The Thinking Person's Sex Symbol Everyone knows Kevin Spacey is a smart actor--you can tell from his choices. But few know what he's like in real life. Here he gives us a crash course in all things Kevin--from the actors who've inspired him and the Hollywood friends he keeps to the types of bars he enjoys and the traveling he's done with Bill Clinton. Kevin Spacey is one of Hollywood's more mysterious personalities. Many have seen his movies, but few know what the man behind those characters is all about. Is he the affable Everyman from The Shipping News? The pissed-off Everyman from American Beauty? Or the jaded wise guy from L.A. Confidential? Spacey's curious identity may be why director Alan Parker wanted him to play the title character in The Life of David Gale. Gale is an academic and anti-capital punishment advocate. His reputation is ruined when he's accused of rape by a former student. He then finds himself on death row for the sexual assault and barbaric murder of an anti-death penalty protest pal (played by Laura Linney). Days before his execution, Gale engages an aggressive magazine journalist (played by Kate Winslet) for three interviews in which she tries to uncover whether he deserves his lethal injection or is about to become an innocent victim of the system he fought against. Here are the things we do know about Kevin Spacey. He was born on July 26, 1959, in South Orange, New Jersey, to Thomas and Kathleen Fowler. His father's job transplanted the family to Southern California. He attended Northridge Military Academy for a few months but was kicked out for throwing a tire at a classmate. At Chatsworth High School in the San Fernando Valley he caught the acting bug, which brought him to New York City, where he attended Juilliard. He left early to join the New York Shakespeare Festival and then started work on Broadway. His first film appearance was opposite Meryl Streep in Heartburn. Two Oscars sit on his mantle--a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for The Usual Suspects and a Best Actor Oscar for American Beauty. Offscreen, Spacey has shown an entrepreneurial spirit by producing films under his Trigger Street banner and by creating triggerstreet.com, which aims to help new talent. He has a Labrador named Legacy. And he will next play nightclub singer Bobby Darin in a big bioflick. MICHAEL FLEMING: You've been clever about retaining your privacy, but there must be some things you can tell the public. Like, where do you go to forget about the industry? KEVIN SPACEY: There are several places. But I'll be damned if I tell you where they are because they would no longer be those places. What was more important than getting away from something was to move toward something that I had gotten away from, which was my family and my friends. I needed to spend time with my niece, my sister and my mother. That, to me, is more important than going to some island and getting a tan. Excerpted from the February 2003 issue of Movieline.

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