Anecdotes

Was expelled from Northridge (CA) Military Academy for throwing a tire at a classmate.

In February 2001, he appears twice in Total Film's (U.K) '10 Greatest Villains of All Time' poll. His "John Doe", from Sept (1995), reached #10, while his character in Suspects de convenance (1995) was voted #5.

His mother was his date for the Academy Awards the night he won.

Burned his sister's treehouse down when they were children. This caused his parents to opt for military school, which he promptly left for Chatsworth High School.

His older brother, Randy Fowler, makes a living as a Rod Stewart impersonator and limousine driver based in Boise, Idaho.

In a Butterfields L.A. auction on September 10, 2001, the Oscar won by George Stoll for Anchors Aweigh (1945) was being auctioned for $157,000. He bought it and returned it to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

In May 1999, he was voted greatest actor of the decade by Empire magazine.

On April 17, 2004, he suffered a head injury in London after tripping over his dog while pursuing a young man who had stolen his cell phone. Initially, he reported that the injury was the result of a mugging, but later admitted the truth and stated that he was embarrassed by the situation.

Is only one of eight actors who have a 2-0 win-loss record when nominated for an acting Oscar, his two wins for Suspects de convenance (1995) and Beauté américaine (1999). The others are Luise Rainer for The Great Ziegfeld (1936) and The Good Earth (1937); Vivien Leigh for Autant en emporte le vent (1939) and Un tramway nommé désir (1951); Helen Hayes for The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931) and Airport (1970); Hilary Swank for Les garçons ne pleurent pas (1999) and La fille à un million de dollars (2004); Christoph Waltz for Le commando des bâtards (2009) and Django déchaîné (2012); Mahershala Ali for Moonlight - L'histoire d'une vie (2016) and Le livre de Green (2018); and Adrien Brody for Le pianiste (2002) and Le Brutaliste (2024).

He was well known in Hollywood for his impressions. When he appeared on Inside the Actors Studio (1994), he imitated James Stewart, Johnny Carson, Katharine Hepburn, Clint Eastwood, John Gielgud, Marlon Brando, Christopher Walken, Al Pacino and Jack Lemmon. As a young actor in New York City, he used his skill to pretend to be Carson's son to obtain free theater tickets and enter Studio 54.

Has said that working with Jack Lemmon on a stage production of Long Day's Journey Into Night (1987) (the television edition of the stage production) changed his life. Previously possessive of a reckless ambition, he said he was amazed at how Lemmon was both a great actor and generous to a fault as both a co-star and a human being, teaching him that being a good person and a good actor were not mutually exclusive. He still considers Lemmon his role model.

His performance as Verbal Kint in Suspects de convenance (1995) is ranked #100 on Premiere magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.

Was the first choice to play President Whitmore in Le jour de l'indépendance (1996), but an executive at 20th Century Fox refused to let producer Dean Devlin cast him in the role, feeling he didn't have the potential to be a big-time movie star. Ten months later, Spacey won his first Academy Award. Independence Day was about aliens attacking Earth. He would later play an alien visiting the Earth in K-PAX - L'homme qui vient de loin (2001).

After he dropped out of Julliard, he worked as a shoe salesman and a superintendent in his apartment building.

Attended Chatsworth (CA) High School with Val Kilmer.

Has twice shaved his head completely bald to play the main villain in movies. He did this to play John Doe in Sept (1995) and Lex Luthor in Le retour de Superman (2006).

The character Deadshot from "Justice League" had his voice and personality based on Spacey.

His production company, TriggerStreet, is named after an actual street in the San Fernando Valley where he grew up and dreamed of building a theatre and making movies. The late cowboy star Roy Rogers once owned a ranch on the land and named the street for his horse Trigger.

In October 1997, he was ranked #56 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list.

Was the first choice to play the role of Lester Burnham in Beauté américaine (1999).

Spencer Tracy, Henry Fonda, James Stewart, Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino and Jason Robards are his idols.

In Total Film's Top 100 Greatest Movie Villains, he ranked 65 for his role as Buddy Ackerman in Bye Bye boss (1994). His Keiser Soze in Suspects de convenance (1995) was ranked 52 and his John Doe in Sept (1995) was ranked 13.

On November 16 2017, the Old Vic confirmed that it had received 20 testimonies of alleged inappropriate behavior by Spacey, with three persons stating that they had contacted the police.

Dedicated the Academy Award that he won for Best Actor in Beauté américaine (1999) to Jack Lemmon. Spacey has said in interviews that he based his performance of Lester Burnham on Lemmon's C.C. Baxter in La garçonnière (1960). Appropriately, there is also a family connection between those films: Lemmon's love interest was Shirley MacLaine, whose sister-in-law, Annette Bening played Spacey's wife.

On October 29, 2017, Anthony Rapp alleged that Spacey, while appearing intoxicated, made a sexual advance toward him in 1986, when Rapp was 14 and Spacey was 26. Rapp had also shared this story in a 2001 interview with The Advocate, but Spacey's name was redacted from publication to avoid legal disputes and public outing. Spacey stated through Twitter that he did not remember the encounter, but that he owed Rapp "the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior" if he had behaved as asserted.

In October 2008, he started the Kevin Spacey Foundation in the United Kingdom to encourage youth involvement in the arts. Headquartered in England and Wales, its purpose was to provide grants to individuals and organizations to help young people study the arts, particularly theatre. The charity shut down in February 2018 following sexual misconduct allegations against Spacey.

Fifteen individuals accused him of sexual abuse, including journalist Heather Unruh (who alleged that Spacey sexually assaulted her son); Norwegian author and former royal family member Ari Behn; filmmaker Tony Montana; actor Roberto Cavazos; Richard Dreyfuss' son Harry; and eight people who worked on House of Cards (2013). The Guardian was contacted by "a number of people" who worked at the Old Vic, where Spacey was artistic director for 11 years; they alleged that he "groped and behaved in an inappropriate way with young men at the time".

Thanked by the rock band Matchbox Twenty in the liner notes of their album "Yourself or Someone Like You" (1996).

During his appearance on BBC TV's Parkinson (1971) in March 2002, he did impressions of Jack Lemmon, Bill Clinton, Judi Dench, Katharine Hepburn, Al Pacino, Ian McKellen, Peter O'Toole and James Stewart.

To pay his way through Juilliard School, he worked in the school's admin office.

In March 2011 - following Belarusian president Aleksandr Lukashenko's crackdown on the Belarusian democracy movement - Spacey joined Jude Law on the street in a protest against Lukashenko's regime.

When they were both performing on Broadway (1998), he would often meet Dame Judi Dench during intermission or between shows.

He has appeared in one film that has been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Los Angeles interdite (1997).

Was the first Academy Award winner to be on The Daily Show (1996).

In September 2018, a lawsuit filed at Los Angeles Superior Court claimed that Spacey sexually assaulted an unnamed masseur at a house in Malibu, California, in October 2016.

Divides his time between London, England and Los Angeles, California.

Ranked #10 in the 2008 Telegraph's list "the 100 most powerful people in British culture".

Attended Chatsworth (CA) High School in Los Angeles with Mare Winningham. During their senior year, he played Von Trapp and she played Maria in a school production of "The Sound of Music". Upon hearing of their Oscar nominations in 1996, Winningham sent a telegram to Spacey saying: "Captain Von Trapp--congratulations on your nomination--Maria".

As part of his research for the role of Bobby Darin in Bobby Darin (2004), he watched several of Michael Bublé's performances.

Co-hosted the Nobel Peace Prize concert for Al Gore because Tommy Lee Jones had to drop out at the last minute.

Auditioned for The Gong Show (1976) and was rejected (1978).

In January 2016 it was announced that Relativity Media, which was just emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, had acquired Trigger Street Productions and that Spacey would become chairman of Relativity Studios while Dana Brunetti would become the studio's president. Spacey called the move "an incredible opportunity to make great entertainment" and said he considered it the "next evolution in my career". However, when the paperwork for the studio was filed for the court, it emerged that Spacey had opted out of assuming the chairmanship of the studios, and by the end of 2016 Brunetti had also left Relativity whilst both remained Executive Producers on House of Cards (2013) and Manifesto (2015).

Voted Man of the Year in Theater by GQ magazine (1999).

Father Thomas Fowler passed away (1992). Mother Kathleen Fowler passed away of a brain tumor (2003).

Credits Mel Profitt on Wiseguy (1987) as being his "breakthrough role".

He was considered for the role of Raoul Silva in 007 Skyfall (2012), which went to Javier Bardem.

His Oscar-winning performance as Verbal Kint from his film Suspects de convenance (1995) was ranked #48 on the American Film Institute's Villains list in their compilation of the 100 years of The Greatest Screen Heroes and Villains.

In September 2000, he made People magazine's (USA) 'Best-Dressed' list.

He was awarded the honorary CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2010 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to drama. He was awarded honorary Knight Bachelor of the Order of the British Empire in the 2015 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to drama and theatre especially as artistic director of the Old Vic Theatre in London, England.

In 2018, Earl Blue, owner of the security company VIP Protective Services, accused Spacey of using racial slurs against his predominately African-American staff when they were hired on the House of Cards (2013) set in 2012 and getting him fired.