Kevin Spacey

Lore & Background

Kevin Spacey began his film career with small roles in Mike Nichols's comedy-drama films Heartburn (1986) and Working Girl (1988). He won two Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actor for playing a con man in The Usual Suspects (1995) and Best Actor for playing a suburban husband and father going through a midlife crisis in American Beauty (1999). His other films include Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), Outbreak (1995), Se7en (1995), A Time to Kill (1996), L.A. Confidential (1997), Pay It Forward (2000), Superman Returns (2006), 21 (2008), Margin Call (2011), Horrible Bosses (2011), and Baby Driver (2017). He has also directed the films Albino Alligator (1996) and Beyond the Sea (2004).

In Broadway theatre, Spacey starred in a revival of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night in 1986. He won a Tony Award in 1991 for his role in Lost in Yonkers. He won a Laurence Olivier Award for his performance in a revival of The Iceman Cometh in 1999. Spacey portrayed the title role in Richard III in 2011 and Clarence Darrow in a West End production of Darrow in 2015. He was the artistic director of the Old Vic theatre in London from 2004 to 2015, for which he received the Society of London Theatre Special Award. In 2017, he hosted the 71st Tony Awards.

In television, Spacey portrayed Ron Klain in Recount (2008) and produced Bernard and Doris (2008), both for HBO Films. From 2013 to 2017, he starred as Frank Underwood in the Netflix political drama series House of Cards, which won him a Golden Globe Award and two consecutive Screen Actors Guild Awards for Best Actor. Both Spacey and the show itself were nominated for five consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series and Outstanding Drama Series, respectively.

Reader's Guide

Kevin Spacey's significance lies in his versatile performances across film, television, and theatre, earning him some of the highest honors in entertainment, including two Academy Awards and a Tony Award. His role as Frank Underwood in House of Cards defined a new era of streaming television and won him a Golden Globe. However, his legacy is complicated by allegations of sexual misconduct that emerged in 2017. The article notes that during 2018 and 2019, he faced multiple criminal investigations, but in each case he was either not charged or the charges were dropped due to reasons such as death, refusal to testify, and statute of limitations. He denied the accusations and was found not liable in a 2022 lawsuit in New York. In a separate case in London, he was acquitted by a jury of sexual assault charges in 2023. These legal outcomes have left his public standing deeply divided, with his artistic achievements often weighed against the allegations.

Did You Know?

• Spacey was named an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2015.
• He won his first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Usual Suspects (1995).
• He was the artistic director of the Old Vic theatre in London from 2004 to 2015.
• Spacey was acquitted by a jury of sexual assault charges in London in 2023.

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"Well, whoever Keyser Söze is, I can tell you he is going to get gloriously drunk tonight." — Kevin Spacey "Dianne, thank you for teaching me about caring about the right things, and I love you." — Kevin Spacey "Sometimes the person who is the most logical is the person whom we call insane." — Kevin Spacey