Sissy Spacek
Biography
Mary Elizabeth Spacek, also known as Sissy Spacek, is an American actress and singer born on December 25, 1949, in Quitman, Texas. Initially aspiring to a career as a recording artist, she recorded a single titled John, You Went Too Far This Time in 1968 under the name Rainbo. She subsequently began her professional acting career in the early 1970s, making her debut as an extra in Andy Warhol's Women in Revolt. Over the course of her career, she has received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, three Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which she received in 2011. She has also earned nominations for four British Academy Film Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Grammy Award.
Career overview
Mary Elizabeth Sissy Spacek was born on December 25, 1949, in Quitman, Texas. Before pursuing acting, she initially aspired to a career as a recording artist and recorded a single titled John, You Went Too Far This Time under the name Rainbo in 1968 at the age of eighteen.
She began her professional acting career in the early 1970s, making her debut as an extra in Andy Warhol's Women in Revolt. As an American actress, singer, director, and voice actor, Spacek has built an extensive career spanning film and television, accumulating over one hundred known acting credits.
Throughout her career, Spacek has received numerous accolades. These include an Academy Award, three Golden Globe Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She has also earned nominations for four British Academy Film Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Grammy Award. In recognition of her contributions to the entertainment industry, Spacek was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2011.
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Frequent co-stars
Career timeline
Full filmography
- The Catch (2027)
- Love Letter to Texas (2026) as Narrator
- Die My Love (2025) as Pam
- Dying for Sex (2025) as Gail
- Henry Fonda for President (2025) as Self (archive footage)
- Night Sky (2022) as Irene York
- Sam & Kate (2022) as Tina
- Without Getting Killed or Caught (2021) as Narrator / Voice of Susanna Clark (voice)
- Castle Rock (2018) as Ruth Deaver
- Homecoming (2018) as Ellen Bergman
- GQ Presents: Iconic Characters (2018) as Self
- The Old Man & the Gun (2018) as Jewel
- HyperNormalisation (2016) as Self (archive footage)
- Loretta Lynn: Still a Mountain Girl (2016) as Self / Loretta Lynn
- River of Gold (2016) as Narrator
- Bloodline (2015) as Sally Rayburn
- Off Camera with Sam Jones (2014) as Self
- Making Badlands (2013) as Self
- Deadfall (2012) as June
- The Help (2011) as Missus Walters
- Get Low (2010) as Mattie Darrow
- Appalachia: A History of Mountains and People (2009)
- Four Christmases (2008) as Paula
- Lake City (2008) as Maggie
- Hot Rod (2007) as Marie Powell
- Gray Matters (2007) as Dr. Sydney
- Pictures of Hollis Woods (2007) as Josie Cahill
- Big Love (2006) as Marilyn Densham
- The Ring Two (2005) as Evelyn
- An American Haunting (2005) as Lucy Bell
- North Country (2005) as Alice Aimes
- Nine Lives (2005) as Ruth
- A Home at the End of the World (2004) as Alice Glover
- Absence of Malick (2003) as Self
- A Decade Under the Influence (2003) as Self
- Tuck Everlasting (2002) as Mae Tuck
- Last Call (2002) as Zelda Fitzgerald
- Rosy-Fingered Dawn: A Film on Terrence Malick (2002) as Self
- In the Bedroom (2001) as Ruth Fowler
- Visualizing 'Carrie' (2001) as Self (archive footage)
- Acting 'Carrie' (2001) as Self
- Midwives (2001) as Sibyl Danforth
- Songs In Ordinary Time (2000) as Marie Fermoyle
- Blast from the Past (1999) as Helen
- The Straight Story (1999) as Rose
- The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999) as Carrie White (archive footage) (uncredited)
- Affliction (1998) as Margie Fogg
- The View (1997) as Self
- Eye of God (1997) Thanks
- The Rosie O'Donnell Show (1996) as Self - Guest
- If These Walls Could Talk (1996) as Barbara Barrows
- The Grass Harp (1996) as Verena Talbo
- Beyond the Call (1996) as Pam O'Brien
- Streets of Laredo (1995) as Lorena
- The Good Old Boys (1995) as Spring Renfro
- Thomas Jefferson: A View from the Mountain (1995) as Martha Jefferson Randolph (voice)
- Inside the Actors Studio (1994) as Self
- A Place for Annie (1994) as Susan Lansing
- Trading Mom (1994) as Mommy / Mama / Mom / Natasha
- Beyond JFK: The Question of Conspiracy (1993) as Self
- Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories (1992) as Narrator (voice)
- A Private Matter (1992) as Sherri Finkbine
- Hard Promises (1992) as Christine Ann Coalter
- Fonda on Fonda (1992) as Self - The 53rd Annual Academy Awards (archive footage)
- JFK (1991) as Liz Garrison
- Voices That Care (1991) as Self - Choir Member
- The Talking Eggs (1991) as Narrator (voice)
- The Long Walk Home (1990) as Miriam Thompson
- Seitenblicke (1987) as self
- 'night, Mother (1986) as Jessie Cates
- Crimes of the Heart (1986) as Babe Magrath
- Violets Are Blue (1986) as Augusta "Gussie" Sawyer
- Marie: A True Story (1985) as Marie Ragghianti
- The River (1984) as Mae Garvey
- The Man with Two Brains (1983) as Anne Uumellmahaye (uncredited) (voice)
- Missing (1982) as Beth Horman
- Raggedy Man (1981) as Nita
- Coal Miner's Daughter (1980) as Loretta Lynn
- Heart Beat (1980) as Carolyn Cassady
- Verna: USO Girl (1978) as Verna Vane
- 3 Women (1977) as Mildred "Pinky" Rose
- Death Game (1977) Set Dresser
- Rolling Stone Magazine: The 10th Anniversary (1977) as Self
- Carrie (1976) as Carrie
- Welcome to L.A. (1976) as Linda Murray
- Saturday Night Live (1975) as Self - Host
- Les Rendez-vous du dimanche (1975) as Self
- Katherine (1975) as Katherine Alman
- Phantom of the Paradise (1974) Set Dresser
- Badlands (1974) as Holly Sargis
- Ginger in the Morning (1974) as Ginger Brown
- Ginger in the Morning (1974) Songs
- The Migrants (1974) as Wanda Trimpin
- The Girls of Huntington House (1973) as Sara
- The Waltons (1972)
- The Rookies (1972)
- Prime Cut (1972) as Poppy
- Great Performances (1971) as Verna Vane
- Film '72 (1971) as Self
- The Merv Griffin Show (1962) as Self
- The Oscars (1953) as Self
- Hallmark Hall of Fame (1951) as Susan Lansing
- A Woman in the Sun