James Spader Biography

James Todd Spader (born February 7, 1960) is an American actor best known for his eccentric roles in films such as Pretty in Pink, Less Than Zero, Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Crash, Stargate, Secretary, and Lincoln. His most famous television roles are those of the colorful attorney Alan Shore in The Practice and its spin-off Boston Legal, for which he won three Emmy Awards, and Robert California in The Office. He currently stars as Raymond "Red" Reddington in The Blacklist. He is set to play Ultron in Marvel Studios' upcoming film The Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Early life

Spader was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Jean (née Fraser) and Stoddard Greenwood "Todd" Spader, both teachers. One of Spader's great-great-grandfathers was William Ingersoll Bowditch (of the historic William Ingersoll Bowditch House); Spader's ancestors also include deaf educator Laurent Clerc, mathematician Nathaniel Bowditch, American Revolution general Joshua Babcock, and Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia Paul Mascarene.

During his early education, Spader attended The Pike School (where his mother taught art) and enrolled in the Brooks School (where his father taught), for one year, in North Andover, Massachusetts. Spader later transferred to Phillips Academy, but dropped out of school in the eleventh grade to pursue acting at the Michael Chekhov School in New York City. Before becoming a full-time actor, Spader held a variety of jobs including being a yoga instructor, busboy, truck driver, stable boy, and railroad-car loader.

Career

Spader's first major film role was in 1981 as Brooke Shields' brother in Endless Love, and his first starring role was in Tuff Turf alongside good friend Robert Downey, Jr. However, he did not rise to stardom until 1986, when he played Molly Ringwald's arrogant rich playboy foil Steff in Pretty in Pink. He starred opposite Andrew McCarthy, another friend, in Mannequin, and in the film adaptation of Less Than Zero, where he played a drug dealer named Rip. Supporting roles in movies such as Baby Boom and Wall Street followed until his critical breakthrough in 1989. In Sex, Lies, and Videotape, he played a sexual voyeur named Graham Dalton who complicates the lives of three Baton Rouge residents. For this performance, he received the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival. His roles in the early 1990s included playing a young, affluent widower opposite Susan Sarandon in White Palace, John Cusack's best friend in True Colors, and a poker-playing drifter who collides with Mandy Patinkin in The Music of Chance. In 1994, he starred as Egyptologist Daniel Jackson in the blockbuster film Stargate. He played car-accident fetishist James Ballard in the controversial Canadian film Crash in 1996 and assassin Lee Woods in 2 Days in the Valley. In 1997, Spader guest starred in an episode of Seinfeld as an angry recovering alcoholic who refuses to apologize to George for making fun of him. In 2000, he played a drug-addicted detective tracking down serial killer Keanu Reeves in The Watcher. In 2002, he starred as Maggie Gyllenhaal's sadistic boss in the critically acclaimed Secretary.

From 2004 to 2008, Spader starred as the lead character Alan Shore in the television series Boston Legal, in which he reprised his role from the television series The Practice. Spader won the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series Emmy Award for his portrayal of Alan Shore in 2004, on The Practice and won it again in 2005 and 2007, for Boston Legal. With the 2005 Emmy Win, Spader became one of the few actors (along with co-star William Shatner as Denny Crane) to win an Emmy award while playing the same character in two different series. Even rarer, Shatner and Spader each won a second consecutive Emmy while playing the same character in two different series. Spader also won the Satellite Award for Best Actor in a Series, Comedy or Musical for Boston Legal in 2006.

In October 2006, Spader narrated China Revealed, the first episode of Discovery Channel's documentary series Discovery Atlas. Boston Legal castmate Candice Bergen would follow him in narrating France Revealed. He has also done the voice-over in several television commercials for Acura.

Spader starred as a lead character in Race, a play written and directed by David Mamet, alongside Richard Thomas, David Alan Grier and Kerry Washington. It opened on December 6, 2009 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on Broadway. The show closed on August 21, 2010 after 297 performances.

In March 2011, Spader was named to star in By Virtue Fall, a film written and to be directed by Sheldon Turner. Also set to star in the film are Eric Bana, Carla Gugino, Ryan Phillippe, Treat Williams and Kim Coates. , the movie is in pre-production, and set to be released 2013.

Spader was one of a number of prominent guest stars in "Search Committee," the final episode of season 7 of The Office. He portrayed a man named Robert California. On June 27, 2011, Ricky Gervais (an executive producer on the show) announced Spader was to join the cast on a permanent basis. Spader planned to stay only through the eighth season, and while the original plan was just to do the guest appearance, executive producer Paul Lieberstein said, "those two scenes became a season."

On August 29, 2013, Marvel Studios announced that Spader will join the The Avengers: Age of Ultron cast as villainous robot Ultron. Scheduled for a 2015 release, the film is the sequel to the 2012 release The Avengers.

In September 2013, Spader will star on NBC's television series, The Blacklist, portraying the fictional Raymond "Red" Reddington, one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives.

Personal life

Spader met his first wife, Victoria Kheel, a decorator, while working in a yoga studio, after he moved to New York in the 1980s. They married in 1987 and have two sons, Elijah and Sebastian. Spader filed for divorce from Kheel in 2004 and, , has plans to marry his girlfriend (and former Alien Hunter co-star), Leslie Stefanson, with whom he had another son in August 2008.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1978	Team-Mates	Jimmy
1981	Endless Love	Keith Butterfield	as Jimmy Spader
1985	Tuff Turf	Morgan Hiller
	The New Kids	Dutra
1986	Pretty in Pink	Steff
1987	Mannequin	Richards
	Baby Boom	Ken Arrenberg
	Less Than Zero	Rip
	Wall Street	Roger Barnes
1988	Greasy Lake	Digby
	Jack's Back	John/Rick Westford	Nominated"?Saturn Award for Best Actor
1989	Sex, Lies, and Videotape	Graham Dalton	Cannes Film Festival: Best Actor Nominated"?Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Nominated"?Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead
	The Rachel Papers	Deforest
1990	Bad Influence	Michael Boll
	White Palace	Max Baron
1991	True Colors	Tim Gerrity
1992	Storyville	Cray Fowler
	Bob Roberts	Chuck Marlin
1993	The Music of Chance	Jack Pozzi
	Dream Lover	Ray Reardon
1994	Wolf	Stewart Swinton	Nominated"?Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
	Stargate	Dr. Daniel Jackson
1996	Crash	James Ballard
	2 Days in the Valley	Lee Woods
	Keys to Tulsa	Ronnie Stover
1997	Driftwood	The Man
	Critical Care	Dr. Werner Ernst
1998	Curtain Call	Stevenson Lowe
2000	Supernova	Nick Vanzant
	The Watcher	Joel Campbell
	Slow Burn	Marcus
2001	Speaking of Sex	Dr. Roger Klink
2002	Secretary	E. Edward Grey	Nominated"?Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor
	The Stickup	John Parker
2003	I Witness	Douglas Draper
	Alien Hunter	Julian Rome
2004	Shadow of Fear	William Ashbury
2009	Shorts	Mr. Black
2012	Lincoln	William N. Bilbo	Nominated"?Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2013	The Homesman	Aloysius Duffy	Post-production
2015	The Avengers: Age of Ultron	Ultron	Pre-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	Cocaine: One Man's Seduction	Buddy Gant	TV movie
	Diner	Fenwick	TV short
	A Killer in the Family	Donny Tison	TV movie
	The Family Tree	Jake Nichols	TV series
1984	Family Secrets	Lowell Everall	TV movie
1985	Starcrossed	Joey Callaghan	TV movie
1994	Frasier	Steven (voice)	TV series Episode: "Slow Tango in South Seattle"
1997	Seinfeld	Jason 'Stanky' Hanky	TV series Episode: "The Apology"
2003	The Pentagon Papers	Daniel Ellsberg	TV movie
2003"2004	The Practice	Alan Shore	TV series Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (2004)
2004"2008	Boston Legal		TV series Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (2005, 2007) Satellite Award for Best Actor " Television Series Musical or Comedy (2006) Nominated"?Golden Globe Award for Best Actor " Television Series Drama (2005) Nominated"?Golden Nymph for Outstanding Actor"?Drama Series (2009) Nominated"?Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (2008) Nominated"?Satellite Award for Best Actor " Television Series Drama (2004) Nominated"?Satellite Award for Best Actor " Television Series Musical or Comedy (2005) Nominated"?Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series (2005-2007) Nominated"?Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (2005-2007)
2006	Discovery Atlas	Narrator	TV series documentary Episode: "China Revealed"
2011"2012	The Office	Robert California	TV series Nominated"?Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2012)
2013	The Blacklist	Raymond "Red" Reddington	TV series