The first time I can ever recall seeing James Spader in a movie, it was “Endless Love” back in 1981.  I think this may have been his very first film and I believe he played the character of Brooke Shields’ brother.  Honestly, I really didn’t pay a whole lot of attention back then because his character wasn’t very memorable to me, although I remember thinking he was a cutie.  Of course, that was long before “Pretty In Pink” came along in 1986 and changed everything.  “Pretty In Pink” would also be the starting point for Spader and Andrew McCarthy face-offs since they were often cast as polar opposites in teen angst films of the 1980′s (“Mannequin,” “Less Than Zero”). 

My personal favorite Spader films are “Sex, Lies and Videotape,” (1989), “White Palace,” (1990) and ”Secretary,” (2002), which co-starred Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Spader, born in Boston, has taken home not one but three Emmy Awards (most recently for his role in “Boston Legal”) and also won a Best Actor award at Cannes in 1989.

He was formerely married to Victoria Kheel from 1987 to 2004 and together they have two sons.

All in all, not too bad for a boy who dropped out of high school when he was 17, had a variety of jobs (including one as a yoga instructor) and eventually wound up as one of Hollywood’s most talented actors:

“I had real trouble, actually, for a long time, getting people to hire me. My anxiety used to manifest itself in strange ways. I’d go in to read for some innocent, vulnerable character, and the feedback would be, ‘Well, we met Jimmy…and he scared us.’” – 1990.

Tell me…is James Spader still hot…or not?