James Spader

Born: February 7 1960
Where: Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Steven Soderbergh's Sex, Lies and Videotape gave Spader his breakthrough role and a best actor ward at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival.

Prior to that he had gained notice as the villainous best friend of Andrew McCarthy in Pretty in Pink and the lowlife cocaine dealer in Less Than Zero.

The son of teachers, Spader dropped out of college at the age of 17 to pursue an acting career in NYC.

Following his debut as Brooke Shields' brother in Endless Love, he worked in television for several years before a full time movie career.

Spader starred in the moderately successful White Palace opposite Susan Sarandon and was a standout as a slimeball in The Music of Chance.

Roles followed in Storyville as a corrupted New Orleans lawyer and in the erotic thriller Dream Lover.

He fared much better playing his trademark loathsome yuppie in support of Jack Nicholson and Michelle Pfeiffer for Wolf and in the surprise hit Stargate.

He was back to form as the scheming, amoral hit man characterized as 'evil incarnate' in John Herzfeld's 2 Days in the Valley.

Spader stepped boldly into Crash, David Cronenberg's world of fetishism and erotic obsession, where crumpled metal, broken glass and gaping wounds titillate.

He went on to cut a terrific presence with his dyed-black Elvis-style hair-do in the murder mystery Keys to Tulsa before giving a more conventional performance in Sidney Lumet's Critical Care.

Next up was disappointing sci-fi thriller Supernova before Secretary restored his reputation as a sex-obsessed boss opposite Maggie Gyllenhaal.