This article is about the actress. For information on the band, see John Wiese. Sissy Spacek , Spacek at a ceremony to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in August 2011 Born Mary Elizabeth Spacek, (1949-12-25) December 25, 1949 (age 63), Quitman, Texas, U.S. Occupation Actress, Singer Years active 1970-present Spouse(s) Jack Fisk (1974-present; 2 children) Sissy Spacek (born Mary Elizabeth Spacek; December 25, 1949) is an Academy Award-winning American actress and singer. She came to international prominence for her roles as Holly Sargis in Terrence Malick's 1973 film Badlands, and as Carrie White in Brian De Palma's 1976 horror film Carrie (based on the first novel by Stephen King) for which she earned her first Academy Award nomination. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as country star Loretta Lynn in the 1980 film Coal Miner's Daughter. She also received Oscar nominations for her roles in Missing (1982), The River (1984), Crimes of the Heart (1986) and In the Bedroom (2001). Early life edit: Spacek was born on December 25, 1949, in Quitman, Texas. She is the daughter of Virginia Frances (née Spilman) and Edwin Arnold Spacek, Sr., a county agricultural agent. Spacek's father was of Czech (Moravian) and German ancestry; her paternal grandparents were Mary (Červenka) and Arnold A. Špaček (who served as Mayor of Granger, Texas in Williamson County). Her mother, of English and Irish descent, was from the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Spacek was greatly affected by the death of her eighteen-year old brother, Robbie, in 1967, which she has called "the defining event of my whole life." After she graduated from high school she moved to New York City, hoping to become a singer. There, she lived with her first cousin, actor Rip Torn, and his wife, actress Geraldine Page. Career edit: Early work in New York City edit: For a while, Spacek sang and played guitar in many of the Greenwich Village coffeehouses, eventually landing some paying work singing commercial jingles. In late 1968, under the pseudonym of "Rainbo", Spacek recorded a novelty song titled '"John, You Went Too Far This Time"; the song proclaimed her disillusionment and shock over John Lennon, who on the cover of his newest album Two Virgins appeared in full-frontal nudity with his then-girlfriend Yoko Ono, shocking many fans. The single did not appear on the record charts and failed to sell well, so she was dropped by the record company. 1970s and beginning of acting career edit: While singing, Spacek also worked for a time as photographic model, and worked as an extra at Andy Warhol's Factory, appearing in a non-credited role in his 1970 film Trash. With the help of Rip Torn, she was enrolled in Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio and then the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York. Her first credited role was in the 1972 cult classic Prime Cut, in which she played Poppy, a girl sold into sexual slavery. The role led to television work, which included a guest role in The Waltons, which she played twice in 1973. Spacek received international attention after starring in Terrence Malick's 1973 Badlands, in which she played Holly, the narrator of the film and 15-year old girlfriend of mass-murderer Kit (Martin Sheen). Spacek has described Badlands as the "most incredible" experience of her career. On the set of Badlands, Spacek met art director Jack Fisk, whom she married. Spacek's iconic and career-defining role came in 1976 with Brian De Palma's Carrie, in which she played Carietta "Carrie" White, a shy, troubled high school senior with telekinetic powers. Spacek had to work hard to persuade director de Palma to engage her for the role. Rubbing Vaseline into her hair, and donning an old sailor dress her mother made for her as a child, Spacek turned up at the audition with the odds against her, but won the part. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her work in the film (Veteran actress Piper Laurie, who played Carrie's religious, maniacal mother Margaret White, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress). Spacek had previously been the set dresser for DePalma's film Phantom of the Paradise. After Carrie, Spacek played the small role of housekeeper Linda Murray in Alan Rudolph's ensemble piece Welcome to LA (1976), and cemented her reputation in independent cinema with her performance as Pinky Rose in Robert Altman's 1977 classic 3 Women. Altman was deeply impressed by her performance, having stated: 'She's remarkable, one of the top actresses I've ever worked with. Her resources are like a deep well.' Brian de Palma added: 'Spacek is a phantom. She has this mysterious way of slipping into a part, letting it take over her. She's got a wider range than any young actress I know.' Spacek also helped finance then-brother-in-law David Lynch's directorial debut, Eraserhead (1976) and is thanked in the credits of the film. In the 1979 film Heart Beat, Spacek played Carolyn Cassady, who slipped (under the influence of John Heard's Jack Kerouac and Nick Nolte's Neal Cassady) into a combination of drudgery and debauchery. 1980s and Oscar win edit: Spacek began the 1980s with an Oscar in 1980 for Coal Miner's Daughter, in which she played country music star Loretta Lynn, who selected her for the role. In the film, both she and Beverly D'Angelo, who played Patsy Cline, performed their own singing. Film critic Roger Ebert has credited the movie's success "to the performance by Sissy Spacek as Loretta Lynn. With the same sort of magical chemistry she's shown before, when she played the high school kid in Carrie, Spacek at 29 has the ability to appear to be almost any age on screen. Here, she ages from about 14 to somewhere in her 30s, always looks the age, and never seems to be wearing makeup." Spacek also was nominated for a Grammy Award for her singing on the film's soundtrack album. She followed this with her own country album, Hangin' Up My Heart, in 1983; the album spawned one hit single, "Lonely But Only For You", a song written by K. T. Oslin, which reached No. 15 on the Billboard Country chart. Also in the 1980s, Spacek starred alongside Jack Lemmon in Constantin Costa-Gavras's 1982 political thriller Missing (which was based on the book The Execution of Charles Horman), appeared with Mel Gibson in the rural drama The River (1984), and with Diane Keaton and Jessica Lange in 1986's Crimes of the Heart. She was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar for all of these roles. Other performances of the decade included star turns in husband Jack Fisk's directorial debut Raggedy Man (1981) and alongside Anne Bancroft in the suicide-themed drama Night Mother (1986). Spacek also showed her lighter side by voicing the brain in the Steve Martin comedy The Man with Two Brains (1983). 1990s-2000s edit: The 1990s saw Spacek slowly come back to Hollywood after her self-imposed hiatus. She had a supporting role as Jim Garrison's wife (played by Kevin Costner) in Oliver Stone's JFK (1991), and made a number of comedies, TV movies and the occasional film. Most notable of her appearances during these years was her turn as the evil Verena Talbo in the 1995 ensemble piece The Grass Harp, which reunited her with both Laurie and Lemmon, as well as a supporting performance, again alongside Nick Nolte, as the waitress Margie Fogg in Paul Schrader's father-son psychodrama Affliction (1997). She also played Rose Straight in David Lynch's The Straight Story (1999). In 2001, she was again nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, for her work in Todd Field's In the Bedroom. New York Times film critic Stephen Holden said of her work in the film: "Ms. Spacek's performance is as devastating as it is unflashy. With the slight tightening of her neck muscles and a downward twitch of her mouth, she conveys her character's relentlessness, then balances it with enough sweetness to make Ruth seem entirely human. It is one of Ms. Spacek's greatest performances." Her performance as Ruth Fowler, a grieving mother consumed by revenge, won extraordinary praise and garnered the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress as well as the Critics' Choice Award for Best Actress, Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama and the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead among many others. Other performances of this decade include unfaithful wife Ruth in Rodrigo García's Nine Lives (2005) and a turn as a woman suffering from Alzheimer's in the television movie Pictures of Hollis Woods (2007). In 2008, Spacek had a supporting part in the Christmas comedy Four Christmases and a lead role in the independent drama, Lake City. Spacek appeared on the HBO drama Big Love, for a multi-episode arc, as a powerful Washington, D.C. lobbyist. In 2006, she narrated the audiobook of the classic 1960 Harper Lee novel To Kill a Mockingbird and it sold over 30 million copies. In 2011, she received a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. In 2011, Spacek was featured in The Help, directed by Tate Taylor. Spacek, along with the cast, was awarded with the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture for their performance in the film. In 2012, Spacek published a memoir, My Extraordinary Ordinary Life, written along with Maryanne Vollers.The Washington Post's Jen Chaney called it "refreshingly down-to-earth" and "beautifully written". She also mentioned that Spacek's description of her childhood is "evocative that one can almost taste the sour stalks of goatweed she chewed on steamy summer afternoons". Jay Stafford of Richmond Times-Dispatch pointed out that unlike other actors' autobiographies, Spacek's "benefits from good writing and remarkable frankness".The Austin Chronicle's Margaret Moser stated that Spacek's memoir is "as easy to read as it is a pleasure to digest". Joe Muscolino of the Biographile gave the book a 5 out of 5 rating, saying that it "does not disappoint".Kirkus Reviews, however, was less appreciative of the book, calling it "an average memoir" and "overly detailed" while criticizing its lack of "narrative arc" but complimenting Spacek for being "truly down-to-earth". It further criticized that "the book is 'ordinary' and does not have enough drama to engage readers not directly interested in Spacek and her work" and ended the review by saying that it's "for die-hard movie buffs and Spacek fans only". Personal life edit: Spacek married production designer and art director Jack Fisk in 1974, after they met on the set of Badlands. Fisk later directed her in the films Raggedy Man and Violets Are Blue. They have two daughters, Schuyler Fisk (born July 8, 1982) and Madison Fisk (born September 21, 1988). Filmography edit: Film Year Film Role Notes 1970 Women in Revolt Girl extra at bar uncredited 1972 Prime Cut Poppy 1973 The Girls of Huntington House Sara TV film The Waltons Sarah Jane Simmonds TV series (2 episodes) Badlands Holly Sargis Nominated -- BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer 1974 Ginger in the Morning Ginger TV film The Migrants Wanda Trimpin 1975 Katherine Katherine Alman TV film (also known as The Radical) 1976 Carrie Carietta "Carrie" White Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival - Special Distinction Award, National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress, New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress (3rd place), Nominated -- Academy Award for Best Actress Welcome to L.A. Linda Murray 1977 3 Women Pinky Rose National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress (3rd place), New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress 1978 Verna: U.S.O. Girl Verna Vane TV film 1980 Coal Miner's Daughter Loretta Lynn Academy Award for Best Actress, Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress, Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress, National Board of Review Award for Best Actress, National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress, New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress, Nominated -- BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Heart Beat Carolyn Cassady 1981 Raggedy Man Nita Longley Nominated -- Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama 1982 Missing Beth Horman Nominated -- Academy Award for Best Actress, Nominated -- BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, Nominated -- Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama 1983 The Man with Two Brains Anne Uumellmahaye Voice (uncredited) 1984 The River Mae Garvey Nominated -- Academy Award for Best Actress, Nominated -- Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama Terror in the Aisles Archival footage 1985 Marie Marie Ragghianti 1986 Violets Are Blue Augusta 'Gussie' Sawyer 'night, Mother Jessie Cates Crimes of the Heart Babe Magrath Botrelle Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress, New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress, Nominated -- Academy Award for Best Actress 1990 The Long Walk Home Miriam Thompson 1991 Hard Promises Christine Ann Coalter JFK Liz Garrison 1992 A Private Matter Sherri Finkbine TV film, Nominated -- CableACE Award for Actress in a Movie or Miniseries 1994 A Place for Annie Susan Lansing Hallmark Hall of Fame TV film, Nominated -- Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie Trading Mom Various Roles also known as The Mommy Market 1995 The Good Old Boys Spring Renfro Nominated -- Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress - Miniseries or a Movie The Grass Harp Verena Talbo Streets of Laredo Lorena Parker TV mini-series, Bronze Wrangler for Television Feature Film Television Feature Film 1996 Beyond the Call Pam O'Brien TV film If These Walls Could Talk Barbara Barrows TV film (Segment: "1974") 1997 Affliction Margie Fogg 1999 Blast from the Past Helen Thomas Webber Nominated -- Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress The Straight Story Rose 'Rosie' Straight Nominated -- Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actress, Nominated -- Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress, Nominated -- Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture 2000 Songs in Ordinary Time Marie Fermoyle TV film 2001 In the Bedroom Ruth Fowler American Film Institute Award for Actress of the Year, Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress, Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress, Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress, Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress, Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama, Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Female, Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress, National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress (2nd place), New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress, Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama, Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress, Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Prize for Dramatic Acting (shared with Tom Wilkinson), Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress, Nominated -- Academy Award for Best Actress, Nominated -- BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, Nominated -- Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress, Nominated -- Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress, Nominated -- Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress, Nominated -- Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role, Nominated -- Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Midwives Sibyl Danforth Nominated -- Satellite Award for Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film, Nominated -- Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie 2002 Last Call Zelda Fitzgerald TV film (also known as Fitzgerald), Nominated -- Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress - Miniseries or a Movie, Nominated -- Satellite Award for Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film Tuck Everlasting Mae Tuck Nominated -- Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress 2004 A Home at the End of the World Alice Glover 2005 Nine Lives Ruth Locarno International Film Festival Award for Best Actress Ensemble, Nominated -- Gotham Award for Best Ensemble Cast The Ring Two Evelyn North Country Alice Aimes 2006 An American Haunting Lucy Bell Summer Running: The Race to Cure Breast Cancer Mrs. Flora Good 2007 Gray Matters Sydney Hot Rod Marie Powell Pictures of Hollis Woods Josie Cahill Nominated -- Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film 2008 Lake City Maggie Four Christmases Paula (Brad's Mom) 2009 Appalachia: A History of Mountains and People Narrator TV mini-series Get Low Mattie Darrow Nominated -- Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actress 2010 Gimme Shelter Adrienne Nourse TV film 2010-2011 Big Love Marilyn Densham 5 episodes, Nominated -- Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series 2011 The Help Mrs. Walters Hollywood Film Festival Award for Ensemble of the Year, National Board of Review Award for Best Cast, Satellite Award for Best Cast - Motion Picture, Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, Nominated -- Central Ohio Film Critics Association for Best Cast 2012 Deadfall June Mills

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