Linda Hunt
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| Linda Hunt | |
| Born | April 2, 1945 Morristown, New Jersey, USA |
|---|---|
| Occupation | actor |
Linda Hunt (born April 2, 1945) is an American film, stage and television actor. She is perhaps best known for her Academy Award-winning role in 1983's The Year of Living Dangerously.
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[edit] Early life
Hunt was born in Morristown, New Jersey and grew up in Westport, Connecticut[1], the daughter of Elsie (née Doying), a piano teacher who taught at the Westport School of Music and accompanied the Saugatuck Congregational Church choir, and Raymond Davy Hunt, the long-time vice president of Harper Fuel Oil on Long Island.[2] She has a sister, Marcia.
[edit] Career
Hunt's film debut in 1980 was in Robert Altman's musical comedy Popeye. Two years later she co-starred as Billy Kwan in The Year of Living Dangerously, Peter Weir's film adaptation of the novel of the same name. For her role as the male Chinese-Australian photographer, Hunt won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1983, becoming the first actor to win an Oscar for playing a character of the opposite sex (also the first to win playing an Australian character).
Also a well known stage actress, Hunt has received two Obie awards and a Tony Award nomination for her theatre work. She created the role of Aunt Dan in Wallace Shawn's play Aunt Dan and Lemon. Recently, she portrayed Sister Aloysius in the Pasadena Playhouse production of John Patrick Shanley's Tony Award-winning play Doubt. Her television appearances include recurring roles as Judge Zoey Hiller on David E. Kelley's series The Practice and as Dr. Claire Bryson in Hank Steinberg's Without a Trace. She has also narrated several installments of The American Experience on PBS.
Beside her acting abilities, Hunt is distinguished by her small stature (she is 4' 9" / 1.45 m), and her rich, resonant voice, which she has used in numerous documentaries, cartoons, and commercials. She is the on-air host for City Arts & Lectures, a radio program recorded by KQED public radio. Hunt was chosen by Walt Disney Feature Animation to lend her enigmatic speaking and singing voice to Grandmother Willow in the film Pocahontas. Her voice work also includes the character of "Management" in the US TV series Carnivàle, and the titan Gaia, who serves as the Narrator in the God of War series of video games. She also narrates the introductory film at the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC.
[edit] Filmography
[edit] Selected television credits
| Year | Title | Role | Other notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Fame | Mona | |
| 1993 | Space Rangers | Cmdr. Chennault | |
| 1997-2002 | The Practice | Judge Zoey Hiller | 24 episodes |
| 2003-2005 | Carnivàle | Management - voice | 9 episodes |
| 2006 | Nature | Narrator | "Christmas in Yellowstone" |
| 2007 | The Unit | Department of Defense Physiologist | |
| 2008 | Without a Trace | FBI Psychiatrist | |
| 2009 | NCIS: Los Angeles | Unrevealed Character |
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Linda Hunt at the Internet Movie Database
- Linda Hunt at City Arts & Lectures
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