HELEN HUNT
Name: Helen Elizabeth Hunt
Born: 15 June 1963 Culver City, California
Helen Elizabeth Hunt (born June 15, 1963) is an Emmy-, Golden Globe-, and
Academy Award-winning American actress, widely known for her role in the
television sitcom Mad About You and her Academy Award-winning role in As Good As
It Gets.
Hunt was born in Culver City, California, the daughter of Jane Elizabeth (née
Novis), a photographer, and Gordon Hunt, a film director and acting coach.
Her maternal grandmother, Dorothy Fries (née Anderson) was a voice coach, and
her uncle, Peter H. Hunt, is also a director. Helen Hunt is of Jewish
and Christian background.
Hunt was married to actor Hank Azaria from 1999 until 2000. She has been in a
relationship with Matthew Carnahan since 2001 and they have a daughter, Måkena
Lei Gordon Carnahan, born in 2004.
Hunt began working in the 1970s as a child actress. Her early roles included an
appearance as Murray Slaughter's daughter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show,
alongside Lindsay Wagner in an episode of The Bionic Woman, and a regular role
in the television series The Swiss Family Robinson. She appeared as a marijuana-smoking
classmate on an episode of The Facts of Life. She also appeared as a young woman
who, while on PCP, jumps out of a second-story window in a 1982 after school
special called Desperate Lives. In the mid-1980s, she had a recurring role on St.
Elsewhere as Clancy Williams, girlfriend of Dr. Jack "Boomer" Morrison. She
remains best known for one of her earliest roles as Jennie in "Bill: on his own",
costarring "Mickey Rooney"
In the 1990s, after the lead female role in the short-lived My Life and Times,
Hunt became well-known to television audiences in Mad About You, winning Emmy
Awards for her performance in 1996, 1997, 1998, and 1999. Hunt has also had a
successful film career, with roles in movies such as Cast Away and the 1996
blockbuster Twister. After winning an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1998 for
her performance in As Good as It Gets, she took time off from movie work to play
Viola in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night at the Lincoln Center in New York City.
In 2000, Hunt returned to the screen in four films: Dr. T & the Women with
Richard Gere, Pay It Forward with Kevin Spacey & Haley Joel Osment, What Women
Want with Mel Gibson, and Cast Away with Tom Hanks. In 2003, she returned to
Broadway in Yasmina Reza's Life x 3. Hunt was also a final candidate for the
role of "Clarice Starling" in Hannibal, after Jodie Foster decided not to
reprise her Oscar winning role from The Silence of the Lambs (film). However,
Hunt lost the role to Julianne Moore at the last minute. In 2006, Hunt appeared
in a small role in the film Bobby.
Hunt is also a director, having helmed several episodes of Mad About You,
including the series finale. Her big-screen directorial debut came with the film
Then She Found Me, in which she also starred.
She currently owns a production company with Connie Tavel, Hunt/Tavel
Productions under Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Name: Helen Elizabeth Hunt
Born: 15 June 1963 Culver City, California
Helen Elizabeth Hunt (born June 15, 1963) is an Emmy-, Golden Globe-, and
Academy Award-winning American actress, widely known for her role in the
television sitcom Mad About You and her Academy Award-winning role in As Good As
It Gets.
Hunt was born in Culver City, California, the daughter of Jane Elizabeth (née
Novis), a photographer, and Gordon Hunt, a film director and acting coach.
Her maternal grandmother, Dorothy Fries (née Anderson) was a voice coach, and
her uncle, Peter H. Hunt, is also a director. Helen Hunt is of Jewish
and Christian background.
Hunt was married to actor Hank Azaria from 1999 until 2000. She has been in a
relationship with Matthew Carnahan since 2001 and they have a daughter, Måkena
Lei Gordon Carnahan, born in 2004.
Hunt began working in the 1970s as a child actress. Her early roles included an
appearance as Murray Slaughter's daughter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show,
alongside Lindsay Wagner in an episode of The Bionic Woman, and a regular role
in the television series The Swiss Family Robinson. She appeared as a marijuana-smoking
classmate on an episode of The Facts of Life. She also appeared as a young woman
who, while on PCP, jumps out of a second-story window in a 1982 after school
special called Desperate Lives. In the mid-1980s, she had a recurring role on St.
Elsewhere as Clancy Williams, girlfriend of Dr. Jack "Boomer" Morrison. She
remains best known for one of her earliest roles as Jennie in "Bill: on his own",
costarring "Mickey Rooney"
In the 1990s, after the lead female role in the short-lived My Life and Times,
Hunt became well-known to television audiences in Mad About You, winning Emmy
Awards for her performance in 1996, 1997, 1998, and 1999. Hunt has also had a
successful film career, with roles in movies such as Cast Away and the 1996
blockbuster Twister. After winning an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1998 for
her performance in As Good as It Gets, she took time off from movie work to play
Viola in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night at the Lincoln Center in New York City.
In 2000, Hunt returned to the screen in four films: Dr. T & the Women with
Richard Gere, Pay It Forward with Kevin Spacey & Haley Joel Osment, What Women
Want with Mel Gibson, and Cast Away with Tom Hanks. In 2003, she returned to
Broadway in Yasmina Reza's Life x 3. Hunt was also a final candidate for the
role of "Clarice Starling" in Hannibal, after Jodie Foster decided not to
reprise her Oscar winning role from The Silence of the Lambs (film). However,
Hunt lost the role to Julianne Moore at the last minute. In 2006, Hunt appeared
in a small role in the film Bobby.
Hunt is also a director, having helmed several episodes of Mad About You,
including the series finale. Her big-screen directorial debut came with the film
Then She Found Me, in which she also starred.
She currently owns a production company with Connie Tavel, Hunt/Tavel
Productions under Sony Pictures Entertainment.