Sissy Spacek has been one of the industry’s most respected actresses in a career spanning six decades. Her many honors include an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, five additional Oscar nominations, a Grammy nomination, three Golden Globe Awards, and numerous critics’ awards.
The Quitman, TX, native first gained the attention of critics and audiences with her performance in Terrence Malick’s widely praised 1973 drama Badlands, in which she starred opposite Martin Sheen. In 1976, Spacek earned her first Academy Award nomination and won a National Society of Film Critics Award for her chilling performance in the title role of Brian De Palma’s Carrie, based on the Stephen King novel. The following year, she won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for her work in Robert Altman’s Three Women.
In 1980, Spacek starred as Loretta Lynn in the acclaimed biopic Coal Miner’s Daughter, winning the Oscar and Golden Globe Award for her performance. Spacek also swept the New York Film Critics Circle, Los Angeles Film Critics, National Board of Review, and National Society of Film Critics Awards for her portrayal of the country music legend.
Spacek received another Golden Globe nomination the next year for her work in Raggedy Man, directed by her husband, Jack Fisk. She earned her third Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for her role in Costa-Gavras’ 1982 drama Missing, opposite Jack Lemmon, and her fourth Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for her work in 1984’s The River, in which she starred with Mel Gibson.
In 1987, Spacek gained her fifth Academy Award nomination and won another Golden Globe and the New York film Critics Circle Award for her performance in the dark comedy Crimes of the Heart. Her most recent Oscar nomination came for her portrayal of a mother grieving for her murdered son in the drama In the Bedroom, for which she also won a Golden Globe Award, an Independent Spirit Award, and an AFI Film Award for Best Actress.
In addition, she garnered Best Actress Awards from a number of critics’ organizations, including the Los Angeles, New York and Broadcast Film Critics. Her work in In the Bedroom also brought Spacek two Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award nominations, one for Outstanding Lead Actress and another for Outstanding Cast, shared with the rest of the film’s ensemble.
Some of Spacek’s other film credits include The Straight Story, A Home at the End of the World, Affliction, JFK, The Long Walk Home, Hot Rod, Get Low, The Help, and The Old Man & The Gun. She also starred in Netflix’s Bloodline, Hulu’s Castle Rock, and Amazon Prime Video’s Homecoming and Night Sky. She also stars in FX’s forthcoming Dying for Sex.
*Sissy Spacek will appear with Coal Miner’s Daughter at 7 pm Saturday, July 27 in the Plaza Theatre. *
