Kevin Spacey

Kevin Spacey Fowler, born July 26, 1959, in South Orange, New Jersey, is an American actor whose career has spanned stage, film, and television. His accolades include two Academy Awards, a Tony Award, two Laurence Olivier Awards, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, and nominations for twelve Emmy Awards. Born to Kathleen Ann Fowler, a secretary, and Thomas Geoffrey Fowler, a technical writer and data consultant, Spacey relocated with his family to Southern California at age four. He has a sister and an older brother, Randy Fowler, from whom he is estranged. Spacey graduated co-valedictorian of the Chatsworth High School class of 1977, alongside Mare Winningham, having previously attended Northridge Military Academy and Canoga Park High School. At Chatsworth, he played Captain Georg von Trapp in the school's senior production of The Sound of Music, with Winningham as Maria. He subsequently studied drama with teacher Marian Seldes at the Juilliard School in New York City as a member of Group 12 between 1979 and 1981, though he did not graduate. During that period he performed comedy in bowling alley talent contests. He adopted "Spacey" as his professional surname, taken from his paternal grandmother's maiden name.

His first professional stage appearance came in 1981 as a spear carrier in a New York Shakespeare Festival production of Henry VI, Part 1. The following year he made his Broadway debut as Oswald in Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts, a production starring Liv Ullmann and directed by John Neville that opened at the Eisenhower Theater at Washington's Kennedy Center. He subsequently appeared as Philinte in Molière's The Misanthrope and, in 1984, rotated through each of the male parts in David Rabe's Hurlyburly. He also appeared alongside David Strathairn and Colleen Dewhurst in Anton Chekhov's The Seagull, and performed in a New Jersey dinner theatre production of Sleuth in 1986.

Spacey's stage profile rose considerably in 1986 when he was cast as Jamie, the eldest Tyrone son, opposite Jack Lemmon, Peter Gallagher, and Bethel Leslie in Jonathan Miller's production of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night on Broadway. Lemmon became a mentor to Spacey and was present, along with Spacey's high school drama teacher, when Spacey received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1999. In 1991, Spacey won both the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play for his portrayal of Uncle Louie in Neil Simon's Lost in Yonkers. He later earned a Laurence Olivier Award for his performance in a revival of The Iceman Cometh in 1999. His Broadway activity spanned from 1982 to 2007 and also included a production of Eugene O'Neill's A Moon for the Misbegotten. In 2011, Spacey portrayed the title role in Richard III, and in 2015 he played Clarence Darrow in a West End production of Darrow. From 2004 to 2015, he served as artistic director of the Old Vic theatre in London, a tenure for which he received the Society of London Theatre Special Award. He was named an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2015, and in 2017 he hosted the 71st Tony Awards.

Spacey's film career began with small roles in Mike Nichols's Heartburn (1986), in which he played a subway thief, and Working Girl (1988), in which he appeared as businessman Bob Speck. He went on to appear in the ensemble film adaptation of David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), Iron Will (1994), and The Ref (1994) opposite Judy Davis, before gaining wide recognition as the enigmatic criminal Verbal Kint in Bryan Singer's The Usual Suspects (1995), a role that earned him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. His other films from that decade include Outbreak (1995), Se7en (1995), Swimming with Sharks (1995), A Time to Kill (1996), L.A. Confidential (1997), and American Beauty (1999), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor playing a suburban husband and father experiencing a midlife crisis. Later film credits include Pay It Forward (2000), Superman Returns (2006), 21 (2008), Margin Call (2011), Horrible Bosses (2011), and Baby Driver (2017). He also directed Albino Alligator (1996) and Beyond the Sea (2004).

On television, Spacey's early credits included a recurring role as arms dealer Mel Profitt on Wiseguy (1988), a guest appearance in Crime Story (1987), and a role in the miniseries The Murder of Mary Phagan (1988) opposite Jack Lemmon. He later portrayed Ron Klain in the HBO film Recount (2008) and produced Bernard and Doris (2008) for HBO Films. From 2013 to 2017, he starred as Frank Underwood in the Netflix political drama House of Cards, earning a Golden Globe Award and two consecutive Screen Actors Guild Awards for Best Actor in a Drama Series. Both Spacey and the series received five consecutive Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series and Outstanding Drama Series, respectively.

In 2017, Spacey faced allegations of sexual misconduct. Criminal investigations followed in 2018 and 2019, but in each instance he was either not charged or charges were dropped due to reasons including death, refusal to testify, and statute of limitations. He denied the accusations and was found not liable in a 2022 civil lawsuit in New York. In a separate London case, a jury acquitted him of sexual assault charges in 2023.