been able to find the series, that we have learned the lesson the music industry didn't learn. Give people what they want it, in the form they want it in, at a reasonable price, and they will buy it and they won't steal it. Show less «
The camera doesn't know if it's a TV camera, or a streaming camera, or. a movie camera - it is just a camera. It doesn't change our process ...Show more »
The camera doesn't know if it's a TV camera, or a streaming camera, or. a movie camera - it is just a camera. It doesn't change our process in terms of how we work. What did change our process was that we weren't obligated or asked by Netflix to do a pilot. We were just able to get on with the story-telling from the get-go. Show less «
I'm used to people thinking I'm nuts. And you know what? I kind of love it.
I'm used to people thinking I'm nuts. And you know what? I kind of love it.
[on why he hasn't made a movie since Horrible Bosses (2011)] Unless it's Martin Scorsese, and it's a really significant role, fuck off. I'm ...Show more »
[on why he hasn't made a movie since Horrible Bosses (2011)] Unless it's Martin Scorsese, and it's a really significant role, fuck off. I'm not playing someone's brother. I'm not playing the station manager. I'm not playing the FCC chairman. Show less «
The theater has always been dying. They've been saying that for centuries. And you know what, it just keeps limping along and doing alright....Show more »
The theater has always been dying. They've been saying that for centuries. And you know what, it just keeps limping along and doing alright. By the way, the single biggest money-making franchise in the United States is Broadway.... I think, and this is my honest opinion, as long as people want to tell stories, and as long as people want to hear those stories, the theater will be alive and well for all time. [2014] Show less «
[on the difference between working in film and on stage] Theater is my primary allegiance. And I've not only had such an extraordinary life ...Show more »
[on the difference between working in film and on stage] Theater is my primary allegiance. And I've not only had such an extraordinary life in the theater, but I've also been given the incredible opportunity to have a life in film... But I always try to remember this: no matter how good an actor might be in movie, they'll never be any better in that movie. That's it. But in theater, we can be better next Tuesday than we were this Tuesday, we can be better infinitely. It is why we call the film 'Now.' It's not just the first word of the first sentence of the play, it is what theater is, it's NOW, it's at this moment, it's here and it's gone. And to people who think it's the same thing every night, I always make the analogy that it's like tennis. You can go out and play tennis eight times a week. And it's always the same rules, but it's always a different game, every single time. That's what it's like, when we go on stage every night. [2014] Show less «
I look at the last 10 years, where I've done a play every year... and I'd like to think that this decade has made me a better actor. All tha...Show more »
I look at the last 10 years, where I've done a play every year... and I'd like to think that this decade has made me a better actor. All that work has prepared me to do the best work that I can do, and I'm pretty convinced that if I hadn't gone and done this, I wouldn't have been prepared for a thing like 'House of Cards.' [2014] Show less «
[on Horrible Bosses 2 (2014)] I think it is a little bit crazier. I'm very glad that almost everybody is back for it and I so love working w...Show more »
[on Horrible Bosses 2 (2014)] I think it is a little bit crazier. I'm very glad that almost everybody is back for it and I so love working with Jason Sudeikis and Jason Bateman and Charlie Day because being opposite them in a scene when they're riffing and they're improv-ing and they're trying different ways to do scenes, it is the hardest thing in the world not to absolutely lose your cookies. We spend most of our time laughing and any time somebody wants to pay me to come and laugh all day long, I'm there. Show less «
I am one of these actors where I believe very strongly that if you want to get a part, you have to do anything within reason to get that par...Show more »
I am one of these actors where I believe very strongly that if you want to get a part, you have to do anything within reason to get that part. I admire Woody Allen so much. I was at a point where every time he announces a new movie, I never get an audition and nobody ever calls me to come in. I was like, "You know what? I am going to just write Woody Allen." So, I introduced myself and sent him a Netflix subscription and said "I don't know if you've seen my work, but you might want to watch this series." He wrote me back a warm and wonderful letter, and thanked me for the Netflix. He said he'd seen me play lots of different roles and said he absolutely would consider me in a film. Show less «
I was in a piano bar. Some guy was absolutely convinced that I was that musician...what's his name? The guy in Genesis? Phil Collins! To the...Show more »
I was in a piano bar. Some guy was absolutely convinced that I was that musician...what's his name? The guy in Genesis? Phil Collins! To the point that I even put on a British accent and signed a napkin as him. Show less «
My interest is not to repeat myself. There's a danger in this business. You get known for something. Then people who make movies want you to...Show more »
My interest is not to repeat myself. There's a danger in this business. You get known for something. Then people who make movies want you to do it again and again in their movie, except their movie isn't a good one. So I resist doing the same character. American Beauty and Negotiator were different from each other and completely different from any film or genre I've done. They were good actor's pieces. For Negotiator, I also thought it would be really fun to see what Sam Jackson and I could do with the story. Show less «
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President Richard M. Nixon
John Williamson
Lex Luthor
Dave Harken
Larry Hooper
Buddy Ackerman
David Gale
Lester Burnham
Martin Cahill
Lloyd Chasseur
D.A. Rufus Buckley
Chris Sabian
GERTY
Eugene Simonet
Kirgo
Jim Williams
Micky Rosa
Clyde
Sam Rogers
Casey Schuler
Albert T. Fitzgerald
Harry Kingsley
Hopper
Tom Brand
Jack Abramoff
Roger 'Verbal' Kint
John Doe
Prot
Francis Underwood
Doc
Det. Jack Vincennes
Himself - Host, Neil Young, Phillip Sarc, The Falconer
Francis Underwood