| Kevin Spacey (born, 1959) is a popular American film and theater actor. He won an “Oscar” award twice (1995 - for Best Supporting Actor in the movie “The Usual Suspects” and in 1999 - for Best Actor in the film “American Beauty”). Sometimes he tries his hand at being a film director and producer. Since 2004, he is also the art director of one of the London theatres and is staging shows as the theatrical director.
Biography:
Kevin Spacey was born on July 26, 1959 in the small American city of South Orange, New Jersey State.
Interesting facts:
* In January, 2006, the British tabloid The Daily Mirror stated that the name of Kevin Spacey had appeared in the list of popular gays, used within the frameworks of the program on preventive homophobia among senior students. Head of the program Paul Patrick apologized for including Kevin Spacey’s name in the list “by mistake” and stated that Kevin Spacey’s name would be deleted from the list.
Kevin Spacey (birth name Kevin Fowler) was born in South Orange (New Jersey State) on July 26, 1959 to a secretary and a technical writer. Kevin Spacey received education in Northridge Military Academy and college at “Wiley” in Los Angeles. Apart from this, for two years he studied drama at the Juilliard School.
In 1981, Kevin Spacey debuted on the theatrical stage in one of the Shakespeare shows. Kevin Spacey owes the theater for his first role in cinema. The small role in the stage show “Hurlyburly” was offered by Mike Nichols, who paid attention to Kevin’s role in Tom Stoppard’s play. The acting of Kevin has impressed Nikolza and soon he offered Kevin a small role in the film “Heartburn” (1986) and two years later in one more movie “Working Girl” (1988).
In late eighties and in the beginning of the nineties, Kevin received many offers in films one after the other but he did not stop working in theaters. Kevin received his first leading role in the film “Consenting Adults” (1992) by Alan J. Pakula. Another notable work by Kevin was his role in the film “Swimming with Sharks” (1994), in which Kevin was, for the first time, one of the producers. He got flattering responses from film critics and he received a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award cinema in the same year for role in the movie “The Ref!” (1994).
Kevin Spacey attained a new level of popularity in 1995 after receiving an “Oscar” in the “Best Supporting Actor” category for his role in the movie “The Usual Suspects” (1995). The same year, he portrayed a small role in the picture “Seven” by David Fincher.
In 1996, Kevin debuted as director in the movie “Albino Alligator” (1996). The movie failed miserably at the box office collecting less than half a million dollars. Two more movies by Kevin were released the same year – Al Pacino’s documentary television movie “Looking for Richard” (1996), in which the actor played himself and Joel Schumacher's criminal thriller “A Time to Kill” (1996).
Kevin was nominated and received his second “Oscar” in the Best Actor category in 1999 for his brilliant performance in the bestseller from Sam Mendes “American Beauty” (1999).
Judging by the number of roles portrayed by the actor, he did not intend to stop at receiving two “Oscars”. Thus, in the case of Kevin Spacey, compromise on quality did not occur even after increasing the quantity. For the last eight years, the actor was seen portraying roles in almost twenty movies: “Ordinary Decent Criminal” (2000), “K-Pax” (2001), “The Life of David Gale” (2003), “Superman Returns” (2006) and “21” (2008).
In 2004, Kevin Spacey made one more attempt to don the director’s cap in the biographic picture “Beyond the Sea” (2004), in which he personally played the leading role. The second attempt of Kevin Spacey as a director failed like the first one.
Upcoming movies with one of the most highly paid Hollywood actors “Psychoanalyst” and “The Trial of the Chicago Seven 7” will be released in 2009. |
Enigmatic and talented Kevin Spacey celebrates his 50th birthday this Sunday. After growing up in California and trying a lot of small supporting roles in film and television, Kevin rose to international fame after his role in "The Usual Suspects" - the role which got Spacey his first Academy Award. His second Oscar was for his brilliant performance in "American Beauty." 
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