Bonnie Hunt

Bonnie Hunt
Hunt and her mother Alice at the 2010 Daytime Emmy Awards
Born	Bonnie Lynne Hunt (1961-09-22) September 22, 1961 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Alma mater	Notre Dame High School for Girls
Occupation	Actress, writer, director, producer, talk show host
Years active	1984–present
Spouse(s)	John Murphy (m. 1988–2006)

Bonnie Lynne Hunt (born September 22, 1961) is an American actress, director, producer, writer, host, and voice artist. Her film roles include Beethoven (1992), Jumanji (1995), The Green Mile (1999), Cheaper by the Dozen (2003), and Return to Me (2000), which she also wrote and directed. She is also known for voice work in the Pixar films A Bug's Life (1998), Monsters, Inc. (2001), Cars (2006), Toy Story 3 (2010), Cars 2 (2011), and Monsters University (2013). Hunt has starred in Grand and Davis Rules, and has created, produced, written, and starred in The Building, Bonnie, and Life with Bonnie. From 2008 to 2010, she hosted the daytime talk show The Bonnie Hunt Show.

Early life

Hunt was born in Chicago, Illinois. She is one of seven children to Robert Edward Hunt, an electrician, and Alice E. Hunt (née Jatczak), a homemaker. Her father was of Irish and Belgian ancestry and her mother is of Polish descent. She was raised as a Catholic, attended parochial schools and graduated from Notre Dame High School for Girls.

In 1982, Hunt earned her nursing degree and began working as a oncology nurse at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Two years later, she co-founded an improvisational comedy troupe called An Impulsive Thing with Holly Wortell and Andy Miller. Hunt also is an alumnus of The Second City, the improvisational theater troupe in Chicago, joining in 1986.

Career

In 1990, Hunt played a role on Grand. She refused to become a cast member of Saturday Night Live because the series' producers generally frowned on her preferred improvisational style. In 1992, she was offered the part of B. J. Poteet, a replacement for Julia Duffy, on Designing Women. Instead, she chose to co-star in Davis Rules.

In 1993, Hunt teamed with good friend David Letterman to produce The Building. The series was also filmed live; mistakes, accidents, and forgotten lines were often left in the aired episode. Hunt and Letterman re-teamed in 1995 with The Bonnie Hunt Show (later retitled Bonnie), which featured many of the same cast members as The Building and the same loose style. The show was praised by critics but was canceled after 11 of the 13 episodes produced were aired. In 2002, Hunt returned to television with Life with Bonnie, a show known for clean and offbeat humor. Her role on that show earned her a 2004 Emmy nomination, her first. Despite fair ratings, the show was canceled in its second season. She announced on Live with Regis and Kelly that ABC had offered her another sitcom, in which she would have played a divorced detective. This pilot, Let Go (also known as Crimes and Dating), was not picked up for the fall 2006 schedule.

Hunt directed, co-wrote, and co-starred in Return to Me. It was filmed in her Chicago neighborhood and included bit parts for a number of her relatives. The film, which received a positive reception from critics, was largely influenced by Hunt's blue-collar Catholic upbringing in Chicago.

Hunt at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival

Hunt starred as Alice Newton opposite Charles Grodin in Beethoven and Beethoven's 2nd. She played opposite Robin Williams in Jumanji and opposite Steve Martin in Cheaper by the Dozen and its sequel. She played the sister of Renée Zellweger in the movie Jerry Maguire and Jan Edgecomb opposite Tom Hanks in the film adaptation of the Stephen King novel The Green Mile. She played the biological mother, Grace Bellamy, of Mark Austin (played by Kip Pardue) in Loggerheads, a 2005 independent film written and directed by Tim Kirkman. She has provided her voice for a total of five Pixar films: A Bug's Life as Rosie the black widow spider; Monsters, Inc. as training supervisor Mrs. Flint; Cars as the heroine Sally Carrera; and Toy Story 3 as Dolly. In addition, Hunt received a writing credit on the film Cars, and reprised her Sally role in the sequel Cars 2.

The Bonnie Hunt Show

Main article: The Bonnie Hunt Show

In 2007, Hunt taped a pilot episode for Telepictures. The pilot was approved and the talk show was created. The Bonnie Hunt Show premiered on Monday, September 8, 2008. The show's set design was a tribute to Dean Martin and on the walls are pictures of historic television personalities and of Hunt's family members. The show was inspired by the format of Live with Regis and Kelly with the host and guests often interacting with the audience. Many of show's staffers were longtime friends of Hunt's from Chicago. The show typically started with an opening monologue followed by guest interviews and games played with the audience. Hunt's mother Alice often appeared in webcasts from her home in Chicago. A characteristic of the show was Hunt's over-the-top faux indignation at non-PG language after which she would enjoy the double-entendre drenched material she had pretended to poo-poo. The Bonnie Hunt Show taped in Culver City, California and was viewed in 17 of the top 20 US television markets in the United States. In its first year, the show was nominated for three Daytime Emmy Awards: for opening theme, hairstyle, and makeup. It won the Gracie Award for "Outstanding Talk Show" in 2009. In 2010, Hunt was nominated for "Outstanding Talk Show Host" at the Daytime Emmy Awards. The final episode aired on May 26, 2010.

Personal life

In 1988, Hunt married investment banker John Murphy (born 1957). During her June 6, 2006, appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, she mentioned that she was single again.

Hunt is a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan, having not missed an Opening Day at Wrigley Field since 1977. She is a supporter of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, of which she is an honorary board member.

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	Rain Man	Sally Dibbs
1992	Beethoven	Alice Newton
1993	Dave	White House Tour Guide
1993	Beethoven's 2nd	Alice Newton
1994	Only You	Kate Corvatch
1995	Now and Then	Mrs. DeWitt
1995	Jumanji	Sarah Whittle/Madam Serena	Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
1996	Getting Away with Murder	Dr. Gail Holland
1996	Jerry Maguire	Laurel Boyd
1998	Bug's Life, AA Bug's Life	Rosie	Voice role
1998	Kissing a Fool	Linda Streicher
1999	Random Hearts	Wendy Judd
1999	Green Mile, TheThe Green Mile	Jan Edgecomb	Nominated – Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actress – Drama
2000	Return to Me	Megan Dayton	Also director and writer
2001	Monsters, Inc.	Ms. Flint	Voice role
2002	Stolen Summer	Margaret O'Malley	Limited release
2003	Cheaper by the Dozen	Kate Baker
2005	Cheaper by the Dozen 2	Kate Baker
2005	Loggerheads	Grace
2006	I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With	Stella Lewis
2006	Cars	Sally Carrera	Voice role
2010	Hurricane Season	Principal Durant
2010	Toy Story 3	Dolly	Voice role
2011	Hawaiian Vacation	Dolly	Voice role; animated short
2011	Cars 2	Sally Carrera	Voice role
2013	Monsters University	Karen Graves	Voice role
2016	Zootopia	Bonnie Hopps	Voice role
2017	Cars 3	Sally Carrera	Voice role

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1984	American Playhouse	Foxtrot Dancer	Episode: "Under the Biltmore Clock"
1990	Grand	Carol Anne Smithson	Main role
1991–1992	Davis Rules	Gwen Davis	Main role; 18 episodes
1993	The Building	Bonnie Kennedy	Lead role; also creator, writer, executive producer
1995–1996	Bonnie	Bonnie Kelly	Also writer, producer Viewers for Quality Television Founder's Award (1996)
2002–2004	Life with Bonnie	Bonnie Molloy	Also creator, executive producer, director Nominated: TCA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy (2003), Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy (2003/04), Satellite Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy (2003/04), Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (2004)
2006	Let Go		Director (movie)
2008–2010	Bonnie Hunt Show, TheThe Bonnie Hunt Show	Herself/Host	Also executive producer, writer Nominated – Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host (2010)
2010	The Life & Times of Tim	Gabe's Mom (voice)	Episode: "Nagging Blonde/Tim and the Elephant"
2013–present	Sofia the First	Aunt Tilly (voice)	Recurring role
2013	Call Me Crazy: A Five Film		Director (movie); "Eddie" segment
2014–present	Cars Toons: Tales From Radiator Springs	Sally Carrera (voice)	Recurring role

Video games

Year	Title	Voice role	Notes
2006	Cars	Sally Carrera

External links

• Bonnie Hunt at the Internet Movie Database