James Spader

Lore & Background

Spader began acting in youth-oriented films such as Tuff Turf, The New Kids (both 1985), Pretty in Pink (1986), and Mannequin (1987). His breakthrough role came in Steven Soderbergh's drama Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989), for which he received the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor. He then starred in films such as White Palace (1990), True Colors (1991), Stargate (1994), 2 Days in the Valley (1996), and Secretary (2002). Spader took supporting roles in Bob Roberts (1992), Wolf (1994), Lincoln (2012), and The Homesman (2014). He also played the role of Ultron in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) and is set to reprise the role in VisionQuest (2026). His television roles include the attorney Alan Shore in the last season of The Practice (2003–2004) and its spin-off Boston Legal (2004–2008), which earned him three Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. He portrayed Robert California in the sitcom The Office (2011–2012). He then starred as Raymond Reddington in the NBC crime thriller television series The Blacklist (2013–2023), for which he received two Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Actor – Television Series Drama.

Reader's Guide

James Todd Spader was born on February 7, 1960, in Boston, Massachusetts, and is the youngest of three children. His parents, Jean (née Fraser) and Stoddard ('Todd') Greenwood Spader, were both teachers. He grew up on the North Shore near Andover, Massachusetts, and in Marion, Massachusetts, near Cape Cod. He worked at the General Grocery Store where he was simply known as 'Jimmy'. He has two older sisters, Libby Spader and Annie Spader. According to Spader, he had a very progressive and liberal upbringing. 'I was always around dominant and influential women, and that left a great impression'. Spader is a sixth-generation descendant of Connecticut politician Seth P. Beers. Laurent Clerc, co-founder of the American School for the Deaf, is his 3rd great-grandfather. During his early education, he attended many private schools, including The Pike School in Andover where his mother taught art, and the Brooks School in North Andover where his father was a teacher. He later transferred to Phillips Academy, befriended President John F. Kennedy's son John F. Kennedy Jr., dropped out at the age of seventeen, and moved to New York City to pursue his acting career. While studying to become a full-time actor, Spader undertook jobs including bartending, teaching yoga, driving a meat truck, loading railroad cars, and being a stable boy.

Did You Know?

• Spader won three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for playing Alan Shore in The Practice and Boston Legal.
• He received the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor for his role in Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989).
• Spader is a sixth-generation descendant of Connecticut politician Seth P. Beers.
• He has obsessive–compulsive disorder, as revealed in a 2014 Rolling Stone interview.

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"James Todd Spader (born February 7, 1960, in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American actor." — James Spader "Love is the one emotion actors allow themselves to believe." — James Spader "I enjoy the most that Alan seems to be the happiest the stranger that it can be. I don't think it ever can be strange enough for him." — James Spader "I'd like to thank the academy and I'd like to thank my mother and I'd like to thank my mother again, because I forgot to thank her last year." — James Spader