James Todd Spader (born February 7, 1960) is an American actor. He is best known for portraying eccentric characters in films such as the drama
Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989), the action science fiction film
Stargate (1994), the controversial psychological thriller
Crash (1996), the erotic romance
Secretary (2002), and the blockbuster superhero film
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015).
His best-known television roles are those of attorney
Alan Shore in
The Practice and its spin-off
Boston Legal (for which he won three
Emmy Awards), and
Robert California in the comedy-mockumentary
The Office. He currently stars as high-profile criminal-turned-
FBI-informant Raymond "Red" Reddington in the
NBC crime drama
The Blacklist, for which he has earned two
Golden Globe Award nominations.
Spader's first major film role was in the film
Endless Love (1981), and his first starring role was in
Tuff Turf (1985). However, he did not rise to stardom until 1986, when he played the rich, arrogant playboy Steff in
Pretty in Pink. He co-starred in
Mannequin (1987) and the film adaptation of
Less Than Zero (1987), in which he played a drug dealer named Rip. Supporting roles in films such as
Baby Boom (1987) and
Wall Street (1987) followed until his breakthrough in
Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989), in which he played a sexual
voyeur who complicates the lives of three
Baton Rouge, Louisiana residents. For this performance, he received the Best Actor Award at the
Cannes Film Festival.
[7]
Spader's roles in the early 1990s included a young, affluent widower opposite
Susan Sarandon in the romantic drama
White Palace (1990),
Rob Lowe in the Noir drama
Bad Influence (1990),
John Cusack's best friend in the drama
True Colors (1991), and a poker-playing drifter in
The Music of Chance (1993). In 1994, he starred as
Egyptologist Daniel Jackson in the sci-fi film
Stargate. In 1996, he played car accident fetishist James Ballard in the controversial Canadian film
Crash and assassin Lee Woods in
2 Days in the Valley. In 1997, Spader guest starred in the
Seinfeld episode "
The Apology", as an angry recovering alcoholic who refuses to apologize to
George for making fun of him. In 2000, he played a drug-addicted detective tracking down a
serial killer in
The Watcher. In 2002, he starred as a
sadistic boss in
Secretary.
From 2004 to 2008, Spader starred as
Alan Shore in the series
Boston Legal, in which he reprised his role from the television series
The Practice. He won the
Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 2004 for his portrayal on
The Practice and won it again in 2005 and 2007 for
Boston Legal.
[7][8][9]
With the 2005 win, he became one of only a few actors to win an Emmy
award while playing the same character in two different series. Even
rarer, he won a second consecutive Emmy while playing the same character
in two different series. He also won the
Satellite Award for Best Actor in a Series, Comedy or Musical for
Boston Legal in 2006.
[7]
In October 2006, Spader narrated "
China Revealed", the first episode of
Discovery Channel's documentary series
Discovery Atlas. He has also done the
voice-over in several television commercials for
Acura.
[10] He starred in
Race, a play written and directed by
David Mamet, which opened on December 6, 2009 at the
Ethel Barrymore Theatre on Broadway.
[11] The show closed on August 21, 2010 after 297 performances.
[12] In March 2011, he was named to star in the film
By Virtue Fall, written and to be directed by
Sheldon Turner. As of June 2011, the movie was in pre-production.
[13]
Spader guest starred as
Robert California in "
Search Committee", the
season 7 finale of
The Office. On June 27, 2011, it was announced that he would join the cast on a permanent basis.
[14]
He planned to stay only through the eighth season, and while the
original plan was just to do the guest appearance, executive producer
Paul Lieberstein said: "those two scenes became a season".
[15]
Spader stars in the
NBC series
The Blacklist, which premiered on
NBC September 23, 2013. He portrays Raymond "Red" Reddington, one of the
FBI's most wanted fugitives. He also played villainous robot
Ultron in
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015).