Profile: Holly Hunter

2 June 2008 12:56pm

Real Name: Holly P Hunter

Birth Date: March 20, 1958

Image: Tiny US actress with huge talent

Best Known For: Playing silent pianist Ada McGrath in The Piano in 1993

Early Life: Holly was brought up in Georgia, the youngest of seven children.

She acted from a young age and starred in a school play when she was in the fifth grade.

In 1976 Holly went to Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University to study drama. After graduating, she went to New York, where she met playwright Beth Henley in a stalled elevator.

Beth cast Holly in many of her southern Gothic plays, including The Miss Firecracker Contest.

In 1982 Holly moved to LA where she shared a house with a group of aspiring filmmakers including director Sam Raimi and Joel and Ethan Coen.

Her first starring role was in the Coen brothers' Raising Arizona in 1987.

Career High: Winning five Best Actress awards, including an Oscar, for The Piano.

Love Life: Holly dated Full Metal Jacket star Arliss Howard for many years.

She married Polish cinematographer Janusz Kaminski in 1995 but they divorced in 2001.

Holly is now with Gordon MacDonald, who she met when they co-starred in Marina Carr's play By The Bog Of Cats. The couple welcomed twin boys in January 2006.

Don't Mention: Abortion rights. The actress feels very strongly about the subject and has reportedly said: "Why are we still talking about this? Why is this not just a woman's right, period? I find it boring and very frustrating that it remains such a high profile subject."

Words Of Wisdom: "Actors are beggars and gypsies, that's just the way it is. And in many ways, I take what I can get. But I do search high and low for stuff that interests me."

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