Kevin Spacey (born July 26 1959) is an Academy Award-winning American actor (film and stage) and director. Spacey grew up in California, and began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s, before being cast in supporting roles in film and television. He gained critical acclaim in the early 1990s, culminating in his first Oscar for 1995's The Usual Suspects (Supporting), followed by a Best Actor Oscar win for 1999's American Beauty. Spacey has since spent time working on stage productions in London, and has remained in the public eye, starring in several major Hollywood films, including Se7en, Pay It Forward, L.A. Confidential, and his most recent role in Superman Returns.

Spacey was born Kevin Spacey Fowler or Kevin Matthew Fowler in South Orange, New Jersey, the son of Kathleen A. (née Spacey; 5 December 1931 – 19 March 2003), a secretary, and Thomas Geoffrey Fowler (4 June 1924 – Atlanta, Georgia, 24 December 1992), a technical writer. He has two older siblings: a sister, Julie, and a brother, Randy. His father, who has been alleged by Fox News to have been a member of the American Nazi Party, was often unemployed, causing the family to move frequently, eventually settling in Southern California in 1963. Spacey attended Northridge Military Academy after he set his sister's treehouse on fire, but was asked to leave after throwing a tire at another student at the academy, and subsequently attended Chatsworth High School in Chatsworth, California. In the twelfth grade, he starred in the school's senior production of The Sound of Music, playing the part of Captain Georg von Trapp, opposite Maria (played by Mare Winningham). While in high school, he took his mother's maiden name, "Spacey" (originally a Welsh name, belonging to his great-great-grandfather, spelled "Spacy"), as his acting surname. Several reports have incorrectly suggested that he took the name in tribute to actor Spencer Tracy, combining Tracy's first and last names.

Spacey had tried to succeed as a stand-up comedian for several years, before attending the Juilliard School in New York City, where he studied drama, between 1979 and 1981. During this time period, Spacey performed stand-up comedy in bowling alley talent contests.

Spacey's first professional stage appearance was as a messenger in a New York Shakespeare Festival performance of Henry VI, part 1 in 1981. The following year he made his first Broadway appearance in a production of Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts. He made his first major television appearance in the second season premiere of Crime Story, playing a Kennedy-esque American Senator. Although his interest soon turned to film, Spacey remained actively involved in the live theater community. In 1991, he won a Tony Award for his portrayal of "Uncle Louie" in Neil Simon's Broadway hit Lost in Yonkers. Spacey's father was unconvinced that Spacey could make a career for himself as an actor, and did not change his mind until Spacey became a well known theatre actor.

Some of Spacey's earlier roles include a widowed eccentric millionaire on L.A. Law, the made-for-television film The Murder of Mary Phagan (1988) opposite Jack Lemmon, and the Richard Pryor/Gene Wilder-starring comedy See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989). Spacey earned an avid fan following after playing the criminally insane arms dealer Mel Profitt on the television series Wiseguy. He quickly developed a reputation as a character actor, and was cast in bigger roles, including one-half of the bickering Connecticut couple in the dark comedy The Ref (1994), a malicious Hollywood studio boss in the satire Swimming with Sharks, and the put-upon office manager in the all-star ensemble film Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), gaining him positive notices by critics.

In 1995, Spacey appeared in Se7en, and as the enigmatic criminal Verbal Kint in The Usual Suspects. His role in The Usual Suspects launched him to A-list status and won him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. In 1996, he played an egomaniacal district attorney in A Time to Kill, and founded Trigger Street Productions in 1997 with the purpose of producing and developing entertainment across various media. In 1996 he made his directorial debut with the film Albino Alligator. The film was a failure at the box office but Spacey's direction was praised.

Spacey won universal praise and an Best Actor Oscar for his role as a depressed suburban father who re-evaluates his life in 1999's American Beauty; the same year, he was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. During the several years following American Beauty's release, Spacey appeared in films that he believes "hadn't done as well critically or in terms of box office". He played a physically and emotionally scarred grade school teacher in Pay It Forward, a patient in a mental institution who may or may not be an alien in K-Pax, and singer Bobby Darin in Beyond the Sea. Beyond The Sea was a lifelong dream project for Spacey, who took on co-writing, directing, and starring duties in the biography/musical about Darin's life, career, and relationship with late actress Sandra Dee. Spacey provided his own vocals on the Beyond the Sea soundtrack and appeared in several tribute concerts around the time of the film's release. He received mostly positive reviews for his singing, as well as a Golden Globe nomination for his performance. However, reviewers criticized the age disparity between Spacey and Darin, noting that Spacey was too old to convincingly portray him. Spacey has said that despite criticism, he is still proud of the film.

Spacey's most recent film role is as the villainous Lex Luthor in the Bryan Singer-directed superhero film, Superman Returns. It has recently been confirmed that he will reprise the role in the upcoming sequel, scheduled for 2009. The film opened on June 28, 2006. Spacey also appears in Edison Force (originally titled Edison), co-starring Morgan Freeman and Justin Timberlake; Edison Force received a direct-to-video release on July 18, 2006.

Spacey's next film role is as the MIT lecturer in the film "21", where he stars alongside Kate Bosworth, Laurence Fishburne, and Jim Sturgess. The film is based on Ben Mezrich's best seller, Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions, a story about student MIT card-counters who used mathematical probability to aid them in card games such as Black Jack. As of March, 2007, filming for "21" has taken place at The Castle on the Boston University campus, the MIT campus, and Boston's Chinatown.

In 2001, Kevin co-hosted with Dame Judi Dench Unite for the Future Gala, the UK's fundraiser for the British Victims of 9/11 and Medecins Sans Frontieres at London's Old Vic Theatre, produced by Harvey Goldsmith and Dominic Madden. Spacey hosted the long-running NBC sketch show Saturday Night Live twice: once in 1997 with musical guest Beck and special guests Michael Palin and John Cleese from Monty Python's Flying Circus (where Spacey impersonated Christopher Walken, Walter Matthau, and Jack Lemmon in a three-part pre-taped sketch about actors who auditioned for the original Star Wars movie) and again in the last episode of the 31st season with musical guest Nelly Furtado (where Spacey played a detective in the sketch "Two A-Holes At A Crime Scene," one of the Falconer's past selves in Will Forte's "The Falconer" sketch, Neil Young in a fake commercial for a new album with songs by musicians who are against George W. Bush and his administration, and as himself in a "The Usual Suspects" parody where Andy Samberg lies to Spacey as to why he's late to the show).

Spacey is well-known in Hollywood for his skillful impersonations - when he appeared on Inside the Actors Studio he imitated, at the request of host James Lipton: Jimmy Stewart, Johnny Carson, Katharine Hepburn, Clint Eastwood, John Gielgud, Marlon Brando, Christopher Walken, Al Pacino and Jack Lemmon.

In February 2003, Spacey announced that he was returning to London to become the artistic director of the Old Vic, one of the city's oldest theatres. Spacey directed the new Old Vic Theatre Company, which stages shows eight months out of the year, starting in 2004. Spacey has noted that he is "having the time of [his] life" working at the Old Vic, and explained that at this point in his career, he feels that he is "trying to do things now that are much bigger than myself and outside of myself". During the 2004-05 season, Spacey directed a performance of the play Cloaca by Maria Goos, which opened to mixed reviews. He performed in productions of National Anthems by Dennis McIntyre, as well in The Philadelphia Story by Philip Barry, playing the role made famous by Jimmy Stewart in the film version. Critics applauded Spacey's daring for taking on the management of a theatre, but noted that while his acting was impressive, his skills and judgment as a producer/manager had yet to develop.

The 2006 season was a year of highs and lows for Spacey. He performed to good notices in the title role of Richard II (directed by Trevor Nunn), but suffered a humiliating failure with a production of "Resurrection Blues", a little-known Arthur Miller play, directed by film director Robert Altman. Despite an all-star Hollywood cast (including Neve Campbell and Matthew Modine) and the pedigree of Miller's script, Spacey's decision to lure Altman to the stage proved disastrous: after a fraught rehearsal period, the play opened to a critical panning, and closed only a few weeks into its run. Spacey resurrected his game later in the year, starring in Eugene O'Neill's A Moon for the Misbegotten along with Colm Meaney and Eve Best. The play received excellent reviews for Spacey and Best, and was transferred to Broadway in 2007.

He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by London South Bank University in November 2005.

Spacey is a friend of former President Bill Clinton, having met Clinton before his presidency began. Spacey has described Clinton as "one of the shining lights" of the political process. According to Federal Election Commission data, Spacey has contributed $42,000 to Democratic candidates and committees. He additionally had a cameo appearance in President Clinton: Final Days, a light-hearted political satire produced by the Bill Clinton administration for the White House Correspondents Dinner.

In September 2006, Spacey announced his intention to stay on at the Old Vic for at least another nine years, and that due to his continuing UK residency he intends to take-up British citizenship when it becomes available to him.

There has been persistent speculation about Spacey's sexual orientation, fuelled by a 1997 Esquire article on the actor, which implied he was gay. Spacey denied the allegation, telling Playboy magazine that the story "...was a setup." While Spacey is a bachelor and reticent about his personal life, he has consistently asserted that he is, in fact, heterosexual.

In September 2007, Spacey met Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez. Neither of them spoke to the press about their encounter, but hours later the actor visited the publicly funded movie studio, Cinema Villa. Later in December he was co-hosting the Nobel Peace Prize Concert together with Uma Thurman.

* "Mind Games" - Come Together: A Night For John Lennon's Words & Music - 02.Oct.2001 - Radio City Music Hall

* *Kevin Spacey's exclusive online worldpremier of "The Interrogation of Leo and Lisa" on May 16th 2007 *Kevin Spacey interview in the UK Independent on Sunday *Kevin Spacey's theater play for IWC "Interrogating Leo and Lisa" *Leading Men Working in the Theatre interview video at American Theatre Wing, May 2007