James Todd Spader was born on February 7, 1960, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Jean (Fraser) and Stoddard Greenwood "Todd" Spader, both of whom were teachers.
He attended Phillips Academy in Andover, where he was a classmate of director Peter Sellars. However, he dropped out of school in eleventh grade, opting instead to pursue a more unconventional path.
Before landing his first acting roles, Spader worked a variety of jobs, including bussing tables, shoveling manure, and teaching yoga.
His first major film role was as Brooke Shields' brother in the romantic drama Endless Love (1981). He then transitioned to television movies, eventually making his way into the Brat Pack films, where he often played the role of a scoundrel.
Spader's breakthrough performance came in 1989, when he played a sexual voyeur in the film Sex, Lies, and Videotape. This role earned him the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival and led to more varied and significant roles in the years that followed.
One of his most iconic roles is that of the colorful attorney Alan Shore on the David E. Kelley television series The Practice (1997) and its spin-off Boston Legal (2004). For his portrayal of this character, Spader won three prime-time Emmy Awards for Best Actor in a Drama Series, out of four nominations he received between 2004 and 2008.
In addition to his Emmy Awards, Spader received a Golden Globe nomination and several Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for his work as Alan Shore.
