Sissy Spacek

Biography

Mary Elizabeth 'Sissy' Spacek (born December 25, 1949) is an American actress and singer. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, three Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and nominations for four British Academy Film Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Grammy Award. Spacek was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2011. Born and raised in Texas, she initially aspired to a career as a recording artist. In 1968, at age 18, she recorded a single, "John, You Went Too Far This Time," under the name Rainbo. She began her professional acting career in the early 1970s, making her debut as an extra in Andy Warhol's Women in Revolt (1971). Her breakout role came with Terrence Malick's influential crime film Badlands (1973), which earned her a nomination for the British Academy Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles. She rose to international prominence with her portrayal of Carrie White in Brian De Palma's horror film Carrie (1976), for which she received her first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. After appearing in the acclaimed films Welcome to L.A. (1976) and Robert Altman's 3 Women (1977), she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Loretta Lynn in the biographical musical film Coal Miner's Daughter (1980). Her other Oscar-nominated roles include Missing (1982), The River (1984), Crimes of the Heart (1986), and In the Bedroom (2001). Her other prominent films include Raggedy Man (1981), 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). She received Primetime Emmy Award nominations for the television films The Good Old Boys (1995) and Last Call (2002), and for her guest role on the HBO drama series Big Love (2011). She portrayed matriarch Sally Rayburn on the Netflix drama thriller series Bloodline (2015–2017), Ruth Deaver on the Hulu psychological horror series Castle Rock (2018), and Ellen Bergman on the Amazon Prime Video psychological thriller series Homecoming (2018). She 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. She released a studio album, Hangin' Up My Heart (1983), which was critically well-received and peaked at number 17 on Billboard Top Country Albums chart.

Known For

Rose

The Straight Story

Lucy Bell

An American Haunting

Liz Garrison

JFK

Holly Sargis

Badlands

Marie Powell

Hot Rod

Evelyn

The Ring Two

Ruth Fowler

In the Bedroom

Self

Acting 'Carrie'

Carrie

Carrie

Helen

Blast from the Past

Margie Fogg

Affliction

Self (archive footage)

Visualizing 'Carrie'

Paula

Four Christmases

Poppy

Prime Cut

Alice Aimes

North Country

Jessie Cates

'night, Mother

Mae Tuck

Tuck Everlasting

Barbara Barrows

If These Walls Could Talk

Mommy / Mama / Mom / Natasha

Trading Mom

Mildred "Pinky" Rose

3 Women

Maggie

Lake City

Beth Horman

Missing

Ruth

Nine Lives

Mattie Darrow

Get Low

Self - Choir Member

Voices That Care

Mae Garvey

The River

Loretta Lynn

Coal Miner's Daughter

Verena Talbo

The Grass Harp

Babe Magrath

Crimes of the Heart

Alice Glover

A Home at the End of the World

Missus Walters

The Help

Miriam Thompson

The Long Walk Home

Susan Lansing

A Place for Annie

Linda Murray

Welcome to L.A.

Marie Ragghianti

Marie: A True Story

Nita

Raggedy Man

June

Deadfall

Christine Ann Coalter

Hard Promises

Sherri Finkbine

A Private Matter

Sibyl Danforth

Midwives

Marie Fermoyle

Songs In Ordinary Time

Zelda Fitzgerald

Last Call

Pam O'Brien

Beyond the Call

Ginger Brown

Ginger in the Morning

Self

Rosy-Fingered Dawn: A Film on Terrence Malick

Katherine Alman

Katherine

Augusta "Gussie" Sawyer

Violets are Blue

Sara

The Girls of Huntington House

Carolyn Cassady

Heart Beat

Wanda Trimpin

The Migrants

Spring Renfro

The Good Old Boys

Self

Rolling Stone Magazine: The 10th Anniversary

Carrie White (archive footage) (uncredited)

The Rage: Carrie 2

Josie Cahill

Pictures of Hollis Woods

Self (archive footage)

HyperNormalisation

Self / Loretta Lynn

Loretta Lynn: Still a Mountain Girl

Verna Vane

Verna: USO Girl

Jewel

The Old Man & the Gun

Pam

Die, My Love

Anne Uumellmahaye (uncredited) (voice)

The Man with Two Brains

Self

Absence of Malick

Self (archive footage)

And the Oscar Goes To...

Self

Making Badlands

Narrator / Voice of Susanna Clark (voice)

Without Getting Killed or Caught

Dr. Sydney

Gray Matters

Narrator

River of Gold

Self

Beyond JFK: The Question of Conspiracy

Self - The 53rd Annual Academy Awards (archive footage)

Fonda on Fonda

Tina

Sam & Kate

Self

A Decade Under the Influence

Narrator (voice)

The Talking Eggs