Arts & Culture | January 18, 2017

Octavia Spencer is the Hasty Pudding Club's 2017 Woman of the Year

The actress will attend the Hasty Pudding's festivities on January 26.

by Sophia Nguyen

Smiling woman with dark hair in a teal dress, standing in front of a branded backdrop. — Octavia Spencer at a screening of *Hidden Figures* at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture
Photograph by Joel Kowsky/NASA

Hasty Pudding theatricals has named actress Octavia Spencer its 2017 Woman of the Year.

Best known for her performance as Minny Jackson in The Help, for which she won an Oscar in 2012, she has also played: a reluctant rebel in the young adult franchise dystopia Divergent and a determined one in Snowpiercer; the worried mother of Oscar Grant in Fruitvale Station; and an otter with a missing husband in Zootopia. Recent television roles include a tough nurse in the series Red Band Society and Harriet Tubman in the comedy show Drunk History. Currently, Spencer can be seen playing Dorothy Vaughan, a mathematician and NASA supervisor, in Hidden Figures. She was nominated for a 2017 Golden Globe for the role.

Spencer will receive her award on January 26, and lead a parade through the streets of Cambridge. The festivities also feature a celebratory roast, the presentation of her Pudding Pot, and a live-streamed press conference. The Woman of the Year award, established in 1951, pre-dates the society’s Man of the Year award. Past recipients include Rosalind Russell, Lucille Ball, and most recently, Kerry Washington.

Spencer joins Hasty Pudding Man of the Year Ryan Reynolds, announced last week.

You might also like

A vase of yellow flowers on a table next to an orange and a glass.

There’s a New Sargent Painting in Town

Harvard Art Museums restores a rare glimpse of an American master.

Three actors perform on stage, with one actor interacting closely with another, set against abstract backgrounds.

Two Scientists Bring the Laboratory to the Stage

The play Spare Parts is a contemporary fable about the quest to live forever.

A woman with curly blonde hair sits casually against a stone wall, wearing a black top and jeans.

Why Men Have Worn the Same Black Suits for 200 Years

Chloe Chapin trains her Broadway costume designer’s eye on the history of men’s fashion.

Most popular

Illustration suggesting how technologies may influence undergraduate writing

Explore More From Current Issue

Decorative wrought iron gate framed by leafy branches, captured in sepia tones.

Former Indiana University president Thomas Ehrlich looks back on curriculum, co-education, and other major trends.

A smiling William C. Kirby in a suit with glasses stands outdoors, surrounded by greenery.

Editor’s Letter

The president of Harvard Magazine’s Board of Directors will step down in September.

Museums & Collections