Holly Hunter

Holly Hunter cannot hear with her left ear as she suffered from mumps during her childhood. This defect, at times, came in her way at work, and some directors have changed some scenes in the script to enable her to hear with her right ear.

Hunter married cinematographer Janusz Kamiński in 1995. The marriage did not last long and the couple ended their marriage in 2001.

Since 2001, she has been in a long-term relationship with British actor Gordon MacDonald. They met while performing together in Marina Carr's play ‘By the Bog of Cats’, a San Jose Repertory Theatre's production. She played the lover of MacDonald’s character. In January 2006, the couple’s twin boys, Claude and Press, were born.

Holly Hunter was born on March 20, 1958, in Conyers, Georgia, to Opal Marguerite Catledge and Charles Edwin Hunter, a farmer and a representative of a sporting goods brand. She has six elder siblings.

She graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh with a degree in drama. She was active in the theatre scene of her college and also performed at the City Theatre.

Following her graduation, she moved to New York City to pursue acting and shared a room with fellow actress Frances McDormand.

By chance, Holly Hunter once got stuck in an elevator with playwright Beth Henley for ten minutes. This encounter led to her being cast in Henley's Broadway play ‘Crimes of the Heart’ and Off-Broadway's ‘The Miss Firecracker Contest’.

In 1981, she debuted in films with the horror movie ‘The Burning’, directed by Tony Maylam. It was based on an original story by Maylam, Harvey Weinstein, and Brad Grey.

She moved to Los Angeles in 1982 and was featured in some TV movies. In 1984, she appeared in a supporting role in ‘Swing Shift, a romantic war film directed by Jonathan Demme.

In 1987, she got her first big break in the Coen brothers' hit film ‘Raising Arizona’. She appeared as Edwina ‘Ed’ McDunnough, a character which the Coens had written especially for Holly Hunter. The crime comedy film was directed by Joel Coen and also starred Nicolas Cage. Besides acting, Hunter also sang a traditional murder ballad, ‘Down in the Willow Garden’.

She was cast in the 1987 Academy Award-nominated film ‘Broadcast News’, in which she played a television news producer, who, despite being highly artistic, is prone to frequent emotional breakdowns.

The film ‘Broadcast News’ made Holly Hunter a critically acclaimed star. The film is about three people who work in television news. Holly played Jane Craig, a talented yet neurotic producer. Critics lauded her performance and she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress.

The film ‘The Firm’ is a legal thriller directed by Sydney Pollack. Starring Tom Cruise, Jeanne Tripplehorn, and Gene Hackman besides Holly Hunter, it was based on the novel of the same name by author John Grisham. Her performance was critically acclaimed. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

‘The Piano’, written and directed by Jane Campion, has been the best film in her career so far. It also starred Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill, and Anna Paquin. Holly Hunter played her own piano pieces in the film and its soundtrack album became a best-selling one. The film was a success, both critically and commercially, and it earned her the Academy Award for Best Actress. She also won several other awards for this role.