Bonnie Hunt

BONNIE HUNT is a versatile and accomplished writer, director and producer, and an Emmy®, Golden Globe® and SAG Award®-nominated actress, earning critical acclaim in film, television and theater.

Growing up in one of Chicago‘s blue-collar neighborhoods, Hunt pursued an acting career with the famous Second City improvisational theater while continuing to work as an oncology nurse at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. She soon became familiar to audiences with her unforgettable cameos in such films as Rain Man, where she played the toothpick-dropping waitress, and in Dave as the White House tour guide dropping the famously improvised line, We‘re walking, we‘re walking...

Starting out in television as Jonathan Winters‘ daughter on ABC‘s Davis Rules, Bonnie was also a series regular on NBC‘s sitcom Grand, but Hunt soon looked to broaden her knowledge of the creative aspects of television and its production process. She made television history when she became the first person to write, produce and star in a prime-time series, The Building, for CBS. The ensemble comedy featured Hunt and her Second City colleagues. Bonnie encouraged improvisation among the cast and this ambitious vision soon became a popular trend. She also produced her show using five cameras instead of four, integrated overlapping dialogue and elected not to use a laugh track. Today, many of Hunt‘s techniques are standard for prime-time and cable television.

She went on to create two more critically acclaimed series writing, producing, directing and starring in The Bonnie Hunt Show, a popular daytime talk show for CBS and Life with Bonnie for ABC, where she earned Emmy® and Golden Globe® nominations.

Continuing to build an impressive film resume, Hunt received rave reviews for roles, including Tom Cruise‘s scrutinizing sister-in-law in Jerry Maguire, Tom Hanks‘ wife in The Green Mile, Robin Williams‘ love interest in Jumanji, as well as roles in Random Hearts with Harrison Ford, Norman Jewison‘s Only You, Cheaper by the Dozen and Cheaper by the Dozen 2 with Steve Martin, and the family hits Beethoven and Beethoven‘s 2nd. For MGM, Bonnie wrote, directed and acted in the much-praised feature film Return to Me, starring David Duchovny and Minnie Driver.

Hunt‘s independent film work includes starring roles in Stolen Summer, Loggerheads, and her fellow Chicagoan Jeff Garlin‘s I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With. Her long association with Disney/Pixar has included starring roles in the animated hits A Bug‘s Life, Monsters, Inc. and Cars (for which she received both acting and writing credits).

Hunt continues her charitable work, raising funds to sponsor research for treatments and cures for cancer and rheumatoid arthritis, and also gives time to support organizations such as The Make-A-Wish Foundation, The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation and American Veterans.

Hunt‘s frequent and hilarious appearances on talk shows earned her Entertainment Weekly's title of the hands-down best (talk show) guest in America.

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