Kevin Spacey was born Kevin Fowler on July 26th, 1959 in South Orange, New Jersey. The youngest of three children of a technical writer father and secretary mother, Kevin describes himself as a "little terror." The family moved to Southern California and after an incident with a book of matches and his sister's tree house, Kevin's parents enrolled him in Northridge Military Academy.

He attended Chatsworth High School with Val Kilmer and was co-valedictorian with Mare Winningham. He was involved in drama and with the encouragement of Val Kilmer attended the drama program at Julliard. He dropped out of Julliard after two years to join the New York Shakespeare Festival as an office stooge and neophyte actor. He made his off-Broadway debut as a messenger in Jeseph Papp's production of "Henry V." Shortly after Papp fired Spacey from his assistant's job, telling him that if he stayed on, he would eventually get too comfortable and never pursue his acting with the necessary intensity.

Spacey made his film debut in Mike Nichols' "Heartburn" which lead to his role on television's "Wiseguy" as Mel Profitt. Rolling Stone's garnered him the title of "most intriguing TV villain of all time" for the 1988 "Hot List.'

His star has been rising ever since and has starred in dozens of movies including; "Henry and June" (1990), "Lost in Yonkers," for which he won a Tony Award, "Seven," "A Time to Kill," L.A. Confidential," "Outbreak" and many others.

He gained world notoriety with his role in Bryan Singer's "The Unusual Suspects," winning an Academy Award for his performance. Kevin accepted his Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and thanked his mother (who was also his date for the evening) for driving him to acting lesions when he was a teenager.

Then in 1999 Kevin starred in "American Beauty" with Annette Bening. The movie was a huge success and dominated this years Academy Awards. Kevin again took home the Oscar, but this time it was for Best Actor. He gave an emotional speech and although his mother wasn't his date this year he did mention that it didn't matter what the media had said about him bringing her last time, he would have done it again had she been able to attend.

Kevin has said "I'd rather be in a movie that people say should have won than be in a movie that does, and then everybody says, 'Why did that win?'" Let's just hope to see more of him in the years to come whether it's in an Oscar winner or in an Oscar-should-have-been winner.