Octavia Spencer has received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame!
The Spirited actor was in tears accepting the honour, taking a moment to joke about how she’s trying to keep it together: “Because I know I haven’t taken all of my pictures yet, and I want my makeup to be pretty!”
She goes on to name the many, many people who have been there for her and uplifted her along the way, from her managers and agents, to the stylists who have always had her “looking snatched”, her mother for encouraging her dreams and her sisters:
“Thank you for never panicking when I called to borrow money for rent.”
Octavia, who has won numerous awards including an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in The Help, shared how she came to Hollywood “from Alabama with $3,000, a 48 inch TV… a suitcase and a heart filled with dreams.”
She adds, “what I didn’t know then was how the people that I’d soon meet would become my L.A. family, my tribe. Those with whom I would commiserate when I didn’t get the job or celebrate when I did.”
She specifically – and tearfully – thanked fellow actors Viola Davis, Will Ferrell and Allison Janney, who were all in attendance at the ceremony too.
In fact at one point, Will hilariously shut down a heckler while he was speaking about Octavia on stage: “NOT ON OCTAVIA’S DAY! KEEP IT MOVING!” he could be heard saying.
But back to Octavia’s speech….
“To be forever cemented in the mythology of this city and the film industry is an amazing honour. It took me a minute to absorb the profundity of this moment. The culmination of my dreams realised, hard work rewarded after a fair but healthy amount of failure and rejection.”
She ended by reminding us all that her star bears just her name, but reflects the many names who helped her get to where she is today.
“For me this isn’t a solitary achievement. For me it took my family, my tribe, my village.”
Check out Octavia’s beautiful speech in full below:
(Feature Image Credit: David Livingston/Getty Images)
