Holly Hunter
Quick Facts
Biography
Holly Hunter (born March 20, 1958) is an American actress and producer. For her performance as Ada McGrath in the 1993 drama film The Piano, she won the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award, and Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress. She was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for Broadcast News (1987), and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for The Firm (1993) and again for Thirteen (2003).
A seven-time Primetime Emmy Award nominee, Hunter won for Roe vs. Wade (1989), and The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom (1993). She also starred in the TNT drama series Saving Grace (2007–10). Her other film roles include Raising Arizona (1987), Always (1989), Home for the Holidays (1995), Crash (1996), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), The Incredibles (2004), its sequel Incredibles 2 (2018), Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), and The Big Sick (2017), which earned her a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role.
Early life and career
Hunter was born in Conyers, Georgia, the daughter of Opal Marguerite (née Catledge), a housewife, and Charles Edwin Hunter, a farmer and sporting-goods manufacturer's representative. Hunter began acting at Rockdale County High School in the early 1970s, performing in “Oklahoma,” “Man of La Mancha” and “Fiddler on the Roof.”Hunter earned a degree in drama from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, and for a while performed in the theatre scene there, playing ingenue roles at City Theatre, then named the City Players.
She eventually moved to New York City and roomed with fellow actress Frances McDormand. Hunter, in 2008, described living in the Bronx "at the end of the D [subway] train, just off 205th Street, on Bainbridge Avenue and Hull Avenue. It was very Irish, and then you could go just a few blocks away and hit major Italian." A chance encounter with playwright Beth Henley, when the two were trapped alone in an elevator, led to Hunter's being cast in Henley's plays Crimes of the Heart (succeeding Mary Beth Hurt on Broadway), and Off-Broadway's The Miss Firecracker Contest. "It was like the beginning of 1982. It was on 49th Street between Broadway and Eighth [Avenue] ... on the south side of the street," Hunter recalled in an interview. "[We were trapped] 10 minutes; not long. We actually had a nice conversation. It was just the two of us."
Stage and film
Hunter made her film debut in the 1981 slasher movie The Burning. After moving to Los Angeles in 1982, Hunter appeared in TV movies before being cast in a supporting role in 1984's Swing Shift. That year, she had her first collaboration with the writing-directing-producing team of brothers Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, in Blood Simple, making an uncredited appearance as a voice on an answering-machine recording. More film and television work followed until 1987, when she earned a starring role in the Coens' Raising Arizona and was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in Broadcast News, after which Hunter became a critically acclaimed star. She went on to the screen adaptation of Henley's Miss Firecracker; Steven Spielberg's Always, a romantic drama with Richard Dreyfuss; and the made-for-TV 1989 docudrama about the Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade.
Following her second collaboration with Dreyfuss, in Once Around, Hunter garnered critical attention for her work in two 1993 films, resulting in her being nominated for two Academy Awards the same year: Hunter's performance in The Firm won her a nomination as Best Supporting Actress, while her portrayal of a mute Scottish woman entangled in an adulterous affair with Harvey Keitel in Jane Campion's The Piano won her the Best Actress award.
Hunter went on to star in the comedy-drama Home for the Holidays and the thriller Copycat, both in 1995. She also appeared in David Cronenberg's Crash and as a sardonic angel in A Life Less Ordinary. The following year, she played a recently divorced New Yorker in Richard LaGravenese's Living Out Loud; starring alongside Danny DeVito, Queen Latifah, and Martin Donovan. Hunter rounded out the 1990s with a minor role in the independent drama Jesus' Son and as a housekeeper torn between a grieving widower and his son in Kiefer Sutherland's drama Woman Wanted.
Following a supporting role in the Coens' O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Hunter took top billing in the same year's television movie Harlan County War, an account of labor struggles among Kentucky coal-mine workers. Hunter would continue her small screen streak with a role in When Billie Beat Bobby, playing tennis pro Billie Jean King in the fact-based story of King's famed exhibition match with Bobby Riggs; and as narrator of Eco Challenge New Zealand before returning to film work with a minor role in the 2002 drama Moonlight Mile.
The following year found Hunter in the redemption drama Levity. Also in 2003, Hunter had the role of a mother named Melanie Freeland, whose daughter is troubled and going through the perils of being a teenager in the film Thirteen. The film was critically acclaimed along with Hunter and her co-stars and earned her nominations for the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress.
In 2004, Hunter starred alongside Brittany Murphy in the romantic satire Little Black Book, and provided the voice for Helen Parr (also known as Elastigirl) in the acclaimed computer-animated superhero film, The Incredibles. Hunter has also voiced Elastigirl in the Disney Infinity video game series, and reprised the role for the film's sequel, Incredibles 2 in 2018. In 2005, Hunter starred alongside Robin Williams in the black comedy-drama The Big White.
Hunter became an executive producer, and helped develop a starring vehicle for herself with the TNT cable-network drama Saving Grace, which premiered in July 2007. For her acting, she received a Golden Globe Award nomination, two Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, and an Emmy Award nomination. On May 30, 2008, Hunter received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2009, she was awarded the Women in Film Lucy Award. In 2016, Hunter played Senator Finch in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Hunter's likeness was used to portray Senator Finch in the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice tie-in prequel comics, released by Dr. Pepper on February 3, 2016.
Personal life
Hunter is unable to hear with her left ear due to a childhood case of the mumps. The condition sometimes leads to complications at work. Some scenes have to be altered from the script for her to use her right ear.
Hunter was married to Janusz Kamiński, cinematographer of Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan from 1995 until 2001.
Hunter has been in a relationship with British actor Gordon MacDonald since 2001. The couple met in San Jose Repertory Theatre's production of playwright Marina Carr's By the Bog of Cats, in which she played a woman abandoned by her lover of 14 years, played by MacDonald. In January 2006, Hunter's publicist announced that Hunter had given birth to the couple's twin boys Claude and Press.
Hunter is irreligious.
Awards and nominations
In 2016, Hunter was awarded an Honorary Doctorate degree by her alma mater, Carnegie Mellon University.
For film
Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
1987 | Boston Society of Film Critics Award | Best Actress | Broadcast News | Won |
National Board of Review Awards | Best Actress | Won | ||
New York Film Critics Circle Award | Best Actress | Won | ||
Silver Bear Award | Best Actress | Won | ||
Academy Award | Best Actress | Nominated | ||
American Comedy Award | Funniest Actress in a Motion Picture | Nominated | ||
Golden Globe Award | Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy | Nominated | ||
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award | Best Actress | Nominated | ||
National Society of Film Critics Award | Best Actress | Nominated | ||
1993 | Academy Award | Best Actress | The Piano | Won |
Australian Film Institute Award | Best Actress in a Leading Role | Won | ||
BAFTA Award | Best Actress in a Leading Role | Won | ||
Boston Society of Film Critics Award | Best Actress | Won | ||
Cannes Film Festival | Best Actress | Won | ||
Chicago Film Critics Association Award | Best Actress | Won | ||
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award | Best Actress | Won | ||
Golden Globe Award | Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama | Won | ||
London Film Critics Circle Award | Actress of the Year | Won | ||
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award | Best Actress | Won | ||
National Board of Review Awards | Best Actress | Won | ||
National Society of Film Critics Award | Best Actress | Won | ||
New York Film Critics Circle Award | Best Actress | Won | ||
Southeastern Film Critics Association Award | Best Actress | Won | ||
David di Donatello Awards | Best Foreign Actress | Nominated | ||
Academy Award | Best Supporting Actress | The Firm | Nominated | |
BAFTA Award | Best Actress in a Supporting Role | Nominated | ||
1998 | American Comedy Award | Funniest Actress in a Motion Picture | Living Out Loud | Nominated |
Chicago Film Critics Association Award | Best Actress | Nominated | ||
Satellite Award | Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy | Nominated | ||
2000 | Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture | O Brother, Where Art Thou? | Nominated | |
2003 | Academy Award | Best Supporting Actress | Thirteen | Nominated |
BAFTA Award | Best Actress in a Supporting Role | Nominated | ||
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award | Best Supporting Actress | Nominated | ||
Bronze Leopard Award | Best Actress | Won | ||
Chicago Film Critics Association Award | Best Supporting Actress | Nominated | ||
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award | Best Supporting Actress | Nominated | ||
Golden Globe Award | Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture | Nominated | ||
International Cinephile Society Award | Best Supporting Actress | Won | ||
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award | Best Supporting Actress | Won | ||
London Film Critics Circle Award | Actress of the Year | Nominated | ||
Online Film Critics Society Award | Best Supporting Actress | Nominated | ||
Phoenix Film Critics Society Award | Best Supporting Actress | Nominated | ||
Prism Award | Best Performance in a Theatrical Feature Film | Nominated | ||
Satellite Award | Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture | Nominated | ||
Screen Actors Guild Award | Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role | Nominated | ||
Southeastern Film Critics Association Award | Best Supporting Actress | Nominated | ||
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award | Best Supporting Actress | Nominated | ||
2005 | MTV Movie Award | Best On-Screen Team | The Incredibles | Nominated |
Bronze Leopard Award | Best Actress | Nine Lives | Won | |
Gotham Awards | Best Cast | Nominated | ||
2017 | Chicago Film Critics Association Award | Best Supporting Actress | The Big Sick | Nominated |
Critics' Choice Award | Best Supporting Actress | Nominated | ||
Detroit Film Critics Society Award | Best Supporting Actress | Nominated | ||
Hollywood Film Award | Hollywood Comedy Ensemble Award | Won | ||
Houston Film Critics Society Award | Best Supporting Actress | Nominated | ||
Independent Spirit Award | Best Supporting Female | Nominated | ||
International Online Cinema Award | Best Supporting Actress | Won | ||
San Diego Film Critics Society Award | Best Supporting Actress | Nominated | ||
San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award | Best Supporting Actress | Nominated | ||
Satellite Award | Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture | Nominated | ||
Screen Actors Guild Award | Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role | Nominated | ||
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture | Nominated | |||
Seattle Film Critics Society Award | Best Supporting Actress | Nominated | ||
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award | Best Supporting Actress | Nominated |
For television
Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
1989 | Golden Globe Award | Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film | Roe vs. Wade | Nominated |
Primetime Emmy Award | Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie | Won | ||
1993 | Golden Globe Award | Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film | The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom | Nominated |
CableACE Award | Best Actress in a Movie or Miniseries | Won | ||
Primetime Emmy Award | Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie | Won | ||
2000 | Golden Globe Award | Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film | Harlan County War | Nominated |
Primetime Emmy Award | Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie | Nominated | ||
Satellite Award | Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film | Nominated | ||
Primetime Emmy Award | Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie | Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her | Nominated | |
2001 | Primetime Emmy Award | Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie | When Billie Beat Bobby | Nominated |
2007 | Golden Globe Award | Best Actress – Television Series Drama | Saving Grace | Nominated |
Gracie Allen Award | Outstanding Actress — Drama Series | Won | ||
Screen Actors Guild Award | Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series | Nominated | ||
2008 | Primetime Emmy Award | Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series | Nominated | |
Screen Actors Guild Award | Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series | Nominated | ||
Saturn Award | Best Actress on Television | Nominated | ||
Prism Award | Best Performance in a Drama Series Episode | Nominated | ||
Satellite Award | Best Actress – Television Series Drama | Nominated | ||
2009 | Primetime Emmy Award | Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series | Nominated | |
Screen Actors Guild Award | Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series | Nominated | ||
People's Choice Award | Favorite TV Drama Diva | Nominated | ||
2013 | Screen Actors Guild Award | Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie | Top of the Lake | Nominated |
Equity Award | Most Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Television Movie or Miniseries | Won |