Holly Patricia Hunter (born March 20, 1958) is an American actress and producer. For her performance as Ada McGrath in the 1993 drama film The Piano (co-starring Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill, and Anna Paquin), she won the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award, and Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress.
She was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for James L. Brooks’ Broadcast News (1987), with William Hurt, Albert Brooks, Robert Prosky, Lois Chiles, Joan Cusack, and Jack Nicholson; and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Sidney Pollack’s The Firm (1993), with Tom Cruise, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Gene Hackman, Ed Harris, Hal Holbrook and David Strathairn; and again for Catherine Hardwicke’s Thirteen (2003), with Evan Rachel Wood and Nikki Reed.
Her other film roles include Joel & Ethan Coen‘s Raising Arizona (1987), with Nicolas Cage, John Goodman, and Frances McDormand; Steven Spielberg‘s Always (1989), with Richard Dreyfus, Goodman, and Audrey Hepburn (in her final film); Jodie Foster‘s Home for the Holidays (1995), with Robert Downey Jr., Anne Bancroft, Charles Durning, Dylan McDermott, Geraldine Chaplin, Steve Guttenberg, Cynthia Stevenson, Claire Danes, Austin Pendleton, and Strathairn; David Cronenberg‘s Crash (1996), with James Spader; Mike Figgis’ Timecode (2000), with Salma Hayek, Stellan Skarsgård, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Suzy Nakamura, Kyle MacLachlan, Saffron Burrows, Julian Sands, Xander Berkeley, Leslie Mann, and Mía Maestro; the Coen’s O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), with George Clooney, John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson; and Michael Showalter’s The Big Sick (2017), with Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Ray Romano, Adeel Akhtar, and Anupam Kher.
She also provided the voice of Hellen Parr/Elastiggirl in the Pixar animated superhero film The Incredibles (2004), with Craig T. Nelson, Sarah Vowell, Samuel L. Jackson, Jason Lee, and Elizabeth Peña; and its sequel Incredibles 2 (2018), reuniting with Nelson, Jackson, and Vowell, along with Bob Odenkirk, Catherine Keener and Jonathan Banks.
She’s also a seven-time Primetime Emmy Award nominee, winning for Roe vs. Wade (1989), with Amy Madigan and Kathy Bates; and The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom (1993), with Beau Bridges and Swoosie Kurtz. She also starred in the TNT drama series Saving Grace (2007–10).
Each review will be linked to the title below.
(*seen originally in theaters)
(**seen rereleased in theaters)
- The Burning (1981) – directed by Tony Maylam
- Svengali (1983) – directed by Anthony Harvey – TV movie
- An Uncommon Love (1983) – directed by Steven Hilliard Stern – TV movie
- Blood Simple (1984) – directed by Joel & Ethan Coen – uncredited voice
- Swing Shift (1984) – directed by Jonathan Demme
- With Intent to Kill (1984) – directed by Mike Robe
- Raising Arizona (1987) – directed by Joel & Ethan Coen
- A Gathering of Old Men (1987) – directed by Volker Schlöndorff – TV movie
- End of the Line (1987) – directed by Jay Russell
- Broadcast News (1987) – directed by James L. Brooks
- Miss Firecracker (1989) – directed by Thomas Schlamme
- Roe vs. Wade (1989) – directed by Gregory Hoblit – TV movie
- Animal Behavior (1989) – directed by Jenny Bowen & Kjehl Rasmussen
- Always (1989) – directed by Steven Spielberg
- Once Around (1991) – directed by Lasse Hallström
- Crazy in Love (1992) – directed by Martha Coolidge – TV movie
- The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom (1993) – directed by Michael Ritchie – TV movie
- The Piano (1993) – directed by Jane Campion
- The Firm (1993) – directed by Sydney Pollack
- Copycat (1995) – directed by Jon Amiel
- Home for the Holidays (1995) – directed by Jodie Foster
- Crash (1996) – directed by David Cronenberg
- A Life Less Ordinary (1997) – directed by Danny Boyle
- Living Out Loud (1998) – directed by Richard LaGravenese
- Woman Wanted (1999) – directed by Kiefer Sutherland (as Alan Smithee)
- Jesus’s Son (1999) – directed by Alison Maclean
- Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her (2000) – directed by Rodrigo García
- Timecode (2000) – directed by Mike Figgis
- O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) – directed by Joel & Ethan Coen
- Harlan County War (2000) – directed by Tony Bill – TV movie
- When Billie Beat Bobby (2001) – directed by Jane Anderson – TV movie
- Moonlight Mile (2002) – directed by Brad Silberling
- Levity (2003) – directed by Ed Solomon
- Thirteen (2003) – directed by Catherine Hardwicke
- Little Black Book (2004)* – directed by Nick Hurran
- The Incredibles (2004)* – directed by Brad Bird
- Nine Lives (2005) – directed by Rodrigo García
- The Big White (2005) – directed by Mark Mylod
- Jackie (2012) – directed by Antoinette Beumer
- Won’t Back Down (2012) – directed by Daniel Barnz
- Paradise (2013) – directed by Diablo Cody
- Bonnie & Clyde (2013) – directed by
- Bruce Beresford – miniseries
- Mondo Art (2014) –
- Manglehorn (2014) – directed by David Gordon Green
- Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) – directed by Zack Snyder
- Strange Weather (2016) – directed by Katherine Dieckmann
- Breakable You (2017) – directed by Andrew Wagner
- The Big Sick (2017)* – directed by Michael Showalter
- Song to Song (2017) – directed by Terrence Malick
- Incredibles 2 (2018)* directed by Brad Bird
That Geek With The Clip-Ons 