Sissy Spacek

Mary Elizabeth "Sissy" Spacek (born December 25, 1949) is an American actress.

She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, three Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and nominations for four BAFTA Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Grammy Award.

Mary Elizabeth Spacek was born on Christmas Day 1949, in Quitman, Texas, the daughter of Virginia Frances (née Spilman, 1917–1981) and Edwin Arnold Spacek Sr., a Wood County, Texas agricultural agent in Quitman.

Her father was of three quarters Czech (Moravian) and one quarter Sudeten-German ancestry; her paternal grandparents were Mary (née Cervenka) and Arnold A. Spacek (who served as mayor of Granger, Texas in Williamson County).

Actor Rip Torn was her first cousin; his mother Thelma Torn (née Spacek) was an elder sister of Sissy's father Edwin.

Spacek's mother, who was of English and Irish descent, was from the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.

At the age of six, Spacek performed on stage for the first time in a local talent show.

Although her birth name was Mary Elizabeth, she was always called Sissy by her brothers, which led to her nickname.

She attended Quitman High School.

Spacek was greatly affected by the 1967 death of her 18-year-old brother Robbie from leukemia, which she has called "the defining event of my whole life."

She has said the tragedy made her fearless in her acting career: "'I think it made me brave. Once you experience something like that, you've experienced the ultimate tragedy. And if you can continue, nothing else frightens you. That's what I meant about it being rocket fuel—I was fearless in a way. Maybe it gave more depth to my work because I had already experienced something profound and life-changing.'"

Spacek initially aspired to a singing career.

Under the name Rainbo, she recorded a 1968 single, "John You Went Too Far This Time", the lyrics of which chided John Lennon for his and Yoko Ono's nude album cover for Two Virgins.

When sales of her music sputtered, she was dropped by her record label.

Spacek switched her focus to acting, enrolling at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute.

She worked as a photographic model (represented by Ford Models) and as an extra at Andy Warhol's Factory.

She appeared in a non-credited role in his film Trash (1970).

With the help of her cousin, actor Rip Torn, she enrolled in Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio and later the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York.

Spacek's first credited role was in Prime Cut (1972), in which she played Poppy, a girl sold into sexual slavery.

After attending Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute she had her breakout role in Terrence Malick's crime film Badlands (1973), which earned her a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer.

The role led to television work, including a 1973 guest role on The Waltons, which she played twice.

She received international attention for her breakthrough role in Terrence Malick's Badlands (1973); she played Holly, the film's narrator and 15-year-old girlfriend of serial killer Kit (Martin Sheen).

Spacek has described Badlands as the "most incredible" experience of her career.

Vincent Canby of The New York Times called it a "cool, sometimes brilliant, always ferociously American film" and wrote, "Sheen and Miss Spacek are splendid as the self-absorbed, cruel, possibly psychotic children of our time."

On the set of Badlands, Spacek met art director Jack Fisk, whom she married in 1974.

She worked as the set dresser for Brian De Palma's film Phantom of the Paradise (1974).

Her other Oscar-nominated roles were in Carrie (1976), Missing (1982), The River (1984), Crimes of the Heart (1986), and In the Bedroom (2001).

Spacek's most prominent early role came in De Palma's film Carrie (1976) playing Carrie White, a shy, troubled high school senior with telekinetic powers.

Spacek had to work hard to persuade de Palma to cast her in the role.

After rubbing Vaseline in her hair and donning an old sailor dress her mother had made for her as a child, she turned up at the audition with the odds against her, but won the part.

Spacek's performance was widely praised and led to a nomination for Academy Award for Best Actress.

Pauline Kael of The New Yorker wrote: "Though few actresses have distinguished themselves in gothics, Sissy Spacek, who is onscreen almost continuously, gives a classic chameleon performance. She shifts back and forth and sideways: a nasal, whining child; a chaste young beauty at the prom; and then a second transformation when her destructive impulses burst out and age her. Sissy Spacek uses her freckled pallor and whitish eyelashes to suggest a squashed, groggy girl who could go in any direction; at times, she seems unborn–a fetus. I don't see how this performance could be any better; she's touching, like Elizabeth Hartman in one of her victim roles, but she's also unearthly—a changeling."

After Carrie, Spacek played the small role of housekeeper Linda Murray in Alan Rudolph's ensemble piece Welcome to LA (1976) and cemented her reputation in independent cinema with her performance as Pinky Rose in Robert Altman's classic 3 Women (1977).

Her other prominent films include 3 Women (1977), Raggedy Man (1981), 'night, Mother (1986), JFK (1991), Affliction (1997), The Straight Story (1999), Tuck Everlasting (2002), Nine Lives (2005), North Country (2005), Four Christmases (2008), Get Low (2010), The Help (2011), and The Old Man & the Gun (2018).

Spacek went on to earn the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of country singer Loretta Lynn in the biographical musical Coal Miner's Daughter (1980).

She also released a studio album, Hangin' Up My Heart (1983), which peaked at number 17 on Billboard Top Country Albums chart.

Spacek is also known for her television roles, receiving Primetime Emmy Award nominations for The Good Old Boys (1995), Last Call (2002), and Big Love (2011).

Spacek was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2011.

She portrayed matriarch Sally Rayburn on the Netflix drama thriller series Bloodline (2015–2017), Ruth Deaver on the Hulu series Castle Rock (2018), and Ellen Bergman on the Amazon Prime Video series Homecoming (2018).

Spacek has also ventured into music, and recorded vocals for the soundtrack album of Coal Miner's Daughter, which peaked at number two on the Billboard Top Country Albums Chart and garnered her a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance.