Short Biography

James Todd Spader (born February 7, 1960) is a three time Emmy Award-winning and Satellite Award-winning American actor. He is perhaps best known for his eccentric roles in movies such as Pretty in Pink; Sex, Lies, and Videotape; Crash; Stargate; and Secretary; as well as his portrayal of the colorful attorney Alan Shore on the television series The Practice; and its spin-off Boston Legal.

Spader was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of teachers Jean and Todd Spader. During his early education, he attended The Pike School (where his mother taught art) and enrolled in the Brooks School (where his father taught) for one year in North Andover, Massachusetts. Spader later transferred to Phillips Academy, but dropped out of school in the eleventh grade to pursue acting at the Michael Chekhov School in New York City. Before becoming a full-time actor, Spader held a variety of jobs including being a yoga instructor, busboy, truck driver, stable boy, and railroad-car loader.

Spader met his first wife, Victoria Kheel, a decorator, while working in a yoga studio after he moved to New York in the 1980s. They married in 1987 and have two sons, Elijah and Sebastian. Spader filed for divorce from Kheel in 2004 and currently has plans to marry his girlfriend (and his former co-star), Leslie Stefanson, with whom he had a child in September 2008. Spader is known to his friends as "Jimmy," loves to cook, has very poor eyesight, and likes to point out that even though his characters can be sleazy at times, he is actually a nice, friendly guy in real life.

Miscellaneous Information

Friends and Family

Jean Spader [Mother]

Todd Spader [Father]

Eric Stoltz [Friend]

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