
Sissy Spacek
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.
97 acting credits
Acting · 97

Saturday Night Live
1975

The View
1997

Great Performances
1971

The Waltons
1972

The Merv Griffin Show
1962

Big Love
2006

The Rookies
1972

The Oscars
1953

Les Rendez-vous du dimanche
1975

Castle Rock
2018

Off Camera with Sam Jones
2014

The Help
2011

Die My Love
2025

Homecoming
2018

Bloodline
2015

Dying for Sex
2025

Carrie
1976

GQ Presents: Iconic Characters
2018

JFK
1991

Blast from the Past
1999
Seitenblicke
1987

The Rosie O'Donnell Show
1996

The Ring Two
2005

Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories
1992

Night Sky
2022

Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951

Hot Rod
2007

In the Bedroom
2001

North Country
2005

Badlands
1974

Deadfall
2012

The Straight Story
1999

Streets of Laredo
1995

Four Christmases
2008

Tuck Everlasting
2002

The Rage: Carrie 2
1999

The Man with Two Brains
1983

3 Women
1977

Nine Lives
2005

Affliction
1998

If These Walls Could Talk
1996

The Old Man & the Gun
2018

Beyond JFK: The Question of Conspiracy
1993

Coal Miner's Daughter
1980

Prime Cut
1972

Inside the Actors Studio
1994

The River
1984

Get Low
2010

HyperNormalisation
2016

The Long Walk Home
1990

Missing
1982

Sam & Kate
2022

An American Haunting
2005

Gray Matters
2007

Lake City
2008

A Home at the End of the World
2004

The Grass Harp
1996

Trading Mom
1994

A Decade Under the Influence
2003

Welcome to L.A.
1976

Rosy-Fingered Dawn: A Film on Terrence Malick
2002

Marie: A True Story
1985

Thomas Jefferson: A View from the Mountain
1995

Crimes of the Heart
1986

'night, Mother
1986

The Good Old Boys
1995

Last Call
2002

Rolling Stone Magazine: The 10th Anniversary
1977

Beyond the Call
1996

Raggedy Man
1981

A Place for Annie
1994

Violets Are Blue
1986

Heart Beat
1980

Songs In Ordinary Time
2000

Midwives
2001

Voices That Care
1991

Without Getting Killed or Caught
2021

Pictures of Hollis Woods
2007

The Migrants
1974

Katherine
1975

Acting 'Carrie'
2001

Hard Promises
1992

A Private Matter
1992

Verna: USO Girl
1978

Loretta Lynn: Still a Mountain Girl
2016

The Girls of Huntington House
1973

Appalachia: A History of Mountains and People
2009

Ginger in the Morning
1974

Visualizing 'Carrie'
2001

Fonda on Fonda
1992

Making Badlands
2013

Henry Fonda for President
2025
The Talking Eggs
1991

River of Gold
2016

Absence of Malick
2003

Love Letter to Texas
2026
A Woman in the Sun
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