James Spader facts for kids

Quick facts for kids James Spader
Spader at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con
Born	James Todd Spader (1960-02-07) February 7, 1960 (age 65) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1978–present
Spouse(s)	Victoria Kheel ​ ​ (m. 1987; div. 2004)​
Partner(s)	Leslie Stefanson (2002–present)
Children	3

James Todd Spader (born February 7, 1960) is an American actor. He is famous for playing interesting and sometimes mysterious characters.

James Spader started his acting career in independent films. Later, he moved into television. He has won many awards for his acting. These include three Primetime Emmy Awards. He was also nominated for three Golden Globe Awards.

Spader first acted in movies for young people. Some of these were Tuff Turf (1985) and Pretty in Pink (1986). His big break came with the movie ..., Lies, and Videotape (1989). For this role, he won an award at the Cannes Film Festival. He also starred in Stargate (1994) and Secretary (2002).

He played Ultron in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015).

On TV, he is well-known for playing the lawyer Alan Shore. He played this role in The Practice (2003–2004) and Boston Legal (2004–2008). These roles earned him three Primetime Emmy Awards. He also played Robert California in The Office (2011–2012). From 2013 to 2023, he starred as Raymond Reddington in The Blacklist.

Early Life and Education

James Spader was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on February 7, 1960. He is the youngest of three children. His parents, Jean and Stoddard Spader, were both teachers. He has two older sisters, Libby and Annie.

James went to several private schools. His mother taught art at The Pike School in Andover. His father was a teacher at the Brooks School in North Andover. Later, he went to Phillips Academy. There, he became friends with John F. Kennedy, Jr..

At age seventeen, James left school. He moved to New York City to become an actor. To support himself, he worked many different jobs. He was a bartender, a yoga teacher, and even drove a meat truck. He also loaded railroad cars and worked as a stable boy.

Acting Career Highlights

Spader as Raymond Reddington in The Blacklist

James Spader's first big movie role was in Endless Love (1981). His first main role was in Tuff Turf (1985). He became very famous in 1986. This was when he played the rich character Steff in Pretty in Pink. He also starred in Mannequin (1987).

His breakthrough role was in ..., Lies, and Videotape (1989). For this, he won the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival. In the early 1990s, he played different roles. He was in White Palace (1990) and True Colors (1991).

In 1994, he starred as Egyptologist Dr. Daniel Jackson in the sci-fi movie Stargate. This film was very popular. In 1996, he played James Ballard in Crash. He also played an assassin in 2 Days in the Valley. In 2002, he starred in the movie Secretary.

From 2004 to 2008, Spader starred as Alan Shore in the TV series Boston Legal. He had played this character before in The Practice (2002). He won the Emmy Award for this role in 2004. He won it again in 2005 and 2007 for Boston Legal. This made him one of the few actors to win an Emmy for the same character in two different shows.

In 2006, Spader narrated "China Revealed". This was the first episode of the Discovery Channel series Discovery Atlas. He also did voice-overs for car commercials. In 2009, he acted in the play Race on Broadway.

In 2011, Spader joined the TV show The Office. He played Robert California in the final episode of season 7. He then became a regular cast member for season 8.

Spader starred in the TV series The Blacklist. It started in 2013 and ended in 2023, lasting ten seasons. He played Raymond "Red" Reddington, a very wanted criminal. He also played the robot villain Ultron in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). He will play Ultron again in the upcoming Disney+ series Vision Quest (2026).

Personal Life

James Spader met his first wife, Victoria Kheel, in the 1980s. They met while he was working at a yoga studio in New York City. They got married in 1987 and had two sons. They later divorced in 2004.

In 2002, he started dating actress Leslie Stefanson. They had one son together. In 2014, Spader shared that he has obsessive–compulsive disorder.

Filmography

Film

Television (selected)

Awards and Nominations

See also

In Spanish: James Spader para niños