Octavia Spencer

Spencer is nominated for an Emmy for playing Madam C.J. Walker, an enterprising Black businesswoman, in a the Netflix series Self Made. Originally broadcast March 16, 2020.

Growing up, actor Octavia Spencer remembers being inspired by the story of Madam C.J. Walker, one of America's first black, female, self-made millionaires. Born on a plantation in 1867, Walker eked out a living washing clothes for white families before building an empire selling hair care and makeup products to women of color.