Holly Hunter Biography

In 1987 Holly Hunter appeared in Raising Arizona (with Nicolas Cage) and Broadcast News, and was suddenly a movie star.

Proving she could do more than rapid-fire dialogue and comedy, Hunter nabbed the 1994 Oscar for her performance in The Piano (1993, directed by Jane Campion).

Since then she has appeared in a variety of movies, including Copycat (1995, with Sigourney Weaver), Crash (1996, based on the novel by J. G. Ballard), Living Out Loud (1998), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000, starring George Clooney), Jackie (2012) and The Big Sick (2017).

She earned her fourth Oscar nomination in 2004 for her supporting performance in Thirteen (2003), then switched gears to be the voice of the mom (Helen/Elastigirl) in the animated features The Incredibles (2004) and The Incredibles 2 (2018).

Hunter has also worked in television, notably as tennis great Billie Jean King in When Billie Beat Bobby (2001), as the star of the 2007 series Grace, and, in a small but important role, the television series Top of the Lake (2013).