Octavia Spencer

Octavia Spencer
Octavia Lenora Spencer is an American actress and author. She is best known for her role as Minny Jackson in the 2011 film The Help, for which she won the BAFTA, Golden Globe, SAG, Critics' Choice, and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Other notable films include Get on Up, Black or White, Smashed, Snowpiercer, The Divergent Series: Insurgent, Zootopia, and Fruitvale Station...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionMovie Actress
Date of Birth25 May 1970
CityMontgomery, AL
CountryUnited States of America
I hope that in some way that I can be some sort of beacon of hope, especially because I am not the typical Hollywood beauty.
As you make your way along life's tumultuous highways, it's important to note that you should always carry a map, have plenty of fuel in the tank, and take frequent rest stops.
I have an affinity for the law. I like looking at the small type on contracts, and if I could have afforded law school, I probably would have gone.
I'm not a fan of 'Gone With the Wind.' I didn't like the movie. I didn't like the book.
The one thing that I realize - well, not the one thing, but it was a big thing - having in my head that I need to get healthier. It's been a very gradual process for me.
I'm not an optimist. I'm a realist. And my reality is that we live in a multifaceted, multicultural world. And maybe once we stop labeling ourselves, then maybe everyone else will.
I think it's actually a misperception that I am a comedic actress. I do more drama than comedy but very little of it has been seen. When you are in big funny movies and they do well and your little part in it kind of explodes people perceive you as a comedian.
I like a person who knows how to say something dark at a very dark moment. The darker the moment and the darker the comic, the better. Something that is so wrong on all levels.
At 21, you can live life with reckless abandon, as reckless as your abandon is. Then, at 30, there's something there are the supposed to be's. You're like, "I'm supposed to be doing this. I'm supposed to be doing that." You start measuring your life by what you think you're supposed to be doing. Having recently turned 40, it's like, "What the hell?! Why am I worried about what I'm supposed to be doing? What do I want to do?" You become fine with wherever the road takes you.
I don't have one role that I want to play. I guess... I want to be a producer. I want to be an activist. I want to be proactive in bringing about work for men, women, boys, girls, everybody who is good at what they do and deserve a shot at it.
Civil rights happened because youth got involved. The youth stood up and helped to break the pattern that their parents had got accustomed to living. The next generation has to take that stand for whatever it is, socially, that they are involved in.
As we women know, there are so many other hurdles that we have to cross that I would love it if we could stop having the race conversation so that we can get women further on. You know, a female president now that we have an African American president. Maybe we can get an Asian female, a gay person?
Every character I get to play has some element of who I am, but there's no fun in playing yourself. At least, for me, there isn't.
I just think that you have to believe in yourself and you have to work very hard. You can't ever think that you're the best thing since sliced bread because I promise you, there are going to be Viola Davises and Jessica Chastains and Emma Stones who are the best thing since sliced bread. So take it seriously, but don't take it too seriously.