Octavia Spencer

Octavia Lenora Spencer is an American actress and author known for her work across film and television. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and a Golden Globe Award, along with nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards.

Spencer was born on May 25, 1970, in Montgomery, Alabama, and grew up with six siblings, including sisters Rosa and Areka. Her mother worked as a maid, and her father passed away when Spencer was thirteen years old. Spencer, who has dyslexia, graduated from Jefferson Davis High School in 1988. She attended Auburn University at Montgomery and graduated from Auburn University with a major in English and double minors in journalism and theater. Early in her career, she interned on the set of the film The Long Walk Home.

In 1996, Spencer made her film acting debut in the drama A Time to Kill after initially working on casting for the production. Following advice from friend and director Tate Taylor, she moved to Los Angeles in 1997. Over the next decade, she appeared in feature films such as Never Been Kissed, Big Momma's House, Spider-Man, Bad Santa, and Seven Pounds, as well as Sam Raimi's Drag Me to Hell. She also made guest appearances on television series including ER, 30 Rock, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The Big Bang Theory, and Ugly Betty, and made her stage debut in 2003 in The Trials and Tribulations of a Trailer Trash Housewife.

Spencer achieved her career breakthrough in 2011 with her portrayal of maid Minny Jackson in the 1960s period drama film The Help. Her performance earned her widespread acclaim, winning the Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, and BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 2013, she received the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Ryan Coogler's biopic Fruitvale Station. During this period, she also took on television roles in the CBS sitcom Mom and the Fox drama series Red Band Society.

Spencer continued to gain recognition for her work in 1960s period films. She portrayed Dorothy Vaughan in Hidden Figures (2016) and a cleaning woman in The Shape of Water (2017), earning consecutive Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress and becoming the first Black actress to receive back-to-back Oscar nods. Her film work also includes roles in The Divergent Series, The Shack, Gifted, Instant Family, Luce, Ma, Onward, The Witches, and Spirited, as well as executive producing the biographical drama Green Book.

In television, Spencer starred in and executive produced the Apple TV+ drama series Truth Be Told from 2019 to 2023. In 2020, she portrayed Madam C. J. Walker in the Netflix miniseries Self Made, earning a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie. As an author, Spencer created the children's book series Randi Rhodes, Ninja Detective, publishing The Case of the Time-Capsule Bandit in 2013 and The Sweetest Heist in History in 2015.