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

Black and white portrait of a woman with medium-length hair, smiling softly.

Boston Ballet’s Ming Min Hui on Changing Audiences and Timothée Chalamet

The outgoing executive director and Harvard Business School graduate went from dancing The Nutcracker to growing a ballet company.

Ancient Egyptian painted sarcophagus with detailed hieroglyphs and a woman's face.

Padimut at Harvard

A rare Egyptian mummy case is on display at the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East.

Illuminated hanging sculptures resembling organic forms, casting warm light in a dim space.

Resculpting an Empire, Through Kitchen Scraps

Artists Enzo Camacho and Ami Lien turn a colonial symbol from Cambodia inside out.

Most popular

A woman jogs on a path beside a boy riding a bicycle, surrounded by trees.

To Promote Healthy Habits in Patients, Start With the Doctors

Why Harvard Medical School is training physicians to think more like coaches

A girl in blue boots stands on a cliff, holding a leash attached to a glowing, digital dog.

Who Is Accountable for the Acts of AI Systems?

Establishing legal responsibility for autonomous agents

Panoramic view of Harvard University with autumn foliage and a river under a cloudy sky.

When Government Funding Dropped, Harvard Found Partners

The University is expanding industry ties and investing its own funds to support research, but neither will replace lost federal dollars.

Explore More From Current Issue

Bronze statue of a seated figure holding a book, with a campus setting in the background.

Humanities

As humanities shrink across higher education, one department is flourishing. Is its success a fluke, or a roadmap?

St. Peter's Basilica at sunset, illuminated by purple and orange sky reflections in the river.

Alumni

For advocacy and benevolence, three late alumni are reportedly in line for the Catholic Church’s highest honor.

AI

Establishing legal responsibility for autonomous agents