Spike Jonze's Real Name: Adam Spiegel

Quick answer: The director is known professionally as Spike Jonze. Britannica and a Biography.com profile archived in 2017 independently identify him as Adam Spiegel and date his birth to October 22, 1969, in Rockville, Maryland (Britannica; Biography.com (archived)).

Real name and early life

He is known professionally as Spike Jonze. Britannica says he was born Adam Spiegel on October 22, 1969, in Rockville, Maryland, and moved to Los Angeles in 1987 after graduating from high school. The archived Biography.com profile independently lists the birth date October 22, 1969, the place of birth Rockville, Maryland, and the original name Adam Spiegel, says he grew up in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Bethesda, Maryland, and says he created the professional name as an homage to the musician and bandleader Spike Jones, having adopted the name Spike by the time he entered high school.

Career highlights

Britannica says that, as an avid BMX biker, he became an assistant editor and later a photographer for the independent biking magazine Freestylin', and that skate videos, most notably Video Days, led to music-video work. It dates a 1992 co-direction of Sonic Youth's "100%" and later videos including the Beastie Boys' "Sabotage," Weezer's "Buddy Holly" (1994), and Fatboy Slim's "Praise You" (1998) and "Weapon of Choice" (2001). The archived Biography.com profile independently names a breakthrough video for "Sabotage," which it says won four MTV Video Music Awards, and says he directed music videos and commercials throughout the 1990s. Britannica says his first feature was Being John Malkovich (1999), written by Charlie Kaufman, and that the film earned him an Academy Award nomination for best director. In 2002, Britannica says, he directed Adaptation, also written by Kaufman, later followed by Where the Wild Things Are (2009), an adaptation of Maurice Sendak's book, and Her (2013), whose script earned him an Academy Award for best original screenplay. The archived Biography.com profile independently cites an Academy Award nomination for Being John Malkovich, says he went on to produce Human Nature in 2000, and dates the Oscar for Her to 2014. Britannica also says he was an executive producer of the television series Jackass (2000–02) and later Jackass films.

Name notes for searchers

People looking up Spike Jonze or Adam Spiegel are looking for the same Rockville-born director, later known for Being John Malkovich and Her. Britannica and Biography.com independently support the earlier name.