Linda Hunt Biography

Fast Facts

• Became an ambassador for the "Best Friends Animal Society," which works to keep pets from ending up homeless by encouraging people to adopt from rescue groups instead of buy from pet stores and to spay or neuter their pets
• Won the 1983 Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
• Was a student of the Goodman School of Drama in Chicago
• Attended the Interlochen Arts Academy and was a charter student her first year there
• Measuring at just less than five feet, she is known for her short stature and her resonant voice, the latter of which has resulted in significant opportunities for narration, radio hosting and voicing animated films
• Has played male roles twice, once as The Management in "Carnivále" and once as Billy Kwan in "The Year of Living Dangerously," which cemented her as the first performer to win an Oscar for playing a member of the opposite sex
• In her teens, she was diagnosed with hypo-pituitary dwarfism, but she didn't let the short stature that resulted from this condition hinder her dreams of becoming an actress
• Worried that she would not be able to secure acting roles, she initially studied to be a director