Octavia Spencer | WatchedThis
Octavia Spencer
Acting
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.
Filmography Movies
Acting
Being John Malkovich
One day at work, unsuccessful puppeteer Craig finds a portal into the head of actor John Malkovich. The portal soon becomes a passion for anybody who enters its mad and controlling world of overtaking another human body.
Spider-Man
After being bitten by a genetically altered spider at Oscorp, nerdy but endearing high school student Peter Parker is endowed with amazing powers to become the superhero known as Spider-Man.
Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous
After her triumph at the Miss United States pageant, FBI agent Gracie Hart becomes an overnight sensation -- and the new "face of the FBI". But it's time to spring into action again when the pageant's winner, Cheryl, and emcee, Stan, are abducted.
Nobody Nothing Nowhere
The story of Ruth, one of the Non-People, human-looking beings designed and trained for the sole purpose of filling in a realistic world for a bland guy named Dave, the only person that actually exists on Earth. Tired of serving as an extra in someone else’s life, Ruth is ready to demand a life of her own.
Never Been Kissed
Josie Geller, a baby-faced junior copywriter at the Chicago Sun-Times, must pose as a student at her former high school to research contemporary teenage culture. With the help of her brother, Rob, Josie infiltrates the inner circle of the most popular clique on campus. But she hits a major snag in her investigation -- not to mention her own failed love life -- when she falls for her dreamy English teacher, Sam Coulson.
Seven Pounds
An IRS agent with a fateful secret embarks on an extraordinary journey of redemption by forever changing the lives of seven strangers.
Halloween II
Laurie Strode struggles to come to terms with her brother Michael's deadly return to Haddonfield, Illinois. Meanwhile, Michael prepares for another reunion with his sister.
Sol Goode
Sol Goode, a charismatic L.A. twenty-something, has always relied on charm, good looks, and fast talk to glide through life. But his luck may have run out; faced with eviction from his hipster apartment, totaling his car, and the threat of having to find a real job, Sol realizes that maybe the life he's been leading is no longer making him happy.
Coach Carter
Based on a true story, in which Richmond High School head basketball coach Ken Carter made headlines in 1999 for benching his undefeated team due to poor academic results.
Pretty Ugly People
Lucy has always used food to escape life's problems, but when this self-titled "fat friend" lures her group of old college buddies to the Montana wilderness, she reveals a new self - skinny, beautiful and still flawed.
Production
Nobody Nothing Nowhere
The story of Ruth, one of the Non-People, human-looking beings designed and trained for the sole purpose of filling in a realistic world for a bland guy named Dave, the only person that actually exists on Earth. Tired of serving as an extra in someone else’s life, Ruth is ready to demand a life of her own.
Small Town Crime
Mike Kendall, a disgraced ex-cop, is fighting a losing battle with the bottle. When he finds a woman left for dead at the side of a road, Kendall turns private eye to track down her killers, taking one last shot at redemption.
Candid
In the midst of college application season, Ace struggles with the choice between going off to California to pursue her passion for photography at an art school or staying at home with her father in Atlanta after the recent death of her mother. Ace’s late mother’s memory remains a strong presence as she takes a surreal journey through the city to reconcile her future and her relationship with her father.
Green Book
Tony Lip, a bouncer in 1962, is hired to drive pianist Don Shirley on a tour through the Deep South in the days when African Americans, forced to find alternate accommodations and services due to segregation laws below the Mason-Dixon Line, relied on a guide called The Negro Motorist Green Book.
Fruitvale Station
Oakland, California. Young Afro-American Oscar Grant crosses paths with family members, friends, enemies and strangers before facing his fate on the platform at Fruitvale Station, in the early morning hours of New Year's Day 2009.
Ma
Sue Ann is a loner who keeps to herself in her quiet Ohio town. One day, she is asked by Maggie, a new teenager in town, to buy some booze for her and her friends, and Sue Ann sees the chance to make some unsuspecting, if younger, friends of her own.
Death of a Salesman
Willy Loman, an aging, failing salesman, struggles to accept reality and his failure to achieve the American Dream.
Tow
Amanda Ogle is a woman living in her aging Toyota Camry on the streets of Seattle. When her car is stolen and impounded, she’s thrust into a relentless legal battle against an indifferent system. What begins as a fight to reclaim her car evolves into a deeply human story of resilience, dignity, and the power of one woman’s voice in the face of systemic failure.
Gallery
