Linda Hunt

Hunt was born on April 2, 1945, in Morristown, New Jersey.^[1] Her father, Raymond Davy Hunt (1902–1985), was vice president of Harper Fuel Oil. Her mother, Elsie Doying Hunt (1903 – c. 1994), was a piano teacher who taught at the Westport School of Music, and performed with the Saugatuck Congregational Church Choir in Westport, Connecticut, the town where Hunt would be raised.^{[citation needed]} She has one sibling, an older sister named Marcia (born 1940).^[2] Hunt attended the Interlochen Arts Academy^[3] and graduated from the Goodman School of Drama at the Art Institute of Chicago (now at DePaul University).^[4][5][6]

Theatre

Hunt was a well-known live-stage actress before she entered film and television.^{[citation needed]} She made her Broadway debut in the 1975 revival of Ah, Wilderness.^[7] She was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her work in the 1984 play End of the World.^[8] She also received two ensemble Obie Awards for her work Off-Broadway in Top Girls and A Metamorphosis in Miniature.^{[9][better source needed]}

Hunt created the role of Aunt Dan in Wallace Shawn's play Aunt Dan and Lemon.^{[citation needed]} She was a member of the Long Wharf Theatre Company in Connecticut, where she performed the Player Queen in a production of Hamlet, amongst other roles.^{[citation needed]} She portrayed Sister Aloysius in the Pasadena Playhouse production of John Patrick Shanley's play Doubt.^{[citation needed]} Hunt was praised for her performance as the title character in Bertolt Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children.^[10] She 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.^{[citation needed]}

In an interview with writer Craig Gholson and actor Vincent Caristi, Hunt said: "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."^[11]

Film

Known for her small stature,^[12][13] Hunt made her film debut in 1980 in Robert Altman's musical comedy Popeye.^[14][15]

Two years later, Hunt 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 work in this film, 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.^[16][17][18] In her screen test, Hunt wore a hairpiece, a fake moustache, and "paste-on pieces above her eyes to [appear] Asian."^[19] To play the role, Hunt had her hair dyed and cut short, had her eyebrows shaved, wore padding and makeup, and wore something in her shirt pocket.^[19][20] In her 1986 interview with the Bomb magazine, Hunt remarked that Billy Kwan "is supra-personal [with] layers of sexual ambiguity[.]"^[11]

Hunt also played the Shadout Mapes in Dune (1984 film), a nurse in She-Devil (1989), the austere school principal Miss Schlowski opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in Kindergarten Cop (1990), and assassin Ilsa Grunt in If Looks Could Kill (1991).^{[citation needed]}

Television

Hunt's television appearances include recurring roles as Judge Zoey Hiller on David E. Kelley's series The Practice^[21] and as Dr. Claire Bryson on Without a Trace.^[22][23] She has narrated several installments of The American Experience on PBS.^{[21][24][25][26]}

From 2009 to 2023, Hunt co-starred as Operations Manager Henrietta "Hetty" Lange on the CBS television series NCIS: Los Angeles. Her co-stars on the series included Chris O'Donnell, LL Cool J, Daniela Ruah, Eric Christian Olsen, Miguel Ferrer and Barrett Foa.^[27][28][29] Hunt was a main cast member on the series for twelve seasons, but was downgraded to a special guest star position in season thirteen as a safety precaution due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She was suppose to return in the series finale, but was unable to due to availability issues. As a result, her return was condensed to a voiceover. Hunt won two Teen Choice Awards for her work on NCIS: Los Angeles.^[30]

Voice work

Hunt is known for her husky voice.^[13] She has narrated 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.^[31] Hunt voiced the role of Grandmother Willow in the animated musical film Pocahontas (1995)^[17] and its direct-to-video sequel Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World (1998).^[32]

Hunt narrated the National Geographic documentary The Great Indian Railway (1995).^[33][34] In 1998, she narrated the Discovery Channel documentary "Titanic: Untold Stories." Hunt's voice work also includes the character of Management in Carnivàle (2003, 2005)^[17][35] and the narrator for God of War video game series.^[36] She narrated a PBS Nature special entitled Christmas in Yellowstone (2006).^[37][38]

Hunt has been in a relationship with psychotherapist Karen Kline^[39] since 1978. The two were married in 2008.^[40][41]

As a teenager, Hunt was diagnosed as having hypopituitary dwarfism. Hunt stands 4 feet 9 inches (145 cm) tall.^[42]

Hunt is an ambassador for the Best Friends Animal Society.^[43]

In July 2018, People magazine reported that she was involved in a multicar accident in Los Angeles. The accident resulted in Hunt taking most of a year off from NCIS: Los Angeles.^[44]

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: Ghost of Sparta as Narrator
• God of War: Ascension as Narrator

Television credits

Theatre

Theme parks

• List of LGBT Academy Award winners and nominees

• Linda Hunt at IMDb
• Linda Hunt at the Internet Broadway Database
• Linda Hunt at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Linda Hunt at City Arts & Lectures