Academy Award winner Sissy Spacek knows how to hide behind her characters, from the likes of Carrie to Loretta Lyn to Rose Straight in David Lynch's Straight Story, after over 40 films, there is no such thing as the typical Spacek role. She was born Mary Elizabeth Spacek on December 25, 1949 in Quitman, Texas, and originally aspired to become a singer. After heading east to New York, she got her start singing at coffee houses in Greenwich Village. Billing herself as "Rainbo," Spacek also cut a single, "Johnny, You Went Too Far This Time." On the side, she earned money by recording back-up vocals on television commercials. When the acting bug bit, Spacek enrolled at the Lee Strasberg Theatrical Institute, and while she technically made her film debut as an extra in Andy Warhol's Trash (1971), her official debut is listed as Michael Ritchie's Prime Cut (1972). The actress's first crack at stardom came in 1973, when she played a teenage accomplice to ruthless cross-country killer Martin Sheen in Terrence Malick's disturbing Badlands. The role earned her critical acclaim, as did her portrayal of a sweet teen who becomes a violent radical in the made-for-television movie Katherine (1975).

Spacek's true breakthrough came when she played a troubled, shy teenager who discovers that she has telekinetic powers and uses them to get bloody revenge upon her cruel schoolmates and mother in Brian de Palma's chilling adaptation of Stephen King's novel Carrie (1976). Her work in the film earned her a Best Actress nomination, as well as permanent cult status. She once again experimented with emotional instability in Robert Altman's Three Women the following year, and then got to show off her singing abilities playing Loretta Lynn in Coal Miner's Daughter in 1980. Her portrayal of Lynn became one of Spacek's best-known roles, and it earned her an Oscar for Best Actress. In 1981, Spacek starred in Raggedy Man, which was directed by her husband Jack Fisk. Her career remained in high gear through the mid-'80s with such memorable turns as her Oscar nominated work in Missing (1982) and The River (1984), but after 1986, when she was again nominated for an Oscar for her work in Crimes of the Heart, Spacek partially withdrew from acting to concentrate on raising kids. Throughout the 1990s, she occasionally returned to the big screen, lending her talents to such features as JFK (1991), The Grass Harp (1996), and Affliction (1998). In 1999, she turned in memorable performances playing Brendan Fraser's mother in Blast From the Past, and Richard Farnsworth's speech-impaired daughter in David Lynch's The Straight Story.

Her latest film is In the Bedroom which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Revolving around internal family secrets that lead to tragedy, the film is set in Maine, with Spacek delivering an understated performance as the often troubled Ruth. Paul Fischer spoke to Spacek about the film, acting and Oscars.

Paul Fischer: You're a parent, Sissy and though this is a great role, why would you want to go there? It's a painful place your character has to embark on.

Sissy Spacek: It's a great role, you said it and I loved the script. You know you read scripts and sometimes you go: They're making THIS, or making THIS. And then other times you get confused and you say okay, is this the best of what I've been reading or is this really good? Then something like this comes along. I was reading and I thought okay, I know who these people are I know what's happening and then you're going this way and then, okay, I get this and then it takes another turn and it surprised me. All the characters were so well drawn. You know, it was beautifully written.

P.F: What about the sort of less-is-more approach to these characters in this movie. How hard is it to be that meticulously restrained knowing that it was all building beneath the surface.

S.S: You know it's interesting that you ask that because you know, with Straight Story I had prosthetic teeth, and my hair, walk and speech pattern were all external. An internal thing came second, after the external thing. That helped me get there. With this one there was nothing for me to grab hold of and so I felt a little bit lost and then after I read the script I said it's Maine, a Maine accent. So I someone sent me this great documentary called Belfast Maine and then I watched it and I said oh, these accents are so great. So I worked on the accent and I said I can do this. Then Todd [Field, director] calls and says: she's not from Maine and has no accent. She went to Brown University and she's from Connecticut with an upper crust accent.

P.F: How do you find a character like this? I mean, where does a character like this come from?

S.S: You know from the material and there were things I knew about her and there were things that Todd knew about her. And a lot of my preparation was just finding out what the things that he knew finding out what they were. So I was picking his brain. Because this is really an ensemble; so much of our performances had to do with the other actors and what they brought and the scenes were so beautifully written and you could play them so many different ways. Because this character was all about her inner self as with most of these characters, it was their inner life, what was going on inside and with Ruth, of course, I thought of her like there was a war going on inside of her and on the exterior she was just very reserved.

P.F: Todd describes you as a character actress who happens to also be a movie star. Do you see that in yourself?

S.S: I take it as such a huge compliment to be called a character actress because I am untrained. I had a little bit of training in the beginning. I've had on the job training. I've been blessed with working with great directors and great actors and I've learned from all of them and at times, you know as my career has progressed and I've gotten older I've got more free to do character stuff. I mean I'm really having a lot of fun now.

P.F: Do you still feel at this point you are untrained Don't you think your films have been your training ground?

S.S: Exactly. I'm untrained, like for instance Tom Wilkinson is a theater actor who is just so fantastic. He is a trained actor he could do that big blow-up scene all week. He could do that all day. He could do that into next week and into next year and I would be crawling on the floor. I would have no voice. I would have, you know, it's a different discipline and the thing that is so amazing to me and probably to him as well is that we were able to find common ground.

P.F: I mean you were talking about how untrained you and yet when an Oscar comes along which almost legitimizes as it were, what you've been doing. Is that that even more of a shock or a surprise to you?

S.S: It's so many things rolled into one it's hard to even articulate what it means because it's meant a lot of different things to me and all of them were very big. And to me, it also means that people connected with your performance. Acting is all about the human condition; it's all about communicating with an audience and connecting with an audience and if a film works and a character works within that film, that's amazing. That's just a miracle.

P.F: Can you look back at your earlier work and remain objective about what you did all those years ago?

S.S: I think at time goes by I can be more of an audience. More of an objective audience. It's hard for me right after a film, it takes a few years.

P.F: Is it hard for you to find these really good characters to play as you get older? Are you just very lucky?

S.S: Very lucky and it is difficult and I think finding the right role has always been, you talk to any actor, particularly females, it's always the hardest thing to do. To find the right role.

P.F: Are you more choosey now?

S.S: I think I've always been choosey, but I get, it becomes more specific because I've done so many other things and now I think okay, but I've always had this idea. I'm not competitive in terms of the roles. I think that I believe the roles, you know the ones you are supposed to do you'll do and the ones you're not supposed to do you won't do.

P.F: What will you be doing next?

S.S: I did a film, which Jay Russell called Tuck Everlasting and it's a wonderful children's book.

In The Bedroom opens in limited release this Friday, November 23rd.