James Spader's 3 Kids: All About theBlacklistStar's Sons Sebastian, Elijah and Nathaneal

Mar. 15, 2025

James Spader; Elijah Spader.Photo:Mike Coppola/NBCUniversal/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty; Tasia Wells/WireImage

Mike Coppola/NBCUniversal/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty; Tasia Wells/WireImage

James Spadermight be known for playing antagonists and morally ambiguous characters, but in real life, he’s a family man as a father to three kids: Sebastian, Elijah and Nathaneal.

TheBlacklistactor first became a father in 1989 with the birth of his son Sebastian, whom he welcomed with his wife at the time, Victoria Kheel. Elijah followed three years later, in 1992. After Spader and Kheel divorced in 2004, the actor started dating his current partner, Leslie Stefanson. Together, he and Stefanson welcomed their only child together, Nathaneal, in 2008.

While Spader has been in the public eye for over four decades, he keeps his personal life private partly due to his children. Spader embraces being an average dad to his sons, including being open about his struggles with technology.

“I have no computer, no electronics in my life. I have this broken phone. It rings, I’ll flip it open and the act of doing that shuts the phone off," he toldThe Independentin 2009. “[My sons are] in a constant state of shaking their heads in dismay and probably embarrassment.”

From their careers to their hobbies and interests, here’s everything to know about James Spader’s kids: Sebastian, Elijah and Nathaneal.

Sebastian Spader, 36

James Spader and first wife Victoria Spader in 1994.Tammie Arroyo/Getty

Tammie Arroyo/Getty

Spader and Kheel welcomed their first child together, Sebastian Spader, in 1989.

Four years later, the actor toldInterviewmagazine that Sebastian’s birth changed the way he moved through life, making him reevaluate his health.

“The other day, we took a walk in the hills, on the fire trail. I was walking along, kicking a stone, and I turned around and there was a little two-and-a-half-foot guy, kicking a little stone along beside me,” he said in 1993. “It gives you pause for thought when you light up a cigarette — one of these days, I’m going to have to face up to stopping smoking again.”

Sebastian attended Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles and then New York University, before beginning his career in the camera and editorial departments of the film industry, per hisbio. However, Spader never pushed his children to join his line of work.

Sebastian became a producer but eventually decided to change direction and he became a realtor across the L.A. area.

Still, he continued to be creative. Spader’s eldest child is interested in photography, particularly portraits, and has published a book,Wondering. In 2016, he told the blog site Absolute Music Chat that he hadn’t originally set out to publish his work, but once he noticed a theme, he felt it made sense.

“I had been shooting for 4 years without any goal or structure, just shoving my negatives in a closet after I got them developed,” he said. “Once I began going through them though, I found a few consistencies in style or subject matter that must have formed subconsciously while I was shooting.”

In addition to photography, he said he also enjoys traveling and has visited countries such as Spain, Portugal and Mongolia.

Elijah Spader, 33

Elijah Spader.Tasia Wells/WireImage

Tasia Wells/WireImage

Spader and Kheel welcomed their son Elijah Spader in 1992.

Spader toldThe Independentin 2009 that Elijah was “great" in his school plays, and the talent seemed to persist when he eventually attended L.A. Film School from 2019 to 2021.

According to hisLinkedInprofile, he began working as a mix technician at Sony Pictures Entertainment in November 2019.

Today, Elijah is a mix engineer and guitarist, with some of his credits includingBarryand even his father’s show,The Blacklist.

“So glad I got to work on the last few seasons of this show before the series finale tonight! Such a blast!” he wrote onInstagramin July 2023.

In addition to sound mixing, Elijah is an artist, often posting about clay characters he makes himself, such asFrozen’sOlafandPikachu. He also used to host a podcast,The Dumbest Guys in the Room, with his friend Mirell Cohen before the two concluded the project in 2017.

In his personal life, Elijah married his longtime partner, Samantha Ladenheim, on June 30, 2024, in Tuscany, Italy. The couple likes to travel together and have visited destinations includingHawaiiandPeru.

Nathaneal Spader, 17

Leslie Stefanson and James Spader in 2015.Barry King/Getty

Barry King/Getty

Spader and Stefanson welcomed their son Nathaneal Spader in 2008.

TheLincolnactor reflected on the birth of his third child at nearly 50 years old in a 2012 interview onAnderson, admitting that he didn’t have any hesitation about it and that the only difference this time around was that he was “slower.”

“You do have a different perspective, I’m not sure what it is yet because I’m so subjective but you really do,” he said. “I think also the reasons to take you out of your home or be away from him are different.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Spader shared onThe Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallonthat he spent the majority of quarantine with his son.

“My youngest son, my 12-year-old, we’d go out and line up beer cans on the big rock at the far end of the garden and shoot at them with BB guns,” he said.

In 2014, Spader toldRolling Stonethat Nathaneal would be his final child, explaining that he didn’t think there was a need to populate the world more.

“I believe in a negative population growth," he said. “The other two were with another mother, so we have three boys that will replace all three of us.”

Nathaneal doesn’t publicly use social media but has often been seen out with his father over the years.

source: people.com