Oscar Actors: Hunter, Holly–Background, Career, Awards (Cum Advantage)

 

Holly Patricia Hunter (born March 20, 1958) is an American actress, who for her performance as Ada McGrath in the 1993 The Piano, won the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, and Cannes Film Fest for Best Actress.

She was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for Broadcast News (1987), and for Best Supporting Actress in The Firm (1993) and  Thirteen (2003).

A seven-time Primetime Emmy Award nominee, Hunter won for Roe vs. Wade (1989), and The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom (1993). She also starred in the TNT drama series Saving Grace (2007–10). Her other film roles include Raising Arizona (1987), Always (1989), Home for the Holidays (1995), Crash (1996), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), The Incredibles (2004), its sequel Incredibles 2 (2018), Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), and The Big Sick (2017), which earned her a SAG Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role.

Hunter was born in Conyers, Georgia, the daughter of Opal Marguerite (née Catledge), a housewife, and Charles Edwin Hunter, a farmer and sporting-goods manufacturer’s representative.

Hunter began acting at Rockdale County High School in the early 1970s, performing in “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 the theatre scene there, playing ingenue roles at City Theatre, then named the City Players.

She eventually moved to New York City and roomed with fellow actress Frances McDormand. Hunter, in 2008, described living in the Bronx “at the end of the D [subway] train, just off 205th Street, on Bainbridge Avenue and Hull Avenue. It was very Irish, and then you could go just a few blocks away and hit major Italian.” Chance encounter with playwright Beth Henley, when the two were trapped alone in 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. “We were trapped 10 minutes; not long. We actually had nice conversation. It was just the two of us.”

Hunter made her film debut in the 1981 slasher movie The Burning. 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. She went on to the screen adaptation of Henley’s Miss Firecracker; Spielberg’s Always, a romantic drama with Richard Dreyfuss; and the made-for-TV 1989 docudrama about the Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade.

After 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 Oscar Awards the same year: Hunter’s performance in The Firm won her Best Supporting Actress nom, 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. She also appeared in David Cronenberg’s Crash and as a sardonic angel in A Life Less Ordinary. She 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 continued 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 famed 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. Also 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 acclaimed computer-animated superhero film, The Incredibles. Hunter has also voiced Elastigirl in the Disney Infinity video game series, and reprised the role for the film’s sequel, Incredibles 2 in 2018. 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.

Hunter is unable to hear with her left ear due to childhood case of the mumps. The condition sometimes leads to complications at work. Some scenes have to be altered from the script for her to use her right ear.

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

Hunter has been in relationship with British actor Gordon MacDonald since 2001. The couple met in San Jose Repertory Theatre’s production of 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, at age 48, Hunter gave birth to twin boys, Claude and Press.

Hunter is irreligious.

Filmography

1981 The Burning Sophie Tony Maylam
1984 Swing Shift Jeannie Jonathan Demme
Blood Simple Helene Trend Joel Coen Ethan Coen Voice / Uncredited
1987 Raising Arizona Edwina “Ed” McDunnough
End of the Line Charlotte Haney Jay Russell
Broadcast News Jane Craig James L. Brooks Nominated for Best Actress
1989 Miss Firecracker Carnelle Scott Thomas Schlamme
Animal Behavior Coral Grable Jenny Bowen & Kjehl Rasmussen
Always Dorinda Durston Steven Spielberg
1991 Once Around Renata Bella Lasse Hallström
1993 The Piano Ada McGrath Jane Campion Won Academy Award for Best Actress
The Firm Tammy Hemphill Sydney Pollack Nominated for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
1995 Copycat M.J. Monahan Jon Amiel
Home for the Holidays Claudia Larson Jodie Foster
1996 Crash Helen Remington David Cronenberg
1997 A Life Less Ordinary O’Reilly Danny Boyle
1998 Living Out Loud Judith Moore Richard LaGravenese
1999 Jesus’ Son Mira Alison Maclean
Woman Wanted Emma Riley Kiefer Sutherland
2000 Timecode Renee Fishbine Mike Figgis
O Brother, Where Art Thou? Penny Wharvey McGill Joel Coen Ethan Coen
2001 Festival in Cannes Herself Henry Jaglom
2002 Moonlight Mile Mona Camp Brad Silberling
2003 Levity Adele Easley Ed Solomon
Thirteen Melanie Freeland Catherine Hardwicke Nominated for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Also executive producer
2004 Little Black Book Barb Campbell-Dunn Nick Hurran
The Incredibles Helen Parr / Elastigirl Brad Bird Voice
2005 Nine Lives Sonia Rodrigo García
The Big White Margaret Barnell Mark Mylod
Chicken Little Chicken Little as a girl Mark Dindal Deleted Scenes
2011 Portraits in Dramatic Time Herself David Michalek & Paul Warner
2012 Won’t Back Down Evelyn Riske Daniel Barnz
Jackie Jackie Antoinette Beumer
2013 Paradise Mrs. Mannerhelm Diablo Cody
2014 Manglehorn Dawn David Gordon Green
2016 Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Senator Finch Zack Snyder
Strange Weather Darcy Baylor Katherine Dieckmann
2017 Breakable You Eleanor Weller Andrew Wagner
The Big Sick Beth Gardner Michael Showalter
Song to Song Miranda Terrence Malick
2018 Incredibles 2 Helen Parr / Elastigirl Brad Bird Voice

Television
1983 Svengali Leslie TV movie
An Uncommon Love Karen TV movie
1984 With Intent to Kill Wynn Nolen TV movie
1987 A Gathering of Old Men Candy Marshall TV movie
1989 Roe vs. Wade Ellen Russell/Jane Doe TV movie
The Three Billy Goats Gruff and The Three Little Pigs Narrator TV short
1992 Crazy in Love Georgie Symonds TV movie
1993 The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom Wanda Holloway TV movie
2000 Harlan County War Ruby Kincaid TV movie
Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her Rebecca Weyman Segment: “Fantasies About Rebecca”
2001 When Billie Beat Bobby Billie Jean King TV movie; also executive producer
2007–10 Saving Grace Grace Hanadarko 46 episodes; also executive producer
2013 Top of the Lake GJ Miniseries; 6 episodes
Bonnie & Clyde Emma Parker Miniseries; 2 episodes
2018 Here and Now Audrey Bayer Main role; 10 episodes
2019 Succession Rhea Jarrell 6 episodes
2019-present Bless the Harts Marjune Gamble (voice) Guest role
2020 The Comey Rule Sally Yates Upcoming miniseries
2021 Mr. Mayor Arpi Main role
Video games
Year Title Role Notes
2004 The Incredibles Helen Parr / Elastigirl (archive footage)
2013 Disney Infinity Helen Parr / Elastigirl
2014 Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes
2015 Disney Infinity 3.0
Awards and nominations
In 2016, Hunter was awarded an Honorary Doctorate degree by her alma mater, Carnegie Mellon University.[14]

1987 Boston Society of Film Critics Award Best Actress Broadcast News Won
National Board of Review Awards Best Actress Won
New York Film Critics Circle Award Best Actress Won
Silver Bear Award Best Actress Won
Academy Award Best Actress Nominated
American Comedy Award Funniest Actress in a Motion Picture Nominated
Golden Globe Award Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Nominated
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award Best Actress Nominated
National Society of Film Critics Award Best Actress Nominated
1993 Academy Award Best Actress The Piano Won
Australian Film Institute Award Best Actress in a Leading Role Won
BAFTA Award Best Actress in a Leading Role Won
Boston Society of Film Critics Award Best Actress Won
Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Won
Chicago Film Critics Association Award Best Actress Won
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award Best Actress Won
Golden Globe Award Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama Won
London Film Critics Circle Award Actress of the Year Won
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award Best Actress Won
National Board of Review Awards Best Actress Won
National Society of Film Critics Award Best Actress Won
New York Film Critics Circle Award Best Actress Won
Southeastern Film Critics Association Award Best Actress Won
David di Donatello Awards Best Foreign Actress Nominated
Academy Award Best Supporting Actress The Firm Nominated
BAFTA Award Best Actress in a Supporting Role Nominated
1998 American Comedy Award Funniest Actress in a Motion Picture Living Out Loud Nominated
Chicago Film Critics Association Award Best Actress Nominated
Satellite Award Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Nominated
2000 Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture O Brother, Where Art Thou? Nominated
2003 Academy Award Best Supporting Actress Thirteen Nominated
BAFTA Award Best Actress in a Supporting Role Nominated
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award Best Supporting Actress Nominated
Bronze Leopard Award Best Actress Won
Chicago Film Critics Association Award Best Supporting Actress Nominated
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award Best Supporting Actress Nominated
Golden Globe Award Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Nominated
International Cinephile Society Award Best Supporting Actress Won
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award Best Supporting Actress Won
London Film Critics Circle Award Actress of the Year Nominated
Online Film Critics Society Award Best Supporting Actress Nominated
Phoenix Film Critics Society Award Best Supporting Actress Nominated
Prism Award Best Performance in a Theatrical Feature Film Nominated
Satellite Award Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Nominated
Screen Actors Guild Award Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role Nominated
Southeastern Film Critics Association Award Best Supporting Actress Nominated
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award Best Supporting Actress Nominated
2005 MTV Movie Award Best On-Screen Team The Incredibles Nominated
Bronze Leopard Award Best Actress Nine Lives Won
Gotham Awards Best Cast Nominated
2017 Chicago Film Critics Association Award Best Supporting Actress The Big Sick Nominated
Critics’ Choice Award Best Supporting Actress Nominated
Detroit Film Critics Society Award Best Supporting Actress Nominated
Hollywood Film Award Hollywood Comedy Ensemble Award Won
Houston Film Critics Society Award Best Supporting Actress Nominated
Independent Spirit Award Best Supporting Female Nominated
International Online Cinema Award Best Supporting Actress Won
San Diego Film Critics Society Award Best Supporting Actress Nominated
San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award Best Supporting Actress Nominated
Satellite Award Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Nominated
Screen Actors Guild Award Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role Nominated
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Nominated
Seattle Film Critics Society Award Best Supporting Actress Nominated
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award Best Supporting Actress Nominated
For television
Year Award Category Nominated work Result
1989 Golden Globe Award Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film Roe vs. Wade Nominated
Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie Won
1993 Golden Globe Award Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom Nominated
CableACE Award Best Actress in a Movie or Miniseries Won
Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie Won
2000 Golden Globe Award Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film Harlan County War Nominated
Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie Nominated
Satellite Award Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film Nominated
Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her Nominated
2001 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie When Billie Beat Bobby Nominated
2007 Golden Globe Award Best Actress – Television Series Drama Saving Grace Nominated
Gracie Allen Award Outstanding Actress — Drama Series Won
Screen Actors Guild Award Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series Nominated
2008 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Nominated
Screen Actors Guild Award Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series Nominated
Saturn Award Best Actress on Television Nominated
Prism Award Best Performance in a Drama Series Episode Nominated
Satellite Award Best Actress – Television Series Drama Nominated
2009 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Nominated
Screen Actors Guild Award Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series Nominated
People’s Choice Award Favorite TV Drama Diva Nominated
2013 Screen Actors Guild Award Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie Top of the Lake Nominated
Equity Award Most Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Television Movie or Miniseries Won