Kevin Spacey Cleared of All Sexual Assault Charges in U.K. Trial

Kevin Spacey has been cleared of all sexual assault charges in his U.K. criminal trial, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Spacey, who faced nine charges of sexual assault against four men, was found not guilty after over 12 hours of deliberation by a jury at London’s Southwark Crown Court.

The trial began in June, following Spacey pleading not guilty to the charges, which ranged from unwanted touching to sexual acts, in instances dating between 2001 and 2013.

Spacey had denied all charges, alleging that two of the encounters were consensual, a third was a "clumsy pass", and the fourth he denied entirely.

When the trial began, there were 12 charges against him, as well as an additional count of indecent assault, which were later dropped.

Read the original story on The Hollywood Reporter.

Kevin Spacey grew up in California, and began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s, before being cast in supporting roles in film and television.

Spacey's first professional stage appearance was as a spear carrier in a New York Shakespeare Festival performance of Henry VI, Part 1 in 1981. The following year, he made his first Broadway appearance, as Oswald in a production of Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts, starring Liv Ullmann. Then he portrayed Philinte in Molière's The Misanthrope. In 1984, Spacey appeared in a production of David Rabe's Hurlyburly, in which he rotated through each of the male parts (he would later play Mickey in the film version). Next came Anton Chekhov's The Seagull. In 1986, Spacey appeared in a production of Sleuth in a New Jersey dinner theatre.

Spacey's prominence as a stage actor began in 1986, when he was cast opposite Jack Lemmon, Peter Gallagher and Bethel Leslie as Jamie, the eldest Tyrone son, in Jonathan Miller's lauded production of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night. 

He gained critical acclaim in the early 1990s, culminating in his first Oscar for The Usual Suspects (Supporting), followed by a Best Actor Oscar win for American Beauty (1999). He has starred in many other Hollywood films including Se7en, L.A. Confidential, Pay It Forward, and Superman Returns. He also served as artistic director of the Old Vic theatre in London.