Holly Hunter is one of four movie star-turned TV actresses competing for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series at the Emmys Sept. 21.
If she wins the Emmy, she’ll have to make room for it next to her Academy Award. Before she played her hard-drinking, fast-living character, Grace, on TNT’s Saving Grace, Hunter won Best Actress for her performance as a mute woman entering an arranged marriage.
Born the youngest of seven children in Georgia, Hunter played Helen Keller in a fifth grade play and went on to study drama at Carnegie Mellon University. Upon graduation she went to New York to pursue an acting career, and – just like Grace – she might just have a guardian angel.
In a chance encounter in a stalled elevator, Hunter met a famous playwright and starred in some of her plays. In one of those she caught the attention of Oscar-winning directors Joel and Ethan Coen. In addition to living together with the Coens, Frances McDormand and Spider-Man director Sam Raimi, Hunter gained notoriety in the Coens’ Raising Arizona.
After a string of movies and Oscar nominations for Broadcast News, The Firm and Thirteen, Hunter decided to star in her first network television series.
While preparing for her transition into television, Hunter told TVgasm that she was worried about having to memorize so many lines, so she called her Home for the Holidays costar, Dylan McDermott, who starred in The Practice.
He told her, “It’s a scary ride when you first get on and you’re going to be able to do it,” and she realized he was right.
She told Tvgasm that among her favorite things about playing Grace, she’s inspired by how alive Grace is and that she would love to emulate her vivacity.
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