Sissy Spacek

Sissy Spacek was born on the Christmas of 1949. She was named Mary Elizabeth Spacek but took up the stage name ‘’Sissy’’ as that is what her brothers called her lovingly as a nickname. She was born in Quitman, TX to Virginia Frances Edwin Arnold Spacek Sr. Her mother had Polish, English and Irish backgrounds which explain the fact that Sissy is the 22nd  great-granddaughter of King Edward I. She started performing on stage at the age of 6 and was designated as the homecoming queen at the prom of Quitman High School. In 1967, her brother, who was just eighteen years old, died of leukemia. She defines that incident as ‘’life changing’’ and claims that it made her fearless. She was seventeen years old when her brother died. She quit studies after the incident.

During the early part of her career, she worked for the Ford Modeling Agency as their model. She was a part of The Factory of Andy Warhol, which was a studio. She was an extra in the Factory and played a few roles for which she did not get on-screen credit. Her cousin Elmore Rual Torn Jr., who is professionally known as Rip Torn, helped her get into the Actors Studio of Lee Strasberg. Later, she got into the Lee Strasberg Institute, NY. These moves got her the role of Poppy in the movie Prime Cut, an American classic of 1972. This led her to star twice in the TV series The Waltons in the year 1973. Her role in the 1973 movie Badlands is what she describes in her own words the ‘’most incredible’’ part of her career was also the role that got her international recognition.

She was also the narrator in the movie. In 1976, she was nominated for the Academy Award for her iconic performance in the movie Carrie. She wasn’t the first preference for the part but after much effort and convincing, she won the role and later, the critics. She did several other performances like in the movie 3 Women, Welcome to LA, for which she gained several good comments by directors like Robert Altman. Her name is seen in the credits of the movie 'Eraserhead' for financially helping out David Lynch David Lynch is a renowned American film director, >> Read More... who was her brother-in-law at that time.

In the 1980s, she was awarded for her role in Coal Miner’s Daughter by an Oscar Award and was also nominated for the Grammy for singing a track for the movie album. In 1983, she released an album of her own which included country songs from which one of the songs was up on the Billboard Country Chart at No. 15. She is a hard-worker. For a role in the Heart Beat (1980), she did 4000 pages worth of research to prepare for her role. Since then, she had done around 33 movies including JFK, Affliction, Blast from the Past, Tuck Everlasting, Four Christmases, etc. She is the first actress to win an Academy Award in every decade since the 1980s. She has two daughters, Schuyler and Madison, from her marriage with Jack Fisk. They live in Virginia and have a respected low-profile life.