Helen Hunt Biography

Helen Elizabeth Hunt (born June 15, 1963) is an American actress, film director, and screenwriter. She starred in the sitcom, Mad About You, for seven years before being cast in the 1997 romantic comedy film, As Good as It Gets for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. Some of her other notable films include Twister, Cast Away, What Women Want, Pay It Forward, Soul Surfer and The Sessions. She made her directorial debut in 2007 with Then She Found Me. She has won four Emmy awards, four Golden Globe awards, two Screen Actors Guild awards, and an Oscar.

Youth

Hunt was born in Culver City, California. Her mother, Jane Elizabeth (née Novis), worked as a photographer, and her father, Gordon E. Hunt, is a film director and acting coach. Her uncle, Peter H. Hunt, is also a director. Her Iowa-born maternal grandmother, Dorothy (Anderson) Fries, was a voice coach. Hunt's paternal grandmother was from a German Jewish family, while Hunt's other grandparents were of English descent (her maternal grandfather was born in England). When she was three, Hunt's family moved to New York City, where her father directed theatre (Hunt attended plays as a child several times a week). Hunt studied ballet, and briefly attended UCLA.

Career

Hunt began working as a child actress in the 1970s. Her early roles included an appearance as Murray Slaughter's daughter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, alongside Lindsay Wagner in an episode of The Bionic Woman, an appearance in an episode of Ark II called Omega, and a regular role in the television series The Swiss Family Robinson. She appeared as a marijuana-smoking classmate on an episode of The Facts of Life. Hunt also played a young woman who, while on PCP, jumps out of a second-story window, in a 1982 TV movie called Desperate Lives (a scene which she mocked during a Saturday Night Live monologue in 1994). That same year, Hunt was cast on the ABC sitcom It Takes Two, which lasted a single season. In the mid-1980s, she had a recurring role on St. Elsewhere as Clancy Williams, the girlfriend of Dr. Jack "Boomer" Morrison. She played Jennie in the television movie Bill: On His Own, co-starring Mickey Rooney. She also starred in the 1985 film Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, with Sarah Jessica Parker and Shannen Doherty.

In the 1990s, after playing the lead female role in the short-lived My Life and Times, Hunt starred in the series Mad About You, winning Emmy Awards for her performances in 1996, 1997, 1998, and 1999. Hunt directed several episodes of Mad About You, including the series finale. Her big-screen directorial debut came with the film Then She Found Me, in which she also starred, with Colin Firth and Matthew Broderick. In 1998, Hunt won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Carol Connelly in the movie As Good as It Gets; the character is a waitress and single mother who finds herself falling in love with Melvin Udall, an obsessive-compulsive romance novelist played by Jack Nicholson. After winning the Academy Award, she took time off from movie work to play Viola in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, at Lincoln Center in New York. In 2000, Hunt starred in four films: Dr. T & the Women, with Richard Gere; Pay It Forward, with Kevin Spacey and Haley Joel Osment; What Women Want, with Mel Gibson; and Cast Away, with Tom Hanks. In 2003, she returned to Broadway in Yasmina Reza's Life x 3. In 2006, Hunt appeared in the ensemble cast film Bobby alongside Demi Moore, Anthony Hopkins, Sharon Stone and William H. Macy. In 2012, she starred alongside John Hawkes and William H. Macy in The Sessions as sex surrogate Cheryl Cohen-Greene. The movie and her performance were very well reviewed and earned her several award nominations, including an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

She owns a production company with Connie Tavel, Hunt/Tavel Productions under Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Personal life

Hunt started dating actor Hank Azaria in 1994 and they married in 1999, only to get divorced 17 months later (July 17, 1999 " December 18, 2000). She has been in a relationship with producer/writer/director Matthew Carnahan since 2001. They have a daughter, Makena Lei Gordon Carnahan, born on May 13, 2004.

Awards

Hunt has been recognized extensively in her career. In 1998 she won a Golden Globe Award, an Academy Award and an Emmy Award in the same year. Hunt was nominated for an Emmy Award for lead actress in a comedy seven years in a row, from 1993 through 1999, winning in the last four years.

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1974	Amy Prentiss	Jill Prentiss
1975	'	Helga
1976	Ark II	Diana
1977	'	Kerry Gerardi
1978	'	Princess Aura
1980"81	Knots Landing	Betsy / Brenda
1982	It Takes Two	Lisa Quinn
1984"86	St. Elsewhere	Clancy Williams
1985	Highway To Heaven	Lizzy MacGill
1991	My Life and Times	Rebecca Miller
1992"99	Mad About You	Jamie Stemple Buchman	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series |Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Television Series Musical or Comedy |People's Choice Award for Favorite Female Television Performer |Q Award for Best Actress in a Quality Comedy Series|Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series |Nominated " American Comedy Award for Funniest Female Performer in a TV Series |Nominated " Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series |Nominated " Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Television Series Musical or Comedy |Nominated " Q Award for Best Actress in a Quality Comedy Series |Nominated " Satellite Award for Best Actress " Television Series Musical or Comedy |Nominated " Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series |Nominated " Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series |Nominated " TV Guide Award for Favorite Actress in a Comedy}}
1995	Friends	Jamie Buchman
1998	The Simpsons	Renee	Episode Dumbbell Indemnity
2005	Empire Falls	Janine Roby	Gracie Allen Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress " Drama Special
2012	Californication		Director " season five, episode nine
2013	Revenge		Director " season two, episode fifteen

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1973	Pioneer Woman	Sarah Sargeant	Television film
1975	Death Scream	Teila Rodriguez	Television film
1975	All Together Now	Susan Lindsay	Television film
1976	Having Babies	Sharon McNamara	Television film
1977	'	Kristina Matchett	Television film
1977	Rollercoaster	Tracy Calder
1979	Transplant	Janice Hurley	Television film
1981	Child Bride of Short Creek	Naomi	Television film
1981	CBS Afternoon Playhouse	Phoebe	I Think I'm Having a Baby
1981	'		Television film
1981	Angel Dusted	Lizzie Eaton	Television film
1981	'	Kathy Miller	Television film
1982	Desperate Lives	Sandy Cameron	Television film
1983	Bill: On His Own	Jenny Wells	Television film
1983	Quarterback Princess	Tami Maida	Television film
1983	Choices of the Heart	Cathy	Television film
1984	Sweet Revenge	Debbie Markham	Television film
1985	Trancers	Leena
1985	Waiting to Act	Tracy
1985	Girls Just Want to Have Fun	Lynne Stone
1986	'	Mary	voice
1986	Peggy Sue Got Married	Beth Bodell
1987	Project X	Teri
1988	Shooter	Tracey	Television film
1988	Miles from Home	Jennifer
1988	Stealing Home	Hope Wyatt (adult and pregnant)
1988	'	Princess Henrietta
1989	Incident at Dark River	Jesse McCandless	Television film
1989	Next of Kin	Jessie Gates
1991	Murder in New Hampshire: The Pamela Wojas Smart Story	Pamela Smart	Television film
1991	Trancers II	Lena Deth
1991	Into the Badlands	Blossom	Television film
1992	'	Anna
1992	Only You	Clare Enfield
1992	Mr. Saturday Night	Annie Wells
1992	Bob Roberts	Rose Pondell
1992	Trancers III	Lena
1993	Sexual Healing	Rene
1993	In the Company of Darkness	Gina Pulasky	Television film
1995	Kiss of Death	Bev Kilmartin
1996	Twister	Dr. Jo Harding (Adult)
1997	As Good as It Gets	Carol Connelly
1998	Twelfth Night	Viola	Television film
2000	Dr. T & the Women	Bree Davis
2000	What Women Want	Darcy McGuire	Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress " Comedy/Romance
2000	Pay It Forward	Arlene McKinney	Nominated " Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress " Drama/Romance
2000	Cast Away	Kelly Frears	}}
2001	One Night at McCool's	Truck driver	scenes deleted
2001	'	Betty Ann Fitzgerald
2004	'	Mrs. Erlynne
2006	Bobby	Samantha Stevens
2007	Then She Found Me	April Epner
2011	Every Day	Jeannie
2011	Soul Surfer	Cheri Hamilton
2011	Jock of the Bushveld	Jess	voice
2012	The Sessions	Cheryl Cohen-Greene	Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female Nevada Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress Sundance Film Festival - U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Prize for Ensemble Acting Nominated " Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated " BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role Nominated " Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated " Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress Nominated " Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress Nominated " Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated " Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated " Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress " Motion Picture Nominated " Houston Film Critics Society for Best Supporting Actress Nominated " London Film Critics Circle Award for Actress of the Year Nominated " Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated " Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated " San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress Nominated " Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated " Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role Nominated " Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
2013	Decoding Annie Parker	Dr. Mary-Claire King
2014	Ride		Filming, also director, producer and writer