Photo of Octavia Spencer
Acting

Octavia Spencer

Profession
Acting
Born
May 25, 1970 · Montgomery, Alabama, USA

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.

Known for

Spider-Man poster
Spider-Man
Film · 2002 · ★ 7.4
Zootopia poster
Zootopia
Film · 2016 · ★ 7.8
Green Book poster
Green Book
Film · 2018 · ★ 8.2
The Shape of Water poster
The Shape of Water
Film · 2017 · ★ 7.2
The Big Bang Theory poster
The Big Bang Theory
Series · 2007 · ★ 7.9
Snowpiercer poster
Snowpiercer
Film · 2013 · ★ 6.9
Hidden Figures poster
Hidden Figures
Film · 2016 · ★ 8.1
Insurgent poster
Insurgent
Film · 2015 · ★ 6.4
The Help poster
The Help
Film · 2011 · ★ 8.2
Seven Pounds poster
Seven Pounds
Film · 2008 · ★ 7.6
Allegiant poster
Allegiant
Film · 2016 · ★ 6.1
Onward poster
Onward
Film · 2020 · ★ 7.6

Filmography