Biography for
Linda Hunt (I) More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

2 April 1945, Morristown, New Jersey, USA

Birth Name

Lydia Susanna Hunter

Height

4' 9" (1.45 m)

Spouse

Karen Kline

(1987 - present)

Trade Mark

Deep husky voice

Short stature

Bob cut

Trivia

Attended the Interlochen Arts Academy. She was a charter student the first year of the Interlochen Arts Academy which was established in 1962 as a complement to the Interlochen Arts Camp which had been established in 1928.

The first actor to have won an Academy Award portraying a member of the opposite sex, she won the Best Actress in a Supporting Role Oscar for her role as Billy Kwan in The Year of Living Dangerously (1982). Note this was not Linda Hunt playing a woman pretending to be a man, like Barbra Streisand did in Yentl (1983) or, in reverse, as Dustin Hoffman did in Tootsie (1982), but Hunt playing a man in a serious drama.

Has twice played male roles that did not feature or reference her actual female status: Billy Kwan in The Year of Living Dangerously (1982) and The Management in "Carnivàle" (2003) (who, though mostly unseen, is often referred to by other characters as male).

Was nominated for Broadway's 1984 Tony Award as Best Actress (Play) for Arthur Kopit's "End of the World."

Ranked #9 on Tropopkin's Top 25 Most Intriguing People [Issue #100]

Has lived with her romantic partner, psychotherapist Karen Klein, since 1987. Hunt's official biography on the CBS website for "NCIS: Los Angeles" (2009) refers to Kline as Hunt's spouse.

Her voice work includes narratives for the History Channel, as well as National Public Radio.