Date of Birth
15 June 1963,
Los Angeles, California, USA
Helen Elizabeth Hunt
Height
5' 8" (1.73 m)
Mini Biography
Helen Hunt began studying acting at the age of eight with her father, respected director and acting coach Gordon Hunt. A year later she made her professional debut and afterwards worked steadily in films, theatre and television.
Spouse
| Hank Azaria |
(17 July 1999 - 18 December 2000) (divorced) |
Trivia
Graduated from Providence High School in Burbank, California.
she and her "Mad About You" (1992) co-star, Paul Reiser, were both given $1,000,000 per episode salaries for the 1999 TV season.
Attended UCLA for 1 month.
Celebrates Thanksgiving every year with Anthony Edwards.
Did a guest voice on "The Simpsons" (1989) in episode: #9.16 "Dumbbell Indemnity," as Moe's girlfriend, Renee. The voice of Moe is Hank Azaria, Helen's real-life love at that time.
Got the role in Twister (1996) based on her performance in The Waterdance (1992).
Daughter of Gordon Hunt.
One of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People. [1998]
Got the lead in As Good as It Gets (1997) after Holly Hunter turned it down.
After divorcing Hank Azaria, she moved to New York, intending to do theater work, especially William Shakespeare. [2000]
Dated Eric Stoltz, her The Waterdance (1992) co-star.
Has won Four Emmys, four Golden Globes, a Blockbuster Award, two Screen Actors Guild awards, four American Comedy Awards, three Viewers for Quality Television Awards and an Oscar, along with other awards. [2001]
In the early 1990s she dated her agent at Creative Artists Agency, Doc O'Conner.
Her best friend is Helen Slater.
Witnessed the World Trade Center attacks from the roof of her brand new New York apartment and decided to leave the city right away, but could not get a flight out. she booked a private jet at considerable expense and flew herself and her staff out of Connecticut three days later, the first day they allowed private jets to fly. [September 2001]
she appeared in Four movies released in the year 2000. Two of them were in theaters at the same time during the end-of-the-year holiday season, and grossed over $150 million each: Cast Away (2000) and What Women Want (2000).
Only the second actress to win a Golden Globe, an Oscar, and an Emmy in the same calendar year. The first was Liza Minnelli in 1973.
Daughter, Makena Lei Gordon Carnahan, born 13 May 2004 with boyfriend Matthew Carnahan.
Beat Teri Hatcher for the role of Jamie Buchman in "Mad About You" (1992) at the final auditions.
she and her ex-husband, Hank Azaria, have both guest-starred on the TV show "Friends" (1994), though not in the same episode.
Her daughter, Makena Lei, was named after a friend's dream. The Name means "many flowers of heaven." The baby's middle name, Gordon, is in honor of Helen's father, Gordon Hunt.
Frequents Hawaii, which she first visited when She was 14. Says, "It's where I feel right. I can write here, think, chill and get a clear head.".
Asked novelist Robert B. Parker to create a female private detective for her to play. The result was Parker's series of novels featuring Sunny Randall.
To tell you the truth, I don't have any expensive tastes. I'm just as happy going to a beach and sitting in the sun today as I was ten years ago. I wouldn't feel comfortable if I drove there in a Bentley convertible.
I'm not very sexy or glamorous! I have this girl next door kind of look and I have to do the best I can with that.
On a professional level, an Oscar means that your salary suddenly increases by a few million and you get offered a lot more movies which in the past you had to beg to have a chance to read for.
You're not in control of anything. You're not even like a painter, who can say "I'm just going to go into my studio and do my work, and if nobody wants to buy it, well, maybe they will when I'm dead". You can't even do that. You're waiting for somebody to hand you a part. You're in this wildly dependent position.
Not having incredible success for a long time probably helped. Of course some 20-year-old beautiful girl, who goes from barely acting to being on the cover [of magazines] ... that's going to be disorienting and confusing, and People can't really be surprised if they have a skewed perspective of their importance in the World, when everyone comes together and tells them they're the most important thing in the world, then hates them for believing it. I didn't go through that. So that was lucky.
I always used to say absolutely yes, and I didn't miss my childhood, because I was a child on the set, and often I was working with other kids. On the other hand, do I feel like I was too serious, like I had this vocation?
My no-good Hollywood liberalism, you mean? I don't know what the right thing to do is. All I know is that when it's a month before the election, and there are issues that mean so much to me, and someone Says "Put your Name and your face on this, it might help", I am moved and I say yes. Do I think it's a good thing for famous People to put their name and face on stuff? I don't know. When I stop and think about it, maybe, if I want to help, I should just put a baseball hat on, not use my face at all, and be One of the people on the march, write a letter to my congressman, and just be a citizen.
I don't like People to think they know me. It makes me queasy.
Where Are They Now
(march 2003) Appearing at the Circle in the Square Theatre's production of Yasmina Reza's play, "Life (x) 3".
(June 2005) Received the Maui Film Festival's Stella Award at the 'Wailea Marriott' Ballroom on June 18, 2005.
