Topic: Sissy Spacek

Sissy Spacek (born Mary Elizabeth Spacek; December 25, 1949) is an American actress and singer. She won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as country star Loretta Lynn in Coal Miner's Daughter (1980). She has been nominated for an Oscar a total of six times. She is also known for her role as Carrie White in Brian De Palma's 1976 horror film Carrie, for which she received her first Academy Award nomination.

Spacek is known mainly as a dramatic actress, but also has made comedies. The films that Spacek has starred in have earned more than $700 million worldwide.

Spacek was born on Christmas Day, 1949, in Quitman, Texas, the daughter of Virginia Frances (née Spilman) and Edwin Arnold Spacek, Sr., a county agricultural agent. Her mother was a Mayflower descendant, and her paternal grandparents, Mary Červenka and Arnold A. Špaček (who served as Mayor of Granger, Texas in Williamson County), were of Czech ancestry. Spacek's mother was from the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Spacek was given the nickname "Sissy" by her older brothers. She was greatly affected by the death of her 18-year old brother, Robbie, in 1967.