Holly Hunter

Holly Hunter (born March 20, 1958) is an American actress. Born in Conyers, Georgia, her first acting role was as Helen Keller in a fifth-grade play, before appearing in Rockdale County High School stagings of Oklahoma!, Man of La Mancha, and Fiddler on the Roof. In Pittsburgh, she graduated with a drama degree at Carnegie Mellon University and performed in local theater.

She then moved to New York City with Frances McDormand, beginning a Broadway career. After appearing in a slasher film released in 1981, The Burning, she moved to Los Angeles a year later, taking on various supporting roles in theatrical and television films before starring in Raising Arizona (1987) and receiving an Academy Award nomination for her starring role in Broadcast News (1987). She later went on to win two Primetime Emmy Awards for her performances in the television films Roe vs. Wade (1989) and The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom (1993).

For her performance as a mute Scottish woman in The Piano (1993), she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. Later on, she was nominated for two more Oscars in The Firm (1993), and Thirteen (2003). Other major accolades she has won include an AACTA Award, a Silver Bear, a BAFTA Award, a Cannes Film Festival Award and a Golden Globe.

Early life Hunter is the daughter of Marguerite "Dee Dee" (née Catledge), a homemaker, and Charles Edwin Hunter, a part-time sporting goods company representative and farmer with a 250-acre farm. She is the youngest of six children. Her parents encouraged her talent at an early age, and her first acting part was as Helen Keller in a fifth-grade play. She is unable to hear with her left ear due to a childhood case of the mumps. The condition sometimes leads to complications at work, and some movie scenes have to be altered from the script for her to use her right ear. She is irreligious. She began acting at Rockdale County High School in the early 1970s, performing in local productions of 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 local theater, playing ingenue roles at City Theater, then named the City Players.

Career

Hunter moved to New York City and roomed with fellow actress Frances McDormand, living in the Bronx "at the end of the D (subway) train, just off 205th Street, on Bainbridge Avenue and Hull Avenue". 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." 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.

Hunter 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 Roe vs. Wade 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. Hunter appeared in David Cronenberg's Crash and as a sardonic angel in A Life Less Ordinary. The following year, Hunter 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 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.

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 animated superhero film, The Incredibles. She reprised the role in the Disney Infinity video game series, and in the film's long-awaited sequel Incredibles 2 in 2018. She also voiced Chicken Little during the early production of the 2005 film Chicken Little until the character's gender was changed and was replaced by Zach Braff.

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. In 2019, she took on a recurring role in the HBO series Succession as CEO Rhea Jarrell, leader of a rival media conglomerate. Hunter subsequently starred opposite Ted Danson in the 2021 NBC comedy Mr. Mayor.

In 2023, Hunter was cast in Hurricanna alongside Sylvia Hoeks. It is a dramatization of the final days of Playboy model and reality TV actress Anna Nicole Smith. Hunter portrays Smith's therapist. Production took place in late 2023.

In 2025, she played Madeline Vance in the science fiction film The Electric State. In 2026, she portrayed Captain Nahla Ake, the lead role in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.

Personal life Hunter was married to Janusz Kamiński, cinematographer of Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan from 1995 until 2001.

She 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 gave birth to the couple's twin sons.

Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 1981 The Burning Sophie 1984 Swing Shift Jeannie Blood Simple Helene Trend Voice, uncredited 1987 Raising Arizona Edwina "Ed" McDunnough End of the Line Charlotte Haney Broadcast News Jane Craig 1989 Miss Firecracker Carnelle Scott Animal Behavior Coral Grable Always Dorinda Durston 1991 Once Around Renata Bella 1993 Ada McGrath Tammy Hemphill 1995 Copycat Inspector Mary Jane "M.J." Monahan Home for the Holidays Claudia Larson 1996 Crash Helen Remington 1997 O'Reilly 1998 Living Out Loud Judith Moore 1999 Jesus' Son Mira Woman Wanted Emma Riley 2000 Timecode Renee Fishbine O Brother, Where Art Thou? Penny Wharvey McGill 2001 Festival in Cannes Herself 2002 Searching for Debra Winger Documentary Moonlight Mile Mona Camp 2003 Levity Adele Easley Thirteen Melanie Freeland Also executive producer 2004 Little Black Book Barb Campbell-Dunn Helen Parr / Elastigirl Voice role 2005 Nine Lives Sonia Margaret Barnell Chicken Little Chicken Little Voice role; deleted scenes 2011 Portraits in Dramatic Time Herself Documentary 2012 Won't Back Down Evelyn Riske Jackie Jackie 2013 Paradise Mrs. Mannerhelm 2014 Manglehorn Dawn 2016 Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Senator Finch Strange Weather Darcy Baylor 2017 Breakable You Eleanor Weller The Big Sick Beth Gardner Song to Song Miranda 2018 Incredibles 2 Helen Parr / Elastigirl Voice role 2025 The Electric State Madeline Vance Hurricanna Anna's therapist

Television Year Title Role Notes 1983 Svengali Leslie Television film An Uncommon Love Karen 1984 With Intent to Kill Wynn Nolen 1987 A Gathering of Old Men Candy Marshall 1989 Roe vs. Wade Ellen Russell/Jane Doe The Three Billy Goats Gruff and The Three Little Pigs Narrator (voice) Television short 1992 Crazy in Love Georgie Symonds Television film 1993 The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom Wanda Holloway 2000 Harlan County War Ruby Kincaid Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her Rebecca Weyman Segment: "Fantasies About Rebecca" 2001 When Billie Beat Bobby Billie Jean King Television film; also executive producer 2007 Peep and the Big Wide World Robin (voice) Episode: "Big Bird/Chirp Flies the Coop" 2007–2010 Saving Grace Grace Hanadarko 46 episodes; also executive producer 2013 Top of the Lake GJ 6 episodes Bonnie & Clyde Emma Parker 2 episodes 2018 Here and Now Audrey Bayer 10 episodes 2019 Succession Rhea Jarrell 6 episodes 2019–2020 Bless the Harts Marjune Gamble (voice) 3 episodes 2020 The Comey Rule Sally Yates 2 episodes 2021–2022 Mr. Mayor Arpi Meskimen Main role 2024 Mulligan Sheila (voice) 2 episodes2025Big MouthCoco the Compassion Pachyderm (voice)Episode: "Have Some Goddamn Compassion" 2026–present Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Captain Nahla AkeMain role

Video games Year Title Role Notes 2013 Disney Infinity Helen Parr / Elastigirl 2014 Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes 2015 Disney Infinity 3.0 2024 Disney Speedstorm

Theme parks Year Title Role Notes 2018 Incredicoaster Helen Parr / Elastigirl Voice

Awards and nominations

In 1999, Hunter received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. In 2016, Hunter was awarded an Honorary Doctorate degree by her alma mater, Carnegie Mellon University.