BIRTHDATE- December 25, 1949

BIRTHPLACE- Quitman, Texas

Born Mary Elizabeth Spacek, renamed Sissy after a nickname her brothers gave her growing up. Fair-haired, blue-eyed, slim leading lady of Hollywood films. A cousin of actor Rip Torn, she came to films via the Actors Studio, where she studied for eight months under Lee Strasberg. Early in her career she specialized in impersonating weird teenagers. She made a strong impression in Badlands, in which at the age of 24 she gave a convincing portrayal of a 15-year old on an intense crime spree with a psychotic boyfriend. She was 27 when she gave an equally believable performance in the role of a tormented high-school senior who gets even with her taunters through telekinetic powers in Carrie, to which she recieved an Oscar nomination alongside co-star Piper Laurie. (ironiclly, Spacek was the homecoming queen at her high school in Quitman, Texas.) She was 31 when she portrayed country singer Loretta Lynn from age 13 to maturity in Coal Mine's Daughter, then proved herself equally superior in adult roles. She won an Academy Award as Best Actress for the latter film and earned Oscar nominations for Carrie, Missing, The River, and Crimes of the Heart. Married to art director Jack Fisk since 1974. Spacek worked as a set decorator on such films as Phantom of the Paradise and Death Game/The Seducers. Most recently turned down a cameo appearance in The Rage:Carrie 2, and recent films include Blast From The Past with Brendan Frasier and Alicia Silverstone and The Straight Story.