Linda Hunt

Encyclopedia : L : LI : LIN : Linda Hunt

Linda Hunt

Linda Hunt (born April 2, 1945 in Morristown, New Jersey, USA) is an Academy Award-winning American actress. Her best known roles are as the male Chinese-Australian dwarf Billy Kwan in the film The Year of Living Dangerously (1982) (for which she won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actress, - making her the only actor to ever win an Oscar for playing a character of the opposite gender), and as Judge Zoey Hiller on the television series The Practice. Her movie debut was in Robert Altman's musical comedy film Popeye (1980).

Linda Hunt is also a well known stage actress, who has received two Obie awards and a Tony nomination for her theatre work. She created the role of Aunt Dan in Wallace Shawn's play Aunt Dan and Lemon. Recently, she portrayed Sister Aloysius in the Pasadena Playhouse production of John Patrick Shanley's Tony Award-winning play "Doubt."

Beside her acting abilities, Linda Hunt is distinguished by her small stature (she is 4' 9" or 1.45 m), and her rich, resonant voice, which she has used effectively in numerous documentaries, cartoons, and commercials. Linda Hunt is the on-air host for City Arts & Lectures, a radio program recorded by KQED public radio. She was chosen by Walt Disney Feature Animation to lend her enigmatic speaking and singing voice to "Grandmother Willow" in Pocahontas. Her voice work also includes the character of "Management", on US TV series Carnivàle and the Narrator in the God of War video game.

Filmography

• Stranger Than Fiction (2006)
• Yours, Mine and Ours (2005) - Mrs. Munion
• A Lot Like Love (2005) - Airline Attendant
• Dragonfly (2002) - Sister Madeline
• The Relic (1997) - Dr. Ann Cuthbert
• Eat Your Heart Out (1997) - Kathryn
• Pocahontas (1995) - Grandmother Willow (voice)
• Prêt-à-Porter (1994) - Regina Krumm
• Younger and Younger (1993) - Frances
• Twenty Bucks (1993) - Angeline
• Rain Without Thunder (1992) - Atwood Society Director
• If Looks Could Kill (1991) - Ilsa Grunt
• Kindergarten Cop (1990) - Miss Schlowski
• Carmilla (1990) - Narrator
• She-Devil (1989) - Hooper
• Waiting for the Moon (1987) - Alice B. Toklas
• Eleni (1985) - Katina
• Silverado (1985) - Stella
• Dune (1984) - Shadout Mapes
• The Bostonians (1984) - Dr. Prance
• The Year of Living Dangerously (1982) - Billy Kwan – Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
• Popeye (1980) - Mrs. Oxheart

|- style="text-align: center;" |}

Selected television credits