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Sissy Spacek has her family on her mind all the time.
During a recent sit-down with Ethan Hawke for Interview magazine, Spacek reflected on her unique moniker.
“My mother, her name is Leslie, but the people in her family called her Sister,” Hawke told the Oscar-winning actress. “Did Sissy come from being called sister?”
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Sissy Spacek at the “Die My Love” New York Premiere held at AMC Lincoln Square on Nov. 1, 2025, in New York City. (Kristina Bumphrey)
“My brothers,” Spacek admitted. “My real name is Mary Elizabeth, and when I started school in first grade, they said, ‘Is it Mary or Elizabeth?'”
She began to explain that she felt the need then to “fight for my name,” but her conversation with Hawke was briefly interrupted before she could finish her thought.
When the conversation resumed, she said, “That’s a common Southern nickname for girls.”
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The “Carrie” actress recalled frequently hearing her nickname while working on film projects in the South.
“In fact, when I was working on ‘Coal Miner’s Daughter’ and they’d call Sissy on the set, there was a stampede,” she said. “Every little girl was nicknamed Sissy.”
Spacek added, “Everybody from Texas is named Sissy or Bubba … I had two older brothers, and my real name is Mary Elizabeth, which my mother called me for years, and I was their little Sissy, so … it stuck.”
Sissy Spacek earned an Oscar for her portrayal of country singer Loretta Lynn in the 1980 film “Coal Miner’s Daughter.” (Getty Images)
The mother of two found fame starring as a social outcast whose telekinetic powers transformed her high school prom into a bloodbath in 1976’s “Carrie.”
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While Hollywood provided her stardom – which included an Academy Award and five Oscar nominations – Spacek admitted that living on a farm in Virginia for the last 40 years provided her the same kind of stability she experienced as a child.
“I’m able to get away from all the noise and work on my garden in my pajamas,” she told Closer Weekly in 2018. “I love to sit on the porch with my battery-operated blower [fan] that I got for Mother’s Day. It’s the human experience, and we are all human, after all.”
Sissy Spacek found fame in the ’70s for her captivating role in “Carrie.” (Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images)
Spacek, who was born in Texas, detailed her own childhood and rise to fame in her 2012 memoir, “My Extraordinary Ordinary Life.”
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She also wrote about her longtime marriage to film director Jack Fisk. The couple tied the knot in 1974 and share two daughters.
As for the secret behind their lasting union? Spacek is still trying to figure that one out.
“I wish I could tell you,” she said. “He’s got this really fabulous sense of humor — actually, it’s so bad that it’s good — and he’s the most creative person I’ve ever met. A lot of it is just luck. We met on [1973’s] ‘Badlands.’ I remember looking around and thinking, ‘OK, who’s the cutest one here?’ He was definitely the cutest.”
Sissy Spacek and husband Jack Fisk raised their daughters, Schuyler and Madison, outside of Hollywood. (Jeff Vespa)
Spacek also insisted that despite her high-profile career, her daughters are thankful they’ve enjoyed a quiet life away from the spotlight.
“They appreciate the life that we provided for them, and now they’re reciprocating, and they’re very, very great,” she gushed.
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“I can’t say enough wonderful things about them. They make my world go ‘round… It is really important to live a full and normal life because that’s what life is really about. I have a balance between my real life and work life.”