James Spader

Boston native James Spader -- born Feb. 7, 1960 -- dropped out of an exclusive prep school to pursue acting. After his first notable film role as Brooke Shields's brother in Endless Love (1981), Spader found himself typecast as a smarmy yuppie in movies such as Pretty in Pink (1986), Less Than Zero and Wall Street (both 1987).

For his portrayal of an impotent voyeur in 1989's sex, lies, and videotape, Spader bagged the Best Actor award at Cannes and pushed the boundaries of eroticism again in director David Cronenberg's controversial Crash (1996) and the indie hit Secretary (2002).

But it was Spader's stint on "The Practice" and lead role in the spinoff "Boston Legal" (as charismatic attorney Alan Shore) that took his career in a different direction, earning the actor three consecutive Emmys for playing the same character on two separate series.

Filmography