Honestly, it’s hard to talk about the 1990s without talking about Kevin Spacey. He was basically everywhere. You couldn’t walk into a cineplex without seeing that specific, squinty-eyed intensity staring back at you from a poster. But if you look at the full catalog of movies with Kevin Spacey, the narrative most people remember—the "overnight" success of the mid-90s—is actually pretty far from the truth.
It wasn't a sudden explosion. It was a slow, calculated burn through bit parts and character work that most actors would have turned down. He spent years in the trenches of Mike Nichols comedies and television dramas before anyone even knew his name. By the time he was winning Oscars, he’d already been a working pro for a decade.
The Era of the Intellectual Villain
People usually point to 1995 as the year the world changed for him. It’s for a good reason. You had The Usual Suspects and Se7en hitting within months of each other. In The Usual Suspects, his portrayal of Roger "Verbal" Kint was a masterclass in redirection. He took a character who was designed to be the "weak link" and turned him into the most memorable part of a neo-noir classic. He walked away with a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for that one, and rightfully so.
Then there was Se7en. Most people forget that he wasn't even in the opening credits. Director David Fincher kept him a secret to maximize the shock of his late-game entrance as John Doe. It worked. That calm, almost polite sociopathy became a Spacey trademark. He didn't need to scream to be terrifying. He just needed to talk.
But it wasn't all dark and brooding. Look at The Ref (1994). If you haven't seen it, you're missing out. He plays Lloyd Chasseur, a man in a crumbling marriage who gets taken hostage on Christmas Eve. It’s a comedy, but Spacey plays it with such acidic wit that it feels like a precursor to his more famous roles. He and Judy Davis basically spend ninety minutes dicing each other into pieces with insults while Denis Leary holds a gun to their heads.
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Breaking the Typecast with American Beauty
By the late 90s, the industry tried to pigeonhole him as the "smartest guy in the room" or the "deadly puppet master." Then came American Beauty in 1999.
Lester Burnham was the opposite of Verbal Kint. He was a guy who had lost his voice, his spark, and his dignity. Spacey’s performance here is fascinating because it’s so physical. You watch him transform from a slumping, defeated suburbanite into someone who is—for better or worse—finally waking up. It won him his second Oscar, this time for Best Actor.
What’s interesting about movies with Kevin Spacey from this period is how he started taking massive swings. Some didn't land. Pay It Forward (2000) was widely panned for being too sentimental, and The Shipping News (2001) felt a bit like he was miscast as a "regular guy." Critics at the time, like those at The Playlist, felt he was drifting into "prestige bait" that didn't suit his sharp edges.
The Old Vic and the Shift to "Boss" Roles
For about a decade, starting in 2004, Spacey moved to London to become the artistic director of the Old Vic theatre. He didn't stop making movies, but the focus shifted. This is when we got his "sadistic leader" era.
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Think about Horrible Bosses (2011) or Margin Call (2011). In the former, he’s Dave Harken, a man so genuinely loathsome that the audience actually cheers for his downfall. In the latter, he plays Sam Rogers, a veteran floor manager watching the 2008 financial crisis unfold in real-time. It’s one of his most underrated performances—quiet, weary, and deeply human in a film full of sharks.
Then there’s Baby Driver (2017). As "Doc," the crime boss with a code, he returned to that fast-talking, hyper-intelligent persona that first made him famous. It was arguably his last major Hollywood hurrah before the industry landscape shifted entirely for him.
Where the Career Stands in 2026
The reality today is complicated. Since 2017, the volume of movies with Kevin Spacey has dropped to a trickle of independent and international productions. While he was acquitted of criminal charges in London in 2023 and found not liable in a 2022 New York civil trial, the "big" studios have stayed away.
He’s currently facing new civil claims in the UK set for trial in late 2026. In the meantime, he’s been popping up in smaller projects like Peter Five Eight (2024) and The Man Who Drew God. He recently told Piers Morgan in a 2024 interview that he’s essentially "homeless" in the professional sense, moving from one small role to the next where he can find them.
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If you’re looking to catch up on his filmography, here are the non-negotiable watches:
- The Usual Suspects (1995): The definitive "twist" performance.
- L.A. Confidential (1997): He plays Jack Vincennes, a celebrity-obsessed cop who finds his soul. It’s arguably his best work.
- Glengarry Glen Ross (1992): He holds his own against Al Pacino and Jack Lemmon as the cold office manager, John Williamson.
- Swimming with Sharks (1994): If you want to see the "horrible boss" archetype perfected before it became a trope.
To get a true sense of his range, don't just stick to the Oscar winners. Watch the weird stuff. Watch K-PAX for the ambiguity, or Moon (2009) where he only provides the voice for a robot named GERTY. That’s where the real craft shows up.
Your next move: If you're planning a marathon, start with L.A. Confidential. Most people overlook it in favor of American Beauty, but Vincennes is a much more nuanced character that shows exactly why Spacey was the most sought-after actor of his generation before the world changed. Check your local streaming guides, as many of these titles frequently rotate between platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime.