Sissy Spacek

Mary Elizabeth "Sissy" Spacek (; born December 25, 1949) is an American actress and singer. She has received numerous accolades throughout her career spanning over five decades, including an Academy Award, three Golden Globe Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award as well as nominations for four British Academy Film Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Grammy Award. For her contributions to the film industry, Spacek was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2011. After attending the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, Spacek made her feature film debut in Michael Ritchie's Prime Cut (1972). Her performance in Terrence Malick's neo-noir crime drama film Badlands (1973), earned her a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer. Spacek's breakthrough came when she played the abused teen misfit title character with telekinetic powers in Brian De Palma's supernatural horror film Carrie (1976), which earned her first of six nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She then starred in Robert Altman's psychological drama film 3 Women (1977). Spacek's complex performance as country music star Loretta Lynn in Michael Apted's biographical musical film Coal Miner's Daughter (1980), in which she portrayed Lynn from the age of about 13 to near middle age and did her own singing, earned her an Academy Award as well as a Golden Globe Award. She received four more Academy Award nominations for her roles in Missing (1982), The River (1984), Crimes of the Heart (1986), and In the Bedroom (2001). Spacek won a Golden Globe Award for the latter. Her other notable films include Raggedy Man (1981), 'night, Mother (1986), The Long Walk Home (1990), JFK (1991), Affliction (1997), The Straight Story (1999), Nine Lives (2005), North Country (2005), Get Low (2010), The Help (2011), The Old Man & the Gun (2018), and Sam & Kate (2022). In television, Spacek received her first Primetime Emmy Award nomination for her role in the Western film The Good Old Boys (1995). She was later Emmy-nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie and Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her work in the drama film Last Call (2002) and the HBO series Big Love (2010–2011), respectively. Spacek played matriarch Sally Rayburn in the Netflix series Bloodline (2015–2017), Ruth Deaver in the Hulu series Castle Rock (2018), and Ellen Bergman in the Amazon Prime Video series Homecoming (2018). Her other notable television work include the films The Migrants (1974), A Place for Annie (1994), If These Walls Could Talk (1996), Midwives (2001) and Pictures of Hollis Woods (2007), and the series Night Sky (2022). Spacek has also ventured into the music industry. In 1968, under the stage name Rainbo, she recorded her debut single "John You Went Too Far This Time". When sales sputtered, Spacek was dropped by her record label. She later recorded vocals for the soundtrack album to Coal Miner's Daughter, which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and garnered her a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. Spacek subsequently released her debut studio album, Hangin' Up My Heart (1983).