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Kevin Spacey: American Beauty
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One of the great actors of the world, Kevin Spacey gained worldwide popularity for his spectacular portrayal of Lester Burnham, a man in a mid-life crisis, in Sam Mendes’ drama American Beauty (1999). For his excellent performance, he took home countless awards including an Academy award. He was ... impressive for his supporting turn as Roger ‘Verbal’ Kint in Bryan Singer’s The Usual Suspects (1995), in which he nabbed another Academy award.
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Upon American actor Kevin Spacey's appointment this winter as artistic director of London's famed Old Vic theatrical company, newspaper comment focused on the troupe's dire financial straits. Seems its current productions don't create the excitement that they did in the halcyon days when Laurence Olivier managed a tour-de-force double bill, playing a fop in Sheridan's The Rivals only to return a half an hour later to do the lead in Oedipus Rex.
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In 2003 Kevin Spacey is appointed first artistic director of The Old Vic Theatre in London. This made him the first American to ever become the director in the history of this British company. (edit)
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Perhaps one of the best actors to grace the silver screen, Kevin Spacey is best known for characters like Chuck Noblet in the TV series and movie Strangers with Candy. He does not associate himself with those filthy, liberal Hollywood-types and is a true American.
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Spacey's first professional stage appearance was as a messenger in a New York Shakespeare Festival performance of Henry VI, part 1 in 1981. The following year he made his first Broadway appearance in a production of Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts. He made his first major television appearance in the second season premiere of Crime Story, playing a Kennedy-esque American Senator. Although his interest soon turned to film, Spacey remained actively involved in the live theater community. In 1991, he won a Tony Award for his portrayal of "Uncle Louie" in Neil Simon's Broadway hit Lost in Yonkers. Spacey's father was unconvinced that Spacey could make a career for himself as an actor, and did not change his mind until Spacey became a well known theatre actor.[5]
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Spacey's acting career had a modest beginning, with theatrical appearances leading to small roles in films. Initially pegged as a character actor, he spent almost a decade toiling in supporting roles before breaking out with a series of dark, twisted characters like the deeply sadistic executive in 1994's Swimming With Sharks. The following year, he impressed critics with the performance that officially put him on the map, that of criminal Verbal Kint in The Usual Suspects. He earned his first Oscar for that performance, and then went on to bigger and darker things, playing a serial killer in the David Fincher blockbuster Se7en and detective Jack Vincennes in L.A. Confidential. In 1999, Spacey wowed critics and audiences alike in the suburban satire American Beauty.
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American Beauty