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Octavia Spencer: "Whoopi Goldberg Was a Game Changer"

The "Fruitvale Station" star on the Oscar curse and upcoming projects.

Octavia Spencer has been a trailblazer for women in Hollywood, but The Help star owes a debt of gratitude to Whoopi Goldberg.

The star of Fruitvale Station, produced by Weinstein Company in association with BET Films, talks to us about interning for Goldberg when she was 16 and her upcoming collaboration with her former mentor. "I bow down to Whoopi," Spencer says of her fellow Oscar winner (Spencer won for The Help, Goldberg for Ghost). "She was a real game changer for African-American women."
Spencer, who plays the mother of Oscar Grant III in Fruitvale Station, also talks to us about beating the infamous Academy Awards curse. "It comes down to priorties," she explains. "I live for my career."
Check out our exclusive video of Octavia Spencer below and don't forget to see her moving performance in Fruitvale Station, which opens in select cities on July 12.

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(Photo: BET)

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