Octavia Spencer stars as MP's wife Debbie in Prime Video's new action comedy, Ride or Die.10:27, 15 Jul 2026Octavia Spencer credited her mother for inspiring her to follow her dreams with dyslexia.‌Ride or Die has just dropped on Prime Video, and the hilarious action thriller stars American actress and author Octavia Spencer as Debbie, the unknowing friend of an international assassin (played by Hannah Waddingham).‌The 56-year-old from Alabama had her breakthrough in 2011, playing a maid in 1960s America in The Help.‌This type of role became familiar to Spencer as she went on to play similar characters like Dorothy Vaughan in the biopic Hidden Figures and a cleaner in The Shape of Water.These two roles earned her two consecutive Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress, making her the first black actress to do so.Here is all you need to know about the star, from her childhood to overcoming many personal battles.‌Octavia Spencer's family lifeThe star was born in 1970 in Montgomery, Alabama, and is the sixth of seven children, including Areka Spencer, who was a morning news anchor on WRKO.‌Her mother, Dellsena, worked as a maid and cared for her children solo after Octavia's father died when she was a teenager.She previously told The Independent: "Both my parents are deceased. I lost my mom when I was 18 and my dad when I was 13."The star received a lot of support from her siblings in her acting career, adding, “My mom taught us that we could do or be anything we dared to dream. Being a part of a large family is just like a little society; those who fight to the top of the heap.‌"We relied on each other and still do. They never discouraged me or told me to get a proper job.”Octavia Spencer's dyslexiaSpencer has also made a name for herself as a children’s author, with two books in the Randi Rhodes, Ninja Detective series.‌Due to her dyslexia, she was not always a confident reader and writer, but she credited her mother for encouraging her to stay positive.She told Understood: "I had a very strong mom who made me and my sisters understand that there were no limitations on our lives except what we placed on ourselves."The star admitted: "Reading aloud has always been a problem for me, because I had a learning disability that I didn’t realise was a disability."‌At school, she was "paralysed with fear" because "I kept inverting words and dropping words. I didn’t want to be made to feel that I was not as smart as the other kids — because I know that I am a smart person".Octavia Spencer doesn't want childrenSpencer has always maintained that she does not want children, and reiterated her decision in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in 2013.‌“I should be married and have 19 kids. And now I’m thinking my eggs are dying on the shelf. They’re going to go past their expiration date. But it’s what I chose, so I’m fine with that decision,” she shared.A couple of years later in 2015, she explained she was "not maternal", during an interview about her role as a grandmother in the film Black and White.“I am not maternal at all. I don’t have any kids," she said. "I don’t have a maternal instinct. There are certain archetypes that are played a lot for women of colour.Article continues below“I chose to be a part of this movie because of the message, and how the message is presented.”Ride or Die is on Prime Video