Kevin was born July 26, 1959, in South Orange, NJ, the youngest of three children. The family moved to the West coast when he was very young, so he was raised in Los Angeles. His dad worked as a technical writer at Lockheed, writing manuals for aircraft, while his mother worked as a secretary.

When he was younger, Kevin attended Northridge Military Academy. What lead up to the choice of this school isn't clear; Kevin has hinted there was an incident involving his sister's tree house and some matches....then again, it is possible that he was simply having a joke at the interviewer's expense. He got kicked out of the Academy for hitting another kid with a tire during a fight - this, Kevin swears, was self-defense, and that the other kid hit him first. Drama was suggested as a potential alternative to pugilistics by a counselor at his public junior high school. He attended Chatsworth High School (with Val Kilmer and Mare Winningham, with whom he was co-valedictorian of his class), performing in many productions, including The Sound of Music when he and Mare were seniors, with Mare as Maria and Kevin as Captain von Trapp. He then attended LA Valley College, beginning in stage productions and appearing in standup comedy clubs before moving to New York to study drama at Juilliard at Val Kilmer's encouragement.

Dropping out of Juilliard after two years, he made his Broadway debut as a messenger in Joseph Papp's production of Henry V. He did office chores, learning as much as he could, until Papp told him to go forth and test the wider waters: after seeing him in an off-Broadway production, Papp fired him from his assistant's job, telling him that if he stayed on, he would get too comfortable and never pursue his acting with the necessary intensity.

He landed a place in Mike Nichols' hit production of Hurlyburly. He understudied for every male role in the play, gradually replacing Harvey Keitel, and learned more of the ropes as he went along. Nichols then helped him get his first roles in film, namely in Heartburn, and then in Working Girl.

He has been working steadily in film and stage productions ever since. In 1991, he won the Tony Award for Featured Actor as Uncle Louie in Neil Simon's Lost in Yonkers.

Though he is probably best known for his work in film, he has worked in theater in Los Angeles, at the Seattle Repertory Theater, and in New York, both on and off Broadway. He continues to work in theater and film, along with occaisional side projects. He lives in Greenwich Village in NYC with his dog, Legacy.

Kevin Spacey and Legacy in NYC, 1991.

Kevin is apparently interested in and very knowledgable about film history. He is a big fan of the movie Lawrence of Arabia. Married? Well, last I read, he was still single...he seems to want to keep some parts of his life private, and that's...OK.

The 68th Academy Awards were a proud moment for Kevin. With his mother, Kathleen, and his agent Joanne looking on, Kevin accepted his Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. He thanked his mom for driving him to acting lessons when he was a teenager, holding up the statuette as proof that they had done some good - "here's the pudding, mom", he said emotionally at the end of his acceptance speech. She told the media that she always knew her son was going to be an actor. That same night, Kevin was being asked if there were any plans for a sequel to The Usual Suspects. "This is not Dallas", he replied, sounding exhilerated yet a bit exasperated by the question, "and I'm not Patrick Duffy."

For fun, read his "Top Ten List of best things about winning the Oscar", as read on the Letterman show, and another Top Ten list contributed by a fan.

Back to Sputnik Central, the Kevin Spacey Home Page