Linda Hunt

Linda Hunt

Birth name: Lydia Susanna Hunter
Born: April 2, 1945
Age: 78
Birthplace: Morristown, New Jersey
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Biography

Lydia Susanna Hunter (born April 2, 1945), known professionally by her stage name Linda Hunt, is an American film, stage, and television actress known for her role as Henrietta Lange in the CBS series NCIS: Los Angeles. After making her film debut playing Mrs. Oxheart in Popeye (1980), Hunt portrayed the male character Billy Kwan, her breakthrough performance, in The Year of Living Dangerously (1982). Her role as Billy Kwan earned her an Academy Award, an Australian Film Institute Award, a Golden Globe nomination, and various other awards.

She has had great success in films such as The Bostonians (1984), Dune (1984), Silverado (1985), Eleni (1985), Waiting for the Moon (1987), She-Devil (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), If Looks Could Kill (1991), Rain Without Thunder (1992), Twenty Bucks (1993), Younger and Younger (1993), Prêt-à-Porter (1994), Pocahontas (1995), The Relic (1997), Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World (1998), Dragonfly (2002), Yours Mine and Ours (2005), and Stranger Than Fiction (2006).

Hunt has also had a successful television career. She played Rose in the television movie Basements (1987) and narrated in the television movie The New Chimpanzees. She guest-starred on Hallmark Hall of Fame in both 1978 and 1987, Space Rangers in 1993, Carnivale in both 2003 and 2005, Without a Trace in 2008, The Unit in 2008, and Nip Tuck in 2009. From 1997 to 2002, Hunt played the recurring role of Judge Zoey Hiller on The Practice. She currently portrays Henrietta 'Hetty' Lange on the CBS television series NCIS: Los Angeles, a role she has held since the 2009 debut, for which she has received two Teen Choice Awards. She is also the narrator in the God of War video game franchise.

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Early life

Hunt was born in Morristown, New Jersey, and raised in Westport, Connecticut. She is one of the two daughters of Raymond Davy Hunter, vice president of Harper Fuel Oil on Long Island, and Elsie Doying Hunter, a piano teacher who taught at the Westport School of Music and accompanied the Saugatuck Congregational Church choir. Hunt attended the Interlochen Arts Academy and the Goodman School of Drama in Chicago (now part of DePaul University).

Career

Film

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 Billy Kwan, Hunt won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1983, becoming the first person to win an Oscar for playing a character of the opposite sex. In addition, the character was Asian and had the condition of dwarfism. In her screen test, Hunt wore a hairpiece, a fake moustache, and "paste-on pieces above her eyes to Oriental". To accomplish the role during production, Hunt shortened "her hair and dye it black wore padding around her waist, shaved her eyebrows, and carried something in her shirt pocket." In her 1986 interview with the Bomb magazine, Hunt remarked that Billy Kwan "is supra-personal layers of sexual ambiguity"

Hunt also played a nurse in She-Devil (1989) and the austere school principal opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in Kindergarten Cop in 1990. Hunt played the assassin Ilsa Grunt in If Looks Could Kill (1991) opposite Richard Grieco and Roger Rees.

Theatre

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. She portrayed Sister Aloysius in the Pasadena Playhouse production of John Patrick Shanley's play Doubt. She was praised for her performance as the title character in Bertolt Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children. Hunt also appeared as Pope Joan in Caryl Churchill's Top Girls when London's Royal Court Theatre's production was staged at the Public Theater in New York. In an interview with writer Craig Gholson and actor Vincent Caristi, Hunt discussed her experience acting in theatre, “Acting onstage is like an explosion each night. And what comes in at you all the time as you are trying to . . . create something which is a tremendous act of organization and concentration.”.

Television

Her television appearances include recurring roles as Judge Zoey Hiller on David E. Kelley's series The Practice and as Dr. Claire Bryson on Without a Trace. She has narrated several installments of The American Experience on PBS. She now plays the role of an operations manager and supervisor on the CBS fall show NCIS: Los Angeles with Chris O'Donnell, LL Cool J, Daniela Ruah, Eric Christian Olsen, and Barrett Foa.

Voice work

Hunt has a 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 at the Nourse Theater in San Francisco, a program that presents interviews with celebrated writers, artists, and thinkers addressing contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Hunt was chosen by Walt Disney Feature Animation to lend her enigmatic speaking and singing voice to Grandmother Willow in the animated musical film Pocahontas and its direct-to-video sequel Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World.

Her voice work includes also the character of Management in Carnivàle, and the titan Gaia, who serves as the narrator in the God of War series of video games. She narrated the introductory film at the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC, and has also been heard in various commercials of the late 1990s for Tylenol.

Hunt narrated the PBS Nature special entitled Christmas in Yellowstone. She also narrated the National Geographic documentary The Great Indian Railway.

Personal life

Hunt is 4 feet 9 inches (1.45 m) tall. In high school, she was diagnosed as having hypopituitary dwarfism. She does not have Turner syndrome as some blogs have stated.

Hunt is a lesbian, and since 1987 has lived in Los Angeles with her wife Karen Klein, whom she married in 2008. Hunt is an ambassador for the Best Friends Animal Society.

No connection exists between Hunt and two other famous women who share her SAG-registered last name, Oscar winner Helen Hunt and actress-director Bonnie Hunt. Bonnie has joked that people come up to her asking for autographs, mistaking her for Helen, and she then confuses them even more by signing as Linda.

Filmography

Year Film Role Notes
1980 Popeye Mrs. Oxheart
1982 The Year of Living Dangerously Billy Kwan Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Australian Film Institute Jury Prize
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
Nominated—National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
1984 Dune Shadout Mapes
The Bostonians Dr. Prance
1985 Eleni Katina
Silverado Stella
1987 Waiting for the Moon Alice B. Toklas
1989 She-Devil Hooper
1990 Kindergarten Cop Miss Schlowski
Carmilla Narrator
1991 If Looks Could Kill Ilsa Grunt
1992 Rain Without Thunder Atwood Society Director
1993 Younger and Younger Frances
Twenty Bucks Angeline
1994 Prêt-à-Porter Regina Krumm National Board of Review Award for Best Acting Ensemble
1995 Pocahontas Grandmother Willow voice
1997 The Relic Dr. Ann Cuthbert
Eat Your Heart Out Kathryn
1998 Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World Grandmother Willow voice
2002 Dragonfly Sister Madeline
2005 Auschwitz: The Nazis and the 'Final Solution' Narrator voice
Yours, Mine and Ours Mrs. Munion
The Great Transatlantic Cable Narrator
2006 Stranger Than Fiction Dr. Mittag-Leffler
2007 The Singing Revolution Narrator

Video games

  • God of War as Narrator
  • God of War II as Gaia/Narrator
  • God of War: Chains of Olympus as Narrator
  • God of War III as Pre-title screen credits Narrator
  • God of War: Ghost of Sparta as Narrator
  • God of War: Ascension as Narrator

Television credits

Year Title Role Notes
1978 Fame Mona
1987 Basements Rose Hudd Segment: "The Room" - director: Robert Altman
The Room Upstairs Mrs. Sanders TV movie
1993 Space Rangers Commander Chenault
1997-2002 The Practice Judge Zoey Hiller 24 episodes
1998-2006 The American Experience Narrator
2003-05 Carnivàle Management—voice 9 episodes
2006 Nature Narrator Episode: "Christmas in Yellowstone"
2007 The Unit Dr. Eudora Hobbs 2 episodes
2008 Without a Trace Dr. Claire Bryson 3 episodes
2009-present NCIS: Los Angeles Henrietta "Hetty" Lange Series regular
Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Actress Action (2011, 2012)
2014 Scorpion Episode: "True Colors"

Theatre

Year Title Role Notes
1972 Hamlet Player Off-Broadway
1975 Ah, Wilderness! Norah Broadway
1983 Little Victories N/A Off-Broadway
Top Girls Pope Joan / Louise
1984 End of the World Audrey Wood Broadway
1985 Aunt Dan and Lemon Aunt Dan Off-Broadway

[ Source: Wikipedia ]


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