Helen Elizabeth Hunt was born on June 15, 1963, in Culver City, California, to Gordon Hunt, a film, television, and voice director and acting coach, and Jane Elizabeth Novis, a photographer. Her paternal grandmother was from a German-Jewish family that immigrated to the United States in 1888. Hunt spent her early years in Los Angeles and briefly in New York City. She began acting as a child.
Hunt’s acting career began in the 1970s with appearances in television shows such as “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “The Swiss Family Robinson,” and “Knots Landing.” She also appeared in several made-for-television movies and feature films during her teenage years.
Hunt achieved mainstream recognition for her role as Jamie Buchman in the NBC sitcom “Mad About You,” which aired from 1992 to 1999 and was revived in 2019. She won four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on the show.
Following the success of “Mad About You,” Hunt focused more on film roles. She starred in the romantic comedy “As Good as It Gets” (1997), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Musical or Comedy. Her notable film credits include:
Hunt has also worked as a director and writer. She made her