Octavia Spencer

Octavia Lenora Spencer (born May 25, 1970) 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 and Fruitvale Station.

Spencer created the character of Randi Rhodes, Ninja Detective for a children's book series, releasing The Case of the Time-Capsule Bandit in 2013, and The Sweetest Heist in History in 2015.

Early life

Born in Montgomery, Alabama, she has six siblings, including her sisters Rosa and Areka. Her mother, Dellsena (1945-1988), worked as a maid. Spencer graduated from Jefferson Davis High School in 1988, spent two years at Auburn Montgomery studying drama (1988–1989), and received a bachelor's degree in Liberal Arts from Auburn University.

Career

At nineteen, she worked as an intern on the set of The Long Walk Home, a film starring Whoopi Goldberg.