Dyslexic, complexed by her weight, became very young breadwinner for her five brothers and sisters after the death of her parents, Octavia Spencer was not destined for the Hollywood cameras and lights.
But twenty-six years after landing, late, a first appearance on the big screen, the native actress of Montgomery, dans l’Alabamais about to receive this Thursday, December 8, 2022 at 11:30 a.m. a star in his name on the famous Los Angeles Walk of Fame.
It was first on television that the actress made a name for herself, playing small roles in series such as “The X-Files”, “Emergencies” or “Malcolm”, before getting noticed for her performance. in “Ugly Betty”, which earned him a place on the magazine’s list of the 25 funniest people in Hollywood People.
In the cinema, she first appeared in “A Time to Kill”, directed in 1996 by Joel Schumacher, then multiplied the secondary characters in comedies and low-budget films, without managing to win a major role.
But Spencer has the unwavering support of her friend Tate Taylor. After convincing her in the mid-1990s to leave Alabama to settle in Los Angeles, the director included her in all his film projects (“Chicken Party” in 2003, then “Pretty Ugly People” in 2008) and offered him a tailor-made role in “The Help” in 2011.
This film changes the life of Octavia Spencer. The actress is critically acclaimed and won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 2012, as well as a Golden Globe.
Children’s books and film production
Since then, the interested party has obtained two other Oscar nominations for the films “Hidden Figures” in 2017 and “The Shape of Water” in 2018.
In 2019, Octavia Spencer launched her production company, ORIT Entertainment, which she runs with partner and producer Brian Clisham and head of production and development Stephanie Kluft. As such, she won the Oscar for best film in 2019 for “Green Book” and the Golden Globe for best film, musical or comedy.
Among his other activities, Spencer co-wrote an interactive children’s mystery series called “Randi Rhodes, Ninja Detective”. The first title in the series, Randi Rhodes, Ninja Detective: The Case of the Time-Capsule Bandit” was published in the fall of 2013 and the second book, “Randi Rhodes, Ninja Detective: Sweetest Heist in History” followed a year later. The actress is also a longtime board member of City Year Los Angeles, an educational nonprofit that partners with AmeriCorps to provide mentors to students in the most vulnerable communities. 2021, she has also committed to providing free meals for an entire semester to students at Auburn University, where she studied.
At 52, Octavia Spencer is the 2742nd personality to obtain a star on the Walk of Fame.