
Biography
Octavia Lenora Spencer (born May 25, 1970) is an American actress. She has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and a Golden Globe Award, in addition to nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards. Spencer made her film debut in the 1996 drama A Time to Kill. Following a decade of brief roles in film and television, her breakthrough came in 2011 when she played a maid in 1960s America in the drama film The Help, which won her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. In ensuing years, she won the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Ryan Coogler's biopic Fruitvale Station (2013), had a recurring role in the CBS sitcom Mom (2013–2015), and starred in the Fox drama series Red Band Society (2014–2015). Spencer's roles as other black women in 1960s America, as Dorothy Vaughan in the biopic Hidden Figures (2016) and a cleaning woman in the fantasy The Shape of Water (2017), earned her two consecutive nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, becoming the first black actress to achieve such feat, as well as the first, and to date only, to be nominated twice after winning. She has since starred in The Divergent Series (2015–16), The Shack (2017), Gifted (2017), Instant Family (2018), Luce (2019), Ma (2019), Onward (2020), and Spirited(2022). She led the Apple TV+ drama series Truth Be Told (2019–2023). She was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for portraying Madam C. J. Walker in the Netflix miniseries Self Made (2020). As an author, Spencer created the children's book series Randi Rhodes, Ninja Detective. She has published two books in the series: The Case of the Time-Capsule Bandit (2013) and The Sweetest Heist in History (2015). Description above from the Wikipedia article Octavia Spencer, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Awards & recognition
- Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year · 2017
- Academy Award — Best Supporting Actress · 2012
- Actor Awards · 2012
- BAFTA Award — Best Actress in a Supporting Role · 2012
- Golden Globe Awards · 2012
Show all 8 awards →
- Academy Award — Best Supporting Actress · 2018 · nominated
- Academy Award — Best Supporting Actress · 2017 · nominated
- Academy Award — Best Supporting Actress · 2012 · nominated
Filmography50+ titles

Family Recipe Showdown

Hollywood Black

Wizards of Waverly Place

Malcolm in the Middle

The X-Files

Lost Women of Highway 20

Green Book

The Help

Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé

Young Sheldon

Gifted

Hidden Figures

The Big Bang Theory

Zootopia

ER

Roswell

Onward

Seven Pounds

Coach Carter

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

Instant Family

The Shack

30 Rock

Medium

Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker

Fruitvale Station

Being John Malkovich

A Time to Kill

Mom

CSI: NY

Spider-Man

The Shape of Water

Red Band Society

Dollhouse

The Graham Norton Show

Becker

Fathers & Daughters

black-ish

Moesha

Truth Be Told

Call Me Crazy: A Five Film

American Dad!

Tow

Spirited

Snowpiercer

Saturday Night Live

Black or White

Get on Up

Drunk History

Grounded for Life