5 Things You Don't Know About Octavia Spencer

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This Academy Award-winning actress is set to star in NBC's upcoming reboot of the crime series Murder, She Wrote and recently appeared on the CBS comedy series Mom. Here are five things you may not know about Octavia Spencer.

1. Born Octavia Lenora Spencer on May 25, 1970 in Montgomery, AL -- she's the sixth of seven children. 

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2. Holds a BS degree in Liberal Arts from Auburn University.

3. Made her film debut portraying a nurse in the 1996 thriller A Time to Kill.
She was originally hired to work in the casting department, but was
later allowed by director Joel Schumacher to audition for a role.

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4. Wrote a book for middle-grade readers called Randi Rhodes, Ninja Detective: The Case of the Time-Capsule Bandit.

5. Debuted in 2003 in the Los Angeles production of The Trials and Tribulations of a Trailer Trash Housewife.

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