Kevin Spacey Fowler (born July 26, 1959 in South Orange, New Jersey) is an American actor, director, producer and screenwriter.
Though he claims to be a theater actor at heart and always put the stage before the screen, he has had roles in countless films, including...
- Sadistic boss Buddy Ackerman in Swimming with Sharks
- Handicapped small-time criminal Verbal Kint in The Usual Suspects (winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor)
- Midlife-crisis-sufferer Lester Burnham in American Beauty (winning the Academy Award for Best Actor)
- A mental patient who may well be an extraterrestrial in K-PAX
- Ruthless supervillain Lex Luthor in Superman Returns (in which he was reunited with Usual Suspects director Bryan Singer)
- Suave detective Jack Vincennes in L.A. Confidential
- An MIT math professor-turned-blackjack-hustler in 21
- Legendary American singer-songwriter Bobby Darin in the biopic Beyond the Sea, a film which he also directed, produced and co-wrote
From 2013 to 2017, he also starred in the Netflix original series House of Cards as the morally ambiguous congressman Frank Underwood, additionally serving as one of the show's executive producers.
In addition to his dramatic and comedic roles, Spacey is well-known as one of the best impressionists in Hollywood, as demonstrated on
Inside the Actors Studio and his multiple Saturday Night Live appearances.
In October 2017, actor Anthony Rapp accused Spacey of having made sexual advances toward him in 1986, when Rapp was 14 years old and Spacey was 24. Spacey responded on his Twitter that he had no memory of the encounter, but offered his "sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior." In the same tweet, Spacey publicly came out as gay, which caused outrage in the LGBTQ community, as they accused Spacey of using a Coming-Out Story as a distraction from the allegations (and also because it feeds into an idea that they really don't want to be associated with). Shortly thereafter, Harry Dreyfuss accused Spacey of assaulting him in 2008, and several others came forward with similar accusations. Outside the film industry, the Old Vic Theatre in London announced that twenty different people had accused him of sexual harassment/assault during his tenure as Artistic Director, with fourteen allegations relating to behaviour that would constitute criminal offenses.
As a result, Spacey quickly became a Persona Non Grata in the entertainment industry. He was fired from House of Cards and removed outright from the already-completed film All the Money in the World, his role being reshot with Christopher Plummer in his place.note Netflix also cancelled the production of a Gore Vidal biopic in which Spacey was supposed to star. Billionaire Boys Club, then his most recent film, was completed long before the allegations came to light, but had trouble finding a distributor even before his fall from grace. It took over two years to be released, and when it was, it posted miserable opening day numbers at the box office.note
Spacey's charges were all eventually dismissed (as most of them had crossed the statute of limitations, and three accusers died before their court cases could move forward), and he returned to acting in 2021 with an appearance in Franco Nero's L'uomo che disegnò Dio (The Man Who Drew God), albeit with his role dubbed by Italian actor Roberto Pedicini. In 2020, Anthony Rapp sued Spacey for reasons related to his initial allegationnote ; the trial lawsuit took place in October 2022, and ended with the jury finding Spacey not liable. Between May and November 2022, he received a total of 12 new sex offense charges against four complainants relating to events that were alleged to have taken place between 2001 and 2013. Three of the charges were dismissed, and he was ultimately cleared of the remaining nine charges in July 2023.
In the time since the allegations broke, Spacey also made a name for himself through his YouTube channel by posting several videos on Christmas Eve from 2018 to 2020 and again in 2023 without any explanation, much to the Internet's bewilderment. In the first two, he gave monologues while in character as Frank Underwood, which many interpreted as alluding to his real-life sentiments on his allegations in some indiscernible way. In the third, he began the same as before but then broke character to speak as himself, expressing sympathy amid the COVID-19 Pandemic and promoting several hotlines. In the fourth, he returned to being fully in character as Frank for a sit-down interview with Tucker Carlson.
Filmography:
- Working Girl (1988) — Bob Speck
- See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989) — Kirgo
- Henry & June (1990) — Richard Osborn
- Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) — John Williamson
- Iron Will (1994) — Harry Kingsley
- The Ref (1994) — Lloyd Chasseur
- Swimming with Sharks (1994) — Buddy Ackerman
- Outbreak (1995) — Casey Schuler
- Se7en (1995) — John Doe
- The Usual Suspects (1995) — Roger "Verbal" Kint/Keyser Söze
- A Time to Kill (1996) — D.A. Rufus Buckley
- L.A. Confidential (1997) — Jack Vincennes
- Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997) — Jim Williams
- The Negotiator (1998) — Chris Sabian
- Hurlyburly (1998) — Mickey
- A Bug's Life (1998) — Hopper (voice)
- American Beauty (1999) — Lester Burnham
- Pay It Forward (2000) — Eugene Simonet
- K-PAX (2001) — prot
- The Shipping News (2001) — Quoyle
- Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002) — Kevin Spacey as Dr. Evil in Austinpussy
- The Life of David Gale (2003) — David Gale
- Beyond the Sea (2004) — Bobby Darin (also director and co-writer)
- Edison (2005) — Det. Levon Wallace
- Superman Returns (2006) — Lex Luthor
- Fred Claus (2007) — Clyde
- 21 (2008) — Mickey Rosa
- Moon (2009) — GERTY (voice)
- The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009) — Larry Hooper
- Horrible Bosses (2011) and sequel (2014) — Dave Harken
- Margin Call (2011) — Sam Rogers
- Nine Lives (2016) — Tom Brand / Mr. Fuzzypants (voice)
- Baby Driver (2017) — Doc
- Billionaire Boys Club (2018) — Ron Levin
- Wiseguy (1987–90) — Mel Profitt
- House of Cards (2013–17) — Francis "Frank" Underwood
- Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (2014) — Jonathan Irons
