*Octavia Spencer’s days are filled with many movie and TV scripts to read, but the 44-year-old actress admits to battling dyslexia back in the day.
So much so that she became disinterested in reading after reading paragraphs more than once when the words became confusing. But thanks to a teacher who planted a seed about mysteries helping her stay interested in reading, Spencer has no trouble going from paragraph to paragraph.
“I’m reading today because of Encyclopedia Brown,” the Oscar winner told students at an assembly from Geneva Middle Schools North and South in Geneva, Illinois.
While she got tight with Encyclopedia Brown, Spencer admitted that it was her love of martial arts icons Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee that motivated her to become an author with writing the “Randi Rhodes Ninja Detective” books for middle school readers. The series has apparently struck a chord with kids and parents alike, S2Smagazine.com notes.
The irony of her becoming an author after battling dyslexia as a young girl isn’t lost on Spencer, who brought up Brown again during a recent appearance on “The View,”
“Encyclopedia Brown was my first boyfriend, in my mind,” she shared while admitting that creative mystery books played an important role in keeping her engaged in reading and ultimately enthusiastic about acting.
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