When it comes to modern acting, there are very few actors who can match the talents and charisma of Kevin Spacey. One only needs to take a look at his award shelf to see the amount of excellence Spacey is oozing as an actor in Hollywood. He has won a Tony Award, the Academy Award (Oscar) twice, and several other major industry awards.
The roster of excellent modern films is not complete without a sizeable number of films that Kevin Spacey has starred in. A few of them include The Usual Suspects, American Beauty, L.A Confidential, Seven, Swimming with Sharks, and many others. His role in Netflix’s House of Cards has been described by many as one of the best displays in modern television.
After years of trying and failing to be a comedian, Kevin Spacey enrolled at the prestigious art school in New York, Julliard School, where he learned drama. The actor has equally made fortune from his acting career, and there is a lot to talk about when it comes to Spacey, and we cover a bit of it below.
How Kevin Spacey Made His Wealth From Acting
Without a doubt, an acting titan like Kevin spent considerable time in the theatre. He began his career as a stage actor in 1981 and later made his way to Broadway within the first year of his career, appearing in plays like Ghosts, The Misanthrope, Hurlyburly, Sleuth, and a few more. What he earned from these plays laid the foundation for his net worth. Essentially, the plays gained him a lot of attention and made it possible for him to land other lucrative roles in the small and big screens.
His association with the theatre would span through his entire career so much that he would later win a Tony Award. However, he expanded his acting medium to film and television. He made his first appearance onscreen in 1986 playing a nameless character in the film Heartburn. In the following year, he appeared as Senator Rourke in Crime Story, a television show.
It became the start of a long career on screen for the actor whose career boasts of over 80 films and television shows. With each new role, he garnered a reputation in the industry as a brilliant actor. Early films like Swimming with Sharks and The Ref helped establish him as a budding star among critics. He then earned his first major award for playing Verbal Kint in The Usual Suspects. The role earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Throughout his career, Kevin Spacey has starred in other critically acclaimed films and television shows like Seven, American Beauty and House of Cards. In all, the actor amassed a huge net worth of $100 million; much of which has come from his work on Netflix’s House of Cards and other commercially successful movies like Superman Returns in 2006.
How The Actor Lost His Earning Power
His brilliant career came to an abrupt end when he was accused of sexual harassment by multiple people in 2017. With that, Kevin Spacey faced multiple sexual misconduct allegations and lawsuits that didn’t only dent his image but crippled his earning power. Following the sexual misconduct scandal, Forbes detailed how much he was poised to lose.
Among other things, he is not expected to earn from acting anymore as all the deals he had made in that regard were discarded. This includes the Gore Vidal biopic Netflix intended to have him play the lead role and the $500,000 thousand he was earning from each episode of House of Cards; he was butted-out of the show. In addition to the foregoing, he lost his job as a teacher with MasterClass, endorsement deals, and what have you.
Understanding Kevin Spacey’s Sexuality
Kevin Spacey did not have an ideal childhood, and some have even attributed the behaviors that have derailed his career as side effects of his childhood. The actor was born to Thomas Geoffrey Fowler and Kathleen Ann. He is one of the three children born to the couple. Kevin reportedly suffered sexual abuse at the hands of his father, it is believed that this shaped the actor who the world came to love on screen.
Spacey has never been married, and for a long time, he was not believed to have been in a relationship either, a fact that drew the curiosity of several people in the industry, particularly tabloids. Over the years, however, he was rumored to be in a relationship with a couple of people, particularly one Dianne Dreyer whom he went as far as appreciating during an acceptance speech for his Oscar award.
In October 2017, Kevin Spacey helped make sense of his relationship dilemma when he announced to the world that he was gay. The announcement came amid his defense against alleged sexual assault by Anthony Rapp. It was sometime in October 2017 that Rapp disclosed Spacey’s sexual advance towards him when he was only 14. Addressing Rapp’s allegation in a statement, the older actor said he can’t recall such an encounter but revealed that he has always been sexually attracted to men.
— Kevin Spacey (@KevinSpacey) October 30, 2017
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Controversies Surrounding His Coming Out and His Whereabouts
Unlike other popular figures who came out of the closet, Kevin Spacey was criticized for disclosing his sexual orientation the way he did. It was thought that his decision to come out as gay through a statement meant to address an allegation of his sexual assault on a minor was a move to change the narrative of him being a sexual predator.
As a result, popular members of the LGBT community called him out for trying to build a link between homosexuality and assaulting a minor. Spacey gradually slipped into obscurity after he was informed that coming out as a gay man is very different from coming out as a gay man who preyed on a minor.
Kevin Spacey has just invented something that has never existed before: a bad time to come out.
— billy eichner (@billyeichner) October 30, 2017
The LGBT community made it clear to him that he wouldn’t find solace under the rainbow for his sexual crimes, making it difficult for the actor to find any support that will keep him relevant. Kevin Spacey faced several legal problems that stem from the allegations of sexual assault and misconduct. He has been seen making court appearances, and his last film project was the film Billionaire Boys Club, which did poorly at the box office.
