Biography of Celebrity Actress Helen Hunt

Helen Hunt was born on June 15, 1963 in Culver City. Her father, Gordon, is a known film director while her mother Jane Elizabeth was a photographer. The statuesque blonde actress is known for her acting prowess, clearly shown in the many Hollywood movies she appeared in, although she is most popular for playing the role of Jamie Buchman in the sitcom Mad About You. The show earned her 7 Emmy nominations, 4 Emmy awards, 6 Golden Globe nominations and 4 Golden Globe awards. She grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from the University of California.

Born a Star

Helen was born to a family of artists. Apart from her parents, her uncle Peter Hunt was a film director, and her maternal grandmother was a voice coach. During the 1970’s, Helen was already working a child actress, as if she knew it was written in her stars that she would be a famed Hollywood actress. At the tender age of 8, she was already studying acting under the guidance of her father. Just a year later, she made her professional debut and began a successful career in film, television, and even theater.

Helen graduated from the Providence High School in California, but was already able to secure a number of acting jobs. She was a child actress in many shows, including The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Swiss Family Robinson, and in one episode of The Bionic Woman. She also appeared in a number of television movies during the 70’s, such as Pioneer Woman, Death Scream, All Together Now, Having Babies, The Spell, Transplant, and Child Bride of Short Creek.

Big Screen and Television

Helen’s talent in acting, not to mention her charming smile and connection to the camera made her an extremely resilient actress, succeeding in many shows she starred in, whether it be for television or the big screen.

By the 1980’s, Helen started receiving more acclaim as a professional actress. She starred in many more television movies, such as The Best Little Girl in the World, The Miracle of Kathy Miller, Quarterback Princess, Choices of the Heart, and Bill: On his own. Some of her early silver screen appearances included Rollercoaster, Trancers, Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Project X, and Miles from Home.

Claim to Fame

With a number of films and shows under her belt, Helen managed to snag the role of Jamie in the 1992 sitcom, Mad About You, opposite actor Paul Reiser. The show was a success, and stayed on the air for a good seven years. Because of its immense success and popularity, Helen and Paul each received $1,000,000 per episode salaries during the last year on air. Helen’s role in ‘Mad about You’ has given her six Emmy nominations, 3 Golden Globe Awards and 3 Emmy wins. In 1997, 25 million people watched the episode as Helen Hunt and Paul Reiser’s on-screen baby was born. The show definitely put Helen on the map, and paved the way for more success in Hollywood.

The 1990’s saw Helen appearing in more movies across established Hollywood actors. This included Twister, Cast Away, What Women Want, and As Good as It Gets, which earned her an Academy Award for Best Actress. Twister, where she played a scientist who was obsessed with tornadoes, proved to be a huge hit. She was even a trendsetter after the movie, because her hairstyle in Twister was very much imitated by many women around the world. In 1998, she earned a Golden Globe Award, Emmy Award, and Academy Award, all in the same year. Helen won an Academy Award for Best Actress, Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Golden Globe for As Good as it Gets, where she starred across Jack Nicholson.

The many roles of Helen Hunt

With brains and beauty, Helen has proven to wear different hats, from being named one of People magazine’s ’50 Most Beautiful People in the World’ to her roles as a director, producer and actress, Helen was able to do other things for the industry. Being the multi-talented woman that she is, she lent her voice to television animations, and also appeared in the 1994 music video of the Muppets’ song, “She Drives Me Crazy”. She produced the 1996-1997 season for Mad About You, and was a co-executive producer for the show from 1997-1998.

She has successfully established herself as one of Hollywood’s most loved actresses, and because of this was asked to present many awards. She was an awards presenter for several Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, the Seventh Annual Blockbuster Entertainment Awards, Annual Academy Awards, 12th Annual American Comedy Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, and the People’s Choice Awards, among others.

Helen also appeared in a number of specials, including Voices of Hope… Finding the cures for breast and ovarian cancer, Sexual Healing, and Star Trek: 30 years and beyond. She also directed and wrote for some shows, such as the 2007 film Then She Found Me, where she made her directorial debut and was also a co-screenwriter and producer. Prior to the movie, she kept quite a low profile since the 2005 film adaptation of A Good Woman by Oscar Wild, and returned to the silver screen in 2008 for Then She Found Me.

Private Life

Helen’s personal life remains quiet and private. She never gave the media much to talk about, and although she is a Hollywood sweetheart, she keeps quite a low profile.

Helen dated Matthew Broderick in the late 1980s, when they both starred in the film, Project X. She had a brief marriage with fellow actor Hank Azaria, which lasted from 1999 to 2000. Following that was another brief relationship with actor Kevin Spacey, but since 2001 she has been dating Matthew Carnahan, a television producer and author. The couple has a child born in 2004 named Makena Lei Gordon Carnahan.