James Spader

James Todd Spader was born on February 7, 1960 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The son of teachers, he attended Phillips Academy, and his acting career was gradual, without much fanfare. The most striking thing about his early days was the role of Brooke Shields ‘ brother in Franco Zeffirelli ‘s Endless Love (1981). Because the rest were inglorious telefilms, with roles that barely gave him enough to pay for his chickpeas. The 1983 series pilot that grew out of Barry Levinson ‘s nostalgic Diner might have been an option, but it didn’t pan out. In Tuff Turf(1985) was the youthful handsome protagonist, the boy had sex appeal, but little else. Of course, it allowed him to be in The Girl in Pink (1986), with the screenwriter of adolescent stories of the moment, John Hughes .

1987 was a good year, somehow Spader became a suitable face for the eighties decade of the hits in the stock market, the American nightmare and the difficulty of reconciling work and family, themes present in Wall Street , Blow to the American dream and Baby, you are worth a lot

But undoubtedly the moment of glory and splendor for the actor came with Sex, Lies and Videotapes (1989), an indie film par excellence, Palme d’Or at Cannes, which put not only its director and screenwriter Steven Soderbergh on the map , but to his leading couple, Spader and Andie MacDowell . He was in charge of the sets Victoria Wheel, whom he had married in 1987 and who gave him two children, although the marriage broke up in 2004. Then with his girlfriend Leslie Stefanson had a third child from him in 2008.

It is curious to note that although Spader did not lack work in the 90s, even in films of some interest, he never achieved the status, let alone a star, but simply of what we could call a “popular actor”, perhaps his characters, whom you never quite met and with whom it was difficult to empathize, did not help. Perhaps he did not want to be tied to commercial cinema, he continued to move within the borders of more or less indie cinema, with titles such as Passion Without Barriers (1990) with Susan Sarandon , The Color of Ambition (1991), together with John Cusack , Citizen Bob Roberts (1992), political satire by Tim Robbins , The Music of Chance(1993), adaptation of Paul Auster ‘s novel , Crash (1996) , a somewhat sadomasochistic proposal by weirdo David Cronenberg , or In Critical Condition (1997), decidedly not the best of Sidney Lumet . About Two Days in the Valley (1994) the little that can be said is that he shared the bill with a Charlize Theron who was attracting attention for the first time.

The attempt to do something for the general public could not have been more wrong, Stargate, door to the stars (1994) was a science fiction “Egyptian” quite firecracker, not to mention the unrepeatable Supernova (2000), of the worst ever filmed by Walter Hill . And it weighed on him that his name was associated with stories loaded with sex, since he had to make the forgettable Hablando de sexo (2001) and the rather twisted Secretary (2002).

The stroke of luck came with a couple of shyster series, El Abogado (2003) and then, with more prominence, the spin-off, Boston Legal (2004), quite popular, and where he did not lack work until 2008, in addition to give him the Emmy. From there, on a smaller screen, he would go on to the American version of The Office . And we had almost forgotten him for the cinema when Steven Spielberg has rescued him for the big screen in his Lincoln (2012), where he gives life to a historical figure, WN Bilbo, who composes with authority, a race politician in search of votes for the abolition of slavery, a noble task.