Holly Hunter Biography

Holly Hunter is an American actress best known for her Oscar acclaimed roles in Broadcast News (1987), The Firm (1993) and The Piano (1993).

Synopsis Holly Hunter is an American actress born on March 20, 1958, in Conyers, Georgia. She studied drama in college then moved to New York to pursue acting. Hunter debuted on Broadway in Crimes of the Heart (1982). Her big break came in the Coen brothers' hit film Raising Arizona (1987). For her roles in Broadcast News (1987) and The Firm (1993), Hunter received Academy Award nominations. She won her first Oscar for The Piano (1993), and continues to act in film and on television today.

Early Life Actress Holly Hunter was born on March 20, 1958, in Conyers, Georgia. The youngest of seven children born to a sporting goods representative, Hunter starred in her first play in fifth grade as Helen Keller. After receiving a degree in drama from Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University in 1980, the young Southerner moved to New York to pursue a career in acting.

Acting Career After getting stuck in an elevator with playwright Beth Henley, the two collaborated in what would eventually become Hunter's Broadway debut in Crimes of the Heart in 1982. The fledgling actress soon moved to Los Angeles, California, to pursue film work and was eventually cast in a supporting role in 1984's Swing Shift. That same year, she had her first collaboration with the Coen brothers in Blood Simple, which eventually led to a starring role in the Coens' hit comedy Raising Arizona.

In 1987, Hunter's performance as a lonely, uptight news correspondent in Broadcast News earned the actress her first Academy Award nomination. Better roles soon followed, including leads in Miss Firecracker, Steven Spielberg's Always and the made-for-TV docudrama Roe vs. Wade.

In 1993, Hunter received another Oscar nod for her supporting performance in The Firm. But it was her portrayal of a mute Scottish woman in Jane Campion's The Piano that ultimately won her the award. Unfortunately, the win was followed by a series of uneven films throughout the 1990s, including Home for the Holidays (1995), Crash (1996) and A Life Less Ordinary (1997). However, Hunter earned positive reviews in 1998 for her portrayal of a divorced New Yorker in Living Out Loud, also starring Danny DeVito and Queen Latifah, and received similar success with her performance in the Coen brothers' 2000 hit, O Brother, Where Art Thou?.

Since then, Hunter has starred in such films as Little Black Book (2004), The Big White (2005) and Jackie (2012). In 2013, it was announced that the actress would appear as Emma Parker, the mother of infamous murderer/thief Bonnie Parker, in the TV movie , set to air on the Lifetime, A+E and History networks on December 8/9, 2013.

Personal Life Hunter is currently in a relationship with actor Gordon MacDonald. The couple has twin boys together.