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 (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. 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. 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, a sadistic Hollywood exec in Swimming with Sharks, and, most famously, creepy, smooth-talking eyewitness Verbal Kint in The Usual Suspects.

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 (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, Spacey made his own directorial debut with Albino Alligator, 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 and genteel, closeted murder suspect Jim Williams in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. In October 1999, just four days after the dark suburban satire American Beauty 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.


The Negotiator (1998): $4,500,000

Auditioned for "The Gong Show" (1976) in 1978 and was rejected. His mother was his date for the Oscars the night he won. Was paid 225 pounds per week for appearing in the play "The Iceman Cometh" at the Almeida Theatre in London (1998). 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." Voted greatest actor of the decade by Empire Magazine. [May 1999] Was the first choice to play the role of Lester Burnham in American Beauty (1999). Listed as one of Entertainment Weekly's 25 Best Actors [1998] Studied drama at Juilliard School for 2 years. 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." Was the first Academy Award winner to be on "The Daily Show" (1996). Supporter of London's Old Vic Theater, co-hosting fund-raiser for it in NYC, April 2002. Dedicated the Oscar that he won for Best Actor in American Beauty (1999) to Jack Lemmon. Spacey has said in interviews that he based his performance of Lester Burnham on Lemmon's C.C. Baxter in The Apartment (1960). Appropriately, there is a family connection between those films: Lemmon's love interest was Shirley MacLaine, whose sister-in-law, Annette Bening played Spacey's wife. Named as Artistic Director of the Old Vic Theatre in London, England, UK. Has an older brother, Randall, and an older sister, Julie Ann. Has a nephew and a niece. He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1999 (1998 season) for Best Actor for his performance in The Iceman Cometh. 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. 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. 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. Shares a birthday with Sandra Bullock, Kate Beckinsale Jeremy Piven, Stanley Kubrick and Mick Jagger. Father Thomas Fowler died in 1992. Mother Kathleen died of a brain tumor in 2003. His performance as "Verbal Kint" in The Usual Suspects (1995) is ranked #100 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time. Has twice shaved his head completely bald to play the villain in movies. He did it to play "John Doe" in Se7en (1995) and "Lex Luthor" in Superman Returns (2006). As part of his research for the role of Bobby Darin in the film Beyond the Sea (2004), Spacey watched several of Michael Bublé's performances. Has a black mongrel terrier called Mini. "She is named after the car.". His older brother, Randy, makes a living as a Rod Stewart impersonator. Ranked #10 in the 2008 Telegraph's list "the 100 most powerful people in British culture". Co-hosted the Noble Peace Prize concert for Al Gore because Tommy Lee Jones had to drop out at the last minute. Visited Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for Carnival. [February 2008] Thanked by the band Matchbox 20 in the liner notes of their album "Yourself or Someone Like You".