Bonnie Hunt
Encyclopedia
Bonnie Lynne Hunt is an American actress, comedian, writer, director, television producer and daytime television host.

Early life

Hunt, who was born in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, Illinois, is the daughter of Alice E. (née Jatczak), a homemaker, and Robert Edward Hunt, an electrician
Electrician
An electrician is a tradesman specializing in electrical wiring of buildings, stationary machines and related equipment. Electricians may be employed in the installation of new electrical components or the maintenance and repair of existing electrical infrastructure. Electricians may also...

. Her mother is of Polish
Polish American
A Polish American , is a citizen of the United States of Polish descent. There are an estimated 10 million Polish Americans, representing about 3.2% of the population of the United States...

 descent and her father was of Irish
Irish American
Irish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...

 and Belgian ancestry. She was raised in a large Catholic family, and has three older brothers, Patrick, Kevin, and Tom, two older sisters, Cathy and Carol, and one younger sister, Mary. Hunt was educated in Catholic school
Catholic school
Catholic schools are maintained parochial schools or education ministries of the Catholic Church. the Church operates the world's largest non-governmental school system...

s and attended St. Ferdinand Grammar School and Notre Dame High School for Girls
Notre Dame High School for Girls
Notre Dame High School for Girls is a private, Roman Catholic, all-girls college prep high school in Chicago, Illinois. Notre Dame High School for Girls was founded in 1938 by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and in 2009, was incorporated by the Archdiocese of Chicago, making it part of the St....

 in Chicago.

In 1982, Hunt worked as an oncology
Oncology
Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with cancer...

 nurse at Northwestern Memorial Hospital
Northwestern Memorial Hospital
Northwestern Memorial Hospital is one of the nation's preeminent academic medical centers and is the primary teaching hospital for Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. It is the second tallest hospital in the United States and the fourth tallest hospital in the world...

 in Chicago. In 1984, she co-founded An Impulsive Thing, an improvisational comedy troupe, with Holly Wortell
Holly Wortell
Holly Wortell is an American comedic actress and longtime friend of Bonnie Hunt. She has been a regular on each of Hunt's sitcoms , all three times playing a vain, promiscuous character named "Holly"...

, Andy Miller and John Gripentrog. Hunt also performed as a member of Chicago's world-famous The Second City
The Second City
The Second City is a improvisational comedy enterprise which originated in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood.The Second City Theatre opened on December 16, 1959 and has since expanded its presence to several other cities, including Toronto and Los Angeles...

, joining in 1986.

Career

In 1990, Hunt played a role on the NBC show Grand
Grand (TV series)
Grand was a half-hour situation comedy that aired on the NBC network in 1990. The series featured an ensemble cast including Pamela Reed, Bonnie Hunt, Michael McKean, John Randolph, Andrew Lauer, John Neville, Joel Murray and Sara Rue. It was created by Michael Leeson, executive produced by...

, a comedy that lasted a season and a half. Hunt refused to become a cast member of Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...

because the show's producers generally frowned on her preferred improvisational style. In 1992, she turned down a higher-paying role on Designing Women
Designing Women
Designing Women is an American television sitcom that centered on the working and personal lives of four Southern women and one man in an interior design firm in Atlanta, Georgia. It aired on the CBS television network from September 29, 1986 until May 24, 1993. The show was created by head writer...

to co-star in Davis Rules
Davis Rules
Davis Rules is an American sitcom broadcast on ABC in 1991 and on CBS in 1992. The series was produced by Carsey-Werner Productions.-Synopsis:...

with Jonathan Winters
Jonathan Winters
-Early life:Winters was born in Bellbrook, Ohio, the son of Alice Kilgore , a radio personality, and Jonathan Harshman Winters II, an investment broker. He is a descendant of Valentine Winters, founder of the Winters National Bank in Dayton, Ohio...

, Randy Quaid
Randy Quaid
Randall Rudy "Randy" Quaid is an American actor perhaps best known for his role as Cousin Eddie in the National Lampoon's Vacation movies, as well as his numerous supporting roles in films, including his Oscar nominated performance in The Last Detail, Independence Day, Kingpin and Brokeback Mountain...

, and Audrey Meadows
Audrey Meadows
Audrey Meadows was an American actress best known for her role as the deadpan housewife Alice Kramden on the 1950s American television comedy The Honeymooners.-Early life:...

.

In 1993, Hunt teamed with good friend David Letterman
David Letterman
David Michael Letterman is an American television host and comedian. He hosts the late night television talk show, Late Show with David Letterman, broadcast on CBS. Letterman has been a fixture on late night television since the 1982 debut of Late Night with David Letterman on NBC...

 to produce The Building, a short-lived sitcom that was modeled after early-1950s television shows. The show was also filmed live; mistakes, accidents, and forgotten lines were often left in the aired episode. Hunt and Letterman re-teamed in 1995 with The Bonnie Hunt Show (later retitled Bonnie), which featured many of the same cast members as The Building and the same loose style. The show was praised by critics but was canceled after 11 of the 13 episodes produced were aired. In 2002, Hunt returned to television with Life with Bonnie
Life With Bonnie
Life with Bonnie is an ABC television sitcom that originally aired from 2002 to 2004. The show outlined the life of character Bonnie Malloy, who juggled her personal life and a TV talk show position. The series was created by Bonnie Hunt and Don Lake, and produced by Miss Hunt's company, Bob &...

, a show known for clean and offbeat humor. Her role on that show earned her a 2004 Emmy
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...

 nomination, her first. Despite fair ratings, the show was canceled in its second season. Hunt announced on Live with Regis and Kelly
Live with Regis and Kelly
Live! with Kelly is a syndicated American television morning talk show, hosted by Kelly Ripa. The show has aired since 1983 in New York City and 1988 nationwide. Tony Pigg has been the show's announcer since its inception...

that ABC had offered her another sitcom, in which she would have played a divorced detective
Detective
A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...

. This pilot, Let Go (also known as Crimes and Dating), was not picked up for the fall 2006 schedule.

Hunt co-wrote, directed, and co-starred in the 2000 film Return to Me
Return to Me
Return to Me is a romantic movie rated PG. Return to Me was directed by Bonnie Hunt and starred David Duchovny as Bob and Minnie Driver as Grace...

, a romantic comedy starring David Duchovny
David Duchovny
David William Duchovny is an American actor, writer and director. He has won Golden Globe awards for his work as FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder on The X-Files and as Hank Moody on Californication.-Early life:...

 and Minnie Driver
Minnie Driver
Minnie Driver is an English actress and singer-songwriter. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the 1997 film Good Will Hunting, as well as for an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe for her work in the television series The Riches.- Early life...

. It was filmed in her Chicago neighborhood and included bit parts for a number of her relatives. The film, which received a positive reception from critics, was largely influenced by Hunt's blue-collar Catholic upbringing in Chicago.

Hunt starred as Alice Newton opposite Charles Grodin
Charles Grodin
Charles Grodin is an American actor, comedian, author and former cable talk show host. Grodin began his acting career in the 1960s appearing in TV serials including The Virginian. He had a small part as an obstetrician in Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby in 1968...

 in the popular children's films Beethoven
Beethoven (film)
Beethoven is a 1992 American family comedy film, directed by Brian Levant and starring Charles Grodin and Bonnie Hunt. The film is the first in the Beethoven film series....

and Beethoven's 2nd
Beethoven's 2nd
Beethoven's 2nd is a 1993 American family film directed by Rod Daniel, and the first sequel to the 1992 film, Beethoven. It starred Charles Grodin and Bonnie Hunt, and Beethoven's four puppies, Chubby, Dolly, Tchaikovsky, and Moe. This is the second of six installments in the Beethoven film series...

. She played opposite Robin Williams
Robin Williams
Robin McLaurin Williams is an American actor and comedian. Rising to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork and Mindy, and later stand-up comedy work, Williams has performed in many feature films since 1980. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance...

 in Jumanji
Jumanji (film)
Jumanji is a 1995 American fantasy-comedy film about a supernatural board game that makes wild animals and other jungle hazards materialize upon each player's move. It was directed by Joe Johnston and is based on Chris Van Allsburg's popular 1981 picture book of the same name...

as well as opposite Steve Martin
Steve Martin
Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer....

 in Cheaper by the Dozen
Cheaper by the Dozen (2003 film)
Cheaper by the Dozen is a 2003 American comedy film about a family with 12 children . The film takes its title from the 1948 biography of the same name of Frank Bunker Gilbreth and Lillian Moller Gilbreth and their 12 children, but other than the title and the concept of a family with 12 children,...

and its sequel
Cheaper by the Dozen 2
Cheaper by the Dozen 2 is a 2005 film produced by 20th Century Fox. It is the sequel to the family comedy film Cheaper by the Dozen . Shawn Levy, the director of the first film, did not return as director for this sequel, which was instead directed by Adam Shankman . Levy was a producer of the film...

. She played the sister of Renée Zellweger in the movie Jerry Maguire
Jerry Maguire
Jerry Maguire is a 1996 American romantic comedy-drama film starring Tom Cruise and Cuba Gooding, Jr. It was written, co-produced, and directed by Cameron Crowe...

and Jan Edgecomb opposite Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...

 in the film adaptation of the Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...

 novel The Green Mile
The Green Mile (film)
The Green Mile is a 1999 American drama film directed by Frank Darabont and adapted by him from the 1996 Stephen King novel of the same name...

. Also, she played the biological mother, Grace Bellamy, of Mark Austin (played by Kip Pardue) in Loggerheads
Loggerheads (film)
Loggerheads is an independent film written and directed by Tim Kirkman, produced by Gill Holland and released in the United States by Strand Releasing in October 2005. After its debut at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize, Loggerheads screened at...

, a 2005 independent film written and directed by Tim Kirkman
Tim Kirkman
Writer and director Tim Kirkman was born on November 2, 1966 in Monroe, North Carolina, the third child of a public school educator and a music teacher, and spent his childhood in nearby Wingate, North Carolina....

. She has provided her voice for a total of four Pixar
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios, pronounced , is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California. The studio has earned 26 Academy Awards, seven Golden Globes, and three Grammy Awards, among many other awards and acknowledgments. Its films have made over $6.3 billion worldwide...

 films: A Bug's Life
A Bug's Life
A Bug's Life is a 1998 American computer animated adventure comedy film produced by Pixar and released by Walt Disney Pictures in the United States on November 25, 1998. A Bug's Life was the second Disney·Pixar feature film after Toy Story, and the third American computer-animated film after Toy...

as Rosie the black widow spider; Monsters, Inc.
Monsters, Inc.
Monsters, Inc. is a 2001 American computer-animated film and the fourth feature-length film produced by Pixar Animation Studios. It was directed by Pete Docter, co-directed by Lee Unkrich and David Silverman, and written by Jill Culton, Peter Docter, Ralph Eggleston, Dan Gerson, Jeff Pidgeon, Rhett...

as training supervisor Mrs. Flint; Cars
Cars (film)
Cars is a 2006 American animated family film produced by Pixar and directed by John Lasseter and co-directed by Joe Ranft. It is the seventh Disney·Pixar feature film, and Pixar's final, independently-produced motion picture before its purchase by Disney...

as the heroine Sally Carrera; and Toy Story 3
Toy Story 3
Toy Story 3 is a 2010 American 3D computer-animated comedy-adventure film, and the third installment in the Toy Story series. It was produced by Pixar and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by Lee Unkrich. The film was released worldwide from June through October in Disney Digital...

as Dolly. In addition, Hunt received a writing credit on the film Cars, and reprised her role in the sequel Cars 2
Cars 2
Cars 2 is a 2011 American computer-animated action film produced by Pixar, and it is the sequel to the 2006 film, Cars. In the film, race car Lightning McQueen and tow truck Mater head to Japan and Europe to compete in the World Grand Prix, but Mater becomes sidetracked with international espionage...

.

The Bonnie Hunt Show

In 2007 Bonnie Hunt taped a pilot episode for Telepictures. The pilot was approved and the talk show was created. The Bonnie Hunt Show
The Bonnie Hunt Show
The Bonnie Hunt Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted by Bonnie Hunt. It premiered on September 8, 2008. It is the second show featuring Bonnie Hunt to have that title. The first was a sitcom that ran for one season in 1995 and was retitled Bonnie when it returned after a mid-season hiatus...

premiered on Monday, September 8, 2008. The show's set design was a tribute to Dean Martin
Dean Martin
Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...

 and on the walls are pictures of historic television personalities as well as Hunt's family members. The show was inspired by the format of Live with Regis and Kelly
Live with Regis and Kelly
Live! with Kelly is a syndicated American television morning talk show, hosted by Kelly Ripa. The show has aired since 1983 in New York City and 1988 nationwide. Tony Pigg has been the show's announcer since its inception...

with the host and guests often interacting with the audience. Many of show's staffers were longtime friends of Hunt's from Chicago. The show typically started with an opening monologue followed by guest interviews and games played with the audience. Hunt's mother Alice often appeared in webcast
Webcast
A webcast is a media presentation distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology to distribute a single content source to many simultaneous listeners/viewers. A webcast may either be distributed live or on demand...

s from her home in Chicago. A characteristic of the show was Hunt's over-the-top faux indignation at non-PG language after which she would enjoy the double-entendre drenched material she had pretended to poo-poo. The Bonnie Hunt Show taped in Culver City, California and was viewed in 17 of the top 20 US television markets in the United States. In its first year, the show was nominated for three Daytime Emmy Awards: for opening theme, hairstyle, and makeup. It won the Gracie Award for "Outstanding Talk Show" in 2009. In 2010, Hunt was nominated for "Outstanding Talk Show Host" at the Daytime Emmy Awards. The final episode aired Wednesday, May 26, 2010.

Personal life

Hunt married investment banker John Murphy in 1988. However, during her June 6, 2006, appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman, she mentioned that she was single again. She has no children.

Hunt's hometown is Chicago and she is a lifelong Chicago Cubs
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...

 fan, having not missed an Opening Day at Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field is a baseball stadium in Chicago, Illinois, United States that has served as the home ballpark of the Chicago Cubs since 1916. It was built in 1914 as Weeghman Park for the Chicago Federal League baseball team, the Chicago Whales...

 since 1977. She is also a supporter of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation
Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation
The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to multiple myeloma, an incurable but treatable blood cancer, which afflicts over fifty thousand Americans alone...

, of which she is an honorary board member.

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1988 Rain Man
Rain Man
Rain Man is a 1988 drama film written by Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass and directed by Barry Levinson. It tells the story of an abrasive and selfish yuppie, Charlie Babbitt, who discovers that his estranged father has died and bequeathed all of his multimillion-dollar estate to his other son,...

Sally Dibbs
1992 Beethoven
Beethoven (film)
Beethoven is a 1992 American family comedy film, directed by Brian Levant and starring Charles Grodin and Bonnie Hunt. The film is the first in the Beethoven film series....

Alice Newton
1993 Dave
Dave (film)
Dave is a 1993 comedy-drama film written by Gary Ross, directed by Ivan Reitman, and starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver. Co-stars include Frank Langella, Kevin Dunn, Ving Rhames, and Ben Kingsley. Ross was nominated for an Academy Award for his screenplay...

White House Tour Guide
1993–1999 Mike & Spike Olivia R. Alexanders TV Show- Voice
1993 Beethoven's 2nd
Beethoven's 2nd
Beethoven's 2nd is a 1993 American family film directed by Rod Daniel, and the first sequel to the 1992 film, Beethoven. It starred Charles Grodin and Bonnie Hunt, and Beethoven's four puppies, Chubby, Dolly, Tchaikovsky, and Moe. This is the second of six installments in the Beethoven film series...

Alice Newton
1994 Only You
Only You (1994 film)
Only You is a 1994 romantic comedy film written by Diane Drake and directed and coproduced by Norman Jewison. It stars Marisa Tomei as a young woman who searches for a man whom she believes is her soulmate and Robert Downey Jr. as a young man she meets along the way...

Kate Corvatch
1995 Now and Then Mrs. DeWitt
1995 Jumanji
Jumanji (film)
Jumanji is a 1995 American fantasy-comedy film about a supernatural board game that makes wild animals and other jungle hazards materialize upon each player's move. It was directed by Joe Johnston and is based on Chris Van Allsburg's popular 1981 picture book of the same name...

Sarah Whittle/Madam Serena
1996 Getting Away with Murder
Getting Away with Murder (1996 film)
Getting Away with Murder is a 1996 comedy film written and directed by Harvey Miller. The film stars Dan Aykroyd, Jack Lemmon, Lily Tomlin and Bonnie Hunt.This was the final project for veteran writer and director Harvey Miller....

Dr. Gail Holland
1996 Jerry Maguire
Jerry Maguire
Jerry Maguire is a 1996 American romantic comedy-drama film starring Tom Cruise and Cuba Gooding, Jr. It was written, co-produced, and directed by Cameron Crowe...

Laurel Boyd
1998 Rosie Voice
1998 Kissing a Fool
Kissing a Fool
Kissing A Fool is a 1998 American romantic comedy film directed by Doug Ellin. It primarily stars David Schwimmer, Jason Lee, and Mili Avital...

Linda Streicher
1999 Random Hearts
Random Hearts
Random Hearts is a 1984 novel by American author Warren Adler. In 1999, the novel was made into a motion picture directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Harrison Ford and Kristin Scott Thomas.-Plot summary :...

Wendy Judd
1999 Mike & Spike Movie Olivia R. Alexanders Voice
1999 Jan Edgecomb
2000 Return to Me
Return to Me
Return to Me is a romantic movie rated PG. Return to Me was directed by Bonnie Hunt and starred David Duchovny as Bob and Minnie Driver as Grace...

Megan Dayton also director/writer
2001 Monsters, Inc.
Monsters, Inc.
Monsters, Inc. is a 2001 American computer-animated film and the fourth feature-length film produced by Pixar Animation Studios. It was directed by Pete Docter, co-directed by Lee Unkrich and David Silverman, and written by Jill Culton, Peter Docter, Ralph Eggleston, Dan Gerson, Jeff Pidgeon, Rhett...

Ms. Flint Voice
2001 Mike & Spike Christmas Olivia R. Alexanders Christmas TV Special- Voice
2002 Stolen Summer
Stolen Summer
Stolen Summer is a 2002 drama film about a Catholic boy who befriends a terminally ill Jewish boy and tries to convert him, believing it is the only way he will get to Heaven...

Margaret O'Malley limited release
2003 Cheaper by the Dozen
Cheaper by the Dozen (2003 film)
Cheaper by the Dozen is a 2003 American comedy film about a family with 12 children . The film takes its title from the 1948 biography of the same name of Frank Bunker Gilbreth and Lillian Moller Gilbreth and their 12 children, but other than the title and the concept of a family with 12 children,...

Kate Baker
2005 Cheaper by the Dozen 2
Cheaper by the Dozen 2
Cheaper by the Dozen 2 is a 2005 film produced by 20th Century Fox. It is the sequel to the family comedy film Cheaper by the Dozen . Shawn Levy, the director of the first film, did not return as director for this sequel, which was instead directed by Adam Shankman . Levy was a producer of the film...

Kate Baker
2005 Loggerheads
Loggerheads (film)
Loggerheads is an independent film written and directed by Tim Kirkman, produced by Gill Holland and released in the United States by Strand Releasing in October 2005. After its debut at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize, Loggerheads screened at...

Grace
2006 From Hair To Eternity Martha Bakerson
2006 I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With
I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With
I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With is a 2006 independent film released by IFC Films and The Weinstein Company. Written, produced and directed by, and starring Jeff Garlin , it features Garlin, Sarah Silverman and Bonnie Hunt...

Stella Lewis
2006 Cars
Cars (film)
Cars is a 2006 American animated family film produced by Pixar and directed by John Lasseter and co-directed by Joe Ranft. It is the seventh Disney·Pixar feature film, and Pixar's final, independently-produced motion picture before its purchase by Disney...

Sally Carrera Voice
2008–
2010
Herself/Host TV Talk show
2010 Toy Story 3
Toy Story 3
Toy Story 3 is a 2010 American 3D computer-animated comedy-adventure film, and the third installment in the Toy Story series. It was produced by Pixar and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by Lee Unkrich. The film was released worldwide from June through October in Disney Digital...

Dolly Voice
2011 Hawaiian Vacation
Hawaiian Vacation
Toy Story Toons: Hawaiian Vacation is a 2011 Pixar animated short directed by Gary Rydstrom. The short features characters from the Toy Story films and takes place after the events of Toy Story 3...

Dolly Voice
2011 Cars 2
Cars 2
Cars 2 is a 2011 American computer-animated action film produced by Pixar, and it is the sequel to the 2006 film, Cars. In the film, race car Lightning McQueen and tow truck Mater head to Japan and Europe to compete in the World Grand Prix, but Mater becomes sidetracked with international espionage...

Sally Carrera Voice

External links

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