Red band society
octavia spencer’s star has been rising steadily since winning the best supporting oscar for her role in 2011 movie the help, although her follow-up roles haven’t had nearly as much impact. we’re currently seeing her as feisty nurse jackson in the hospital drama red band society (2014). “she’s a no-nonsense, taskmaster… but she also has a heart that she shows very sparingly,” says 44-year-old octavia. while the show looked set to do well, it was a ratings flop and has been cancelled.
octavia’s only found fame in her 40s but she’s been in showbiz since she was a teen. at 19, octavia interned on the set of whoopi goldberg’s film the long walk home (1990). then in 1996, she was hired to work in casting on the movie a time to kill, but after reading the script she was certain that she could play one of the parts and convinced the director to let her audition. her brief role as a nurse started her acting career. she’s also had guest appearances on tv shows like a 1999 stint on er (1994-2009), the x files (1993-2002) in 1999 and multiple episodes of mom (2013-current). she had gastric bypass surgery in 2012 and lost over 22kg. octavia’s been taking red band society’s cancellation in her stride – we’ll soon see her opposite kate winslet in sci-fi movie insurgent and she’s voicing a character in upcoming animated film b.o.o: bureau of otherwordly operations, alongside matt bomer and bill murray. acting isn’t her only creative talent –she’s also a writer and is using her skills to write herself an exciting new role. “i’m trying to write now and get things i want to produce now that i’m meeting all of these great producers and people with deep pockets,” she explains.