Biography
A chameleonic actor equally at home on stage or in film either as a hero or a villain, Kevin Spacey first gained notice with several strong stage performances both on and off-Broadway. Performing in stage productions of "Ghosts," "Long Day's Journey into Night" and "Hurlyburly" helped pave the way for a feature film career atop the A-list, though his real on-camera start came with his deliciously eccentric performance as a heroin-addicted millionaire on the cult television series, "Wiseguy" (CBS, 1987-1990). After making the segue into features, Spacey bounced around in supporting roles until he gained widespread recognition for "Glengarry Glen Ross" (1992), in which he managed to keep up with heavyweights Al Pacino, Alec Baldwin and his personal idol, Jack Lemmon. But it was his Academy Award-winning performance as the mysterious Verbal Kint in "The Usual Suspects" (1995) that propelled Spacey into the limelight. He made equally impressionable appearances in "L.A. Confidential" (1997) and "Se7en" (1997), cementing his status as a hypnotic performer willing to challenge himself by playing unique characters. Though he slipped a bit with "Pay It Forward" (2000) and "K-PAX" (2001), Spacey remained a vital force in films like "Superman Returns" (2006), while also assuming the role of artistic director of the Old Vic theatre in London in 2003. With award-worthy performances in the made-for-HBO movie "Recount" (2008), the feature "Casino Jack" (2010), and an appealingly villainous turn as crooked politician Frank Underwood in the series "House of Cards" (Netflix 2013-18), Spacey only enhanced his stature as one of Hollywood's most diverse and accomplished performers. In October 2017, an accusation by actor Anthony Rapp that Spacey had made sexual advances toward him when he was 14 caused Netflix to stop production on the final season of "House of Cards" during the era of show business self-examination brought on by the Harvey Weinstein scandal. As the allegations against Spacey grew in number, an unsettling portrait of the actor began to emerge, leading not only to his publicist and agents severing ties with him, but to the seemingly unprecedented step of director Ridley Scott removing Spacey from the completed J. Paul Getty biopic "All the Money in the World" (2017), re-filming his scenes with actor Christopher Plummer only weeks before the film was due to be released.
