James Spader has been a stoner, a yogi and a Brat Pack creep. Plus he’s obsessed with ritual and order — so it’s no wonder that he’s been called “the strangest man on television.” Now here are 10 things you don’t know about the eccentric 55-year-old star of NBC’s “The Blacklist”…
1. James worked as a busboy, a truck driver and a yoga instructor — he even met ex-wife Victoria Kheel in a yoga studio!
2. “When I was 16 and 17, I was a pot-smoking hippie,” he admits.
3. He was such a convincing sleaze when auditioning for the “Pretty in Pink” role of Steff that the casting director hated him on sight!
4. He won back-to-back Emmys for playing Alan Shore on both “The Practice” (2004) and “Boston Legal” (2005).
5. James is pals with “Avengers” co-star Robert Downey Jr. In the ‘80s, Robert and then-girlfriend Sarah Jessica Parker named their cat “Jimmy” after him.
6. James did the voice-over in TV commercials for Acura luxury cars.
7. He smokes American Spirit cigarettes.
8. Red’s head-toppers on “The Blacklist” are a Spader trademark! “I have a lot of hats,” he says. “I wear a hat every day, so they all get used.”
9. “I’m a great fan of all things strange, eccentric and idiosyncratic,” says James. “Things never get strange enough for me.”
10. James is incredibly obsessive-compulsive. He can’t watch people eating.
