
Sissy Spacek
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Female
Birthday
1949-12-25 (75 years old)
Place of Birth
Quitman, Texas, USA
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.
Acting
(2025)
Die, My Love
as Pam
(2022)
Sam & Kate
as Tina
(2021)
Without Getting Killed or Caught
as Narrator / Voice of Susanna Clark (voice)
(2018)
The Old Man & the Gun
as Jewel
(2016)
HyperNormalisation
as Self (archive footage)
(2016)
Loretta Lynn: Still a Mountain Girl
as Self / Loretta Lynn
(2016)
River of Gold
as Narrator
(2014)
And the Oscar Goes To...
as Self (archive footage)
(2013)
Making Badlands
as Self
(2012)
Deadfall
as June
(2011)
The Help
as Missus Walters
(2010)
Get Low
as Mattie Darrow
(2008)
Four Christmases
as Paula
(2008)
Lake City
as Maggie
(2007)
Hot Rod
as Marie Powell
(2007)
Gray Matters
as Dr. Sydney
(2007)
Pictures of Hollis Woods
as Josie Cahill
(2005)
The Ring Two
as Evelyn
(2005)
North Country
as Alice Aimes
(2005)
An American Haunting
as Lucy Bell
(2005)
Nine Lives
as Ruth
(2004)
A Home at the End of the World
as Alice Glover
(2003)
A Decade Under the Influence
as Self
(2003)
Absence of Malick
as Self
(2002)
Tuck Everlasting
as Mae Tuck
(2002)
Last Call
as Zelda Fitzgerald
(2002)
(2001)
In the Bedroom
as Ruth Fowler
(2001)
Midwives
as Sibyl Danforth
(2001)
Visualizing 'Carrie'
as Self (archive footage)
(2001)
Acting 'Carrie'
as Self
(2000)
Songs In Ordinary Time
as Marie Fermoyle
(1999)
Blast from the Past
as Helen
(1999)
The Straight Story
as Rose
(1999)
The Rage: Carrie 2
as Carrie White (archive footage) (uncredited)
(1997)
Affliction
as Margie Fogg
(1996)
If These Walls Could Talk
as Barbara Barrows
(1996)
The Grass Harp
as Verena Talbo
(1996)
Beyond the Call
as Pam O'Brien
(1995)
The Good Old Boys
as Spring Renfro
(1994)
Trading Mom
as Mommy / Mama / Mom / Natasha
(1994)
A Place for Annie
as Susan Lansing
(1993)
(1992)
Hard Promises
as Christine Ann Coalter
(1992)
A Private Matter
as Sherri Finkbine
(1992)
Fonda on Fonda
as Self - The 53rd Annual Academy Awards (archive footage)
(1991)
JFK
as Liz Garrison
(1991)
Voices That Care
as Self - Choir Member
(1991)
The Talking Eggs
as Narrator (voice)
(1990)
The Long Walk Home
as Miriam Thompson
(1986)
'night, Mother
as Jessie Cates
(1986)
Crimes of the Heart
as Babe Magrath
(1986)
Violets are Blue
as Augusta "Gussie" Sawyer
(1985)
Marie: A True Story
as Marie Ragghianti
(1984)
The River
as Mae Garvey
(1983)
The Man with Two Brains
as Anne Uumellmahaye (uncredited) (voice)
(1982)
Missing
as Beth Horman
(1981)
Raggedy Man
as Nita
(1980)
Coal Miner's Daughter
as Loretta Lynn
(1980)
Heart Beat
as Carolyn Cassady
(1978)
Verna: USO Girl
as Verna Vane
(1977)
3 Women
as Mildred "Pinky" Rose
(1977)
(1976)
Carrie
as Carrie
(1976)
Welcome to L.A.
as Linda Murray
(1975)
Katherine
as Katherine Alman
(1974)
Badlands
as Holly Sargis
(1974)
The Migrants
as Wanda Trimpin
(1973)
(1973)
Ginger in the Morning
as Ginger Brown
(1972)
Prime Cut
as Poppy
Crew
(1997)
Eye of God
Thanks
(1977)
Death Game
Set Dresser
(1974)
Phantom of the Paradise
Set Dresser
(1973)