James Todd Spader (born February 7, 1960 in Boston, Massachusetts) is an Emmy-winning and Golden Globe-nominated American actor best known for his eccentric roles in movies such as sex, lies, and videotape (for which he won the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival), Stargate, and Secretary, as well as his role as the lead character in the TV series Boston Legal.Spader attended The Pike School, where his mother taught art and Brooks School in North Andover, Massachusetts, and where his father, Todd, also taught. The family lived on campus, and Spader is one of the school's most famous students. Afterwards he attended Phillips Academy, but he dropped out in the eleventh grade to pursue acting in New York City.