Phillips Academy. Photo: Daderot, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phillips_Academy,_Andover,_MA_-_Samuel_Phillips_Hall.JPG)
Phillips Academy. Photo: Daderot, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phillips_Academy,_Andover,_MA_-_Samuel_Phillips_Hall.JPG)
James Spader is an American actor known for films such as Endless Love, Pretty in Pink, and Sex, Lies, and Videotape, and for the television drama The Practice, which earned him a 2004 Emmy Award. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, he left school in the eleventh grade to study acting at the Michael Chekhov Studio in New York City.
Background
James Spader was born on February 7, 1960, in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of teachers Jean (née Fraser) and Stoddard Greenwood "Todd" Spader. Boston, the capital of Massachusetts, was the largest city in New England and a long-established center of education and commerce.
His parents' work in education connected him to two independent schools in the towns north of Boston. His mother taught art at The Pike School in Andover, and his father taught at The Brooks School in North Andover.
Education
During his early education, Spader attended The Pike School, where his mother taught art. The Pike School was founded in 1926 by Cynthia E. Pike, who began by teaching six students in her home. Today it is an independent coeducational day school in Andover, Massachusetts, serving students from Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 9.
He then enrolled for one year at The Brooks School, where his father taught. Brooks was founded in 1926 in North Andover on the model of the Groton School, and it was named for the Episcopal clergyman Phillips Brooks. It opened on September 29, 1927, with fourteen boys and became coeducational in 1979.
Spader later transferred to Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, founded in 1778 by Samuel Phillips Jr. It is one of the oldest boarding schools in the United States and was originally a school for boys, becoming fully coeducational by 1973. He dropped out in the eleventh grade to pursue acting.
He continued his training at the Michael Chekhov Studio in New York City. Former students of the Russian-born actor and teacher Michael Chekhov, who had developed his own approach to acting from the system of Konstantin Stanislavsky, opened the studio in 1980 and resumed the Chekhov training method there.
Before becoming a full-time actor, Spader held a variety of jobs, including yoga instructor, busboy, truck driver, stable boy, and railroad-car loader. His screen credits began with Team Mates in 1978. His first major film role came in 1981, when he played Brooke Shields' brother in Endless Love, a romantic drama directed by Franco Zeffirelli.
His first starring role came in Tuff Turf (1985), alongside his good friend Robert Downey Jr. In the mid-1980s he appeared in Pretty in Pink (1986), Mannequin (1987), Wall Street (1987), directed by Oliver Stone, Less Than Zero (1987), and Baby Boom (1987). In the late 1980s his credits included Jack's Back (1988), The Rachel Papers (1989), and Sex, Lies and Videotape (1989), the last directed by Steven Soderbergh.
During the 1990s he took roles in Bad Influence (1990), White Palace (1990), True Colors (1991), Storyville (1992), Bob Roberts (1992), The Music of Chance (1993), Dream Lover (1994), Wolf (1994), Stargate (1994), and Two Days in the Valley (1996). Later in the decade he appeared in Crash (1997), Keys to Tulsa (1997), Critical Care (1997), and Curtain Call (1999).
Spader also worked in television. His credits include the series The Family Tree (1983), Frasier (1994), and Seinfeld (1997), as well as television films such as Cocaine: One Man's Seduction (1983), Diner (1983), A Killer in the Family (1983), Family Secrets (1984), and Starcrossed (1985).
In the 2000s his film credits included Supernova (2000), The Watcher (2000), Slow Burn (2000), The Stickup (2001), Speaking of Sex (2001), Secretary (2002), I Witness (2003), Alien Hunter (2003), Shadow of Fear (2004), and Shorts (2009). He appeared in the television series The Practice (2003–2004), which led to an Emmy Award in 2004, and in the play Race in 2009.
Achievements
Established his screen career during the 1980s with films including Pretty in Pink (1986), Wall Street (1987), and Sex, Lies and Videotape (1989).
Religion
Spader's documented religious affiliation is Judaism. Judaism, one of the oldest monotheistic religions, traces its origins to the ancient Israelites and is grounded in the Torah, the covenant between God and the Jewish people, and a body of law, ethics, and commentary developed over many centuries.
Jewish life has developed through several movements, including Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform Judaism, which differ in their approaches to religious law and practice. Its emphasis on study, justice, and responsibility to others has shaped Jewish communities in many countries, including the United States, where Jewish congregations grew and diversified during the twentieth century.
Politics
Spader's recorded political affiliation is the Liberal party. Liberal parties developed in the nineteenth century as movements favoring parliamentary government, civil liberties, and, in many countries, free trade and limits on state power.
Over time, Liberal platforms in different countries came to combine individual freedom and market-oriented policies with social reform. Their positions varied according to national history and political circumstances.
Interests
Yoga. Spader practiced yoga and worked as a yoga instructor before becoming a full-time actor.
Writers
Mary Higgins Clark, John Grisham
Music & Bands
1980s music
Connections
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 had two sons, Elijah and Sebastian. Spader filed for divorce from Kheel in 2004.
As of June 2011, Spader planned to marry Leslie Stefanson, his girlfriend and former co-star. The couple had a child in August 2008.
Father:
Stoddard Greenwood Spader
Known as Todd. He taught at The Brooks School.
Mother:
Jean Spader
Née Fraser. She taught art at The Pike School.
Wife:
Victoria Kheel
A decorator whom Spader met while working in a yoga studio. They married in 1987, and Spader filed for divorce in 2004.
Son:
Elijah Spader
Son:
Sebastian Spader
Partner:
Leslie Stefanson
Former co-star and girlfriend of Spader. The couple had a child in August 2008.
Received for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 2004, for his role in The Practice (2003–2004). The Emmy Awards are presented by the Television Academy, the American organization that honors excellence in television.
Received for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 2004, for his role in The Practice (2003–2004). The Emmy Awards are presented by the Television Academy, the American organization that honors excellence in television.
