Bonnie Lynn Hunt was born on September 22, 1961, in Chicago, Illinois, to Robert Edward Hunt (1927-1981), an electrician, and Alice E. Hunt (née Jatczak; 1925-2021).[2] Her father was of Irish and Belgian ancestry and her mother is of Polish descent.[3][4][5] She has three older brothers named Patrick, Kevin, and Tom, two older sisters named Cathy and Carol, and a younger sister named Mary.[citation needed] She was educated in Catholic schools, attending Saint Ferdinand School and Notre Dame High School for Girls in Chicago, and worked part-time as a nurse's aide.[6]
In 1988, while a nurse, Hunt auditioned on her lunch break for the role of waitress Sally Dibbs in Rain Man and won it.[6]
Career
Hunt in 1996
In 1990, Hunt portrayed Carol Anne Smithson in Grand. She refused to become a cast member of Saturday Night Live because the series' producers generally frowned on her preferred improvisational style. In 1992, she was offered the part of B.J. Poteet, a replacement for Julia Duffy, on Designing Women.[7] Instead, she chose to co-star in Davis Rules.
In 1993, Hunt teamed with good friend David Letterman to produce The Building. The series was also filmed live; mistakes, accidents, and forgotten lines were often left in the aired episode.[citation needed] In 1995, Hunt and Letterman reteamed for The Bonnie Hunt Show (later retitled Bonnie), which featured many of the same cast members as The Building and the same loose style. The show was praised by critics but was canceled after 11 of the 13 episodes produced were aired. In 2002, Hunt returned to television with Life with Bonnie. Her role on the series earned her a 2004 Emmy nomination (which was her first). Despite fair ratings, the series was canceled in its second season. Hunt announced on Live with Regis and Kelly that ABC had offered her another sitcom, in which she would have portrayed a divorced detective. This pilot titled Let Go (also known as Crimes and Dating) was not picked up for the fall 2006 schedule.
She directed, co-wrote, and co-starred in Return to Me. It was filmed in her Chicago neighborhood and included bit parts for a number of her relatives. The film, which received a positive reception from critics,[8] was largely influenced by Hunt's blue-collar Catholic upbringing in Chicago.[9]
In 2007, Hunt taped a pilot episode for Telepictures. The pilot was approved and the talk show was created. The Bonnie Hunt Show premiered on Monday, September 8, 2008. The set design was a tribute to Dean Martin and on the walls are pictures of historic television personalities, as well as Hunt's family members. The series was inspired by the format of Live with Regis and Kelly, with the host and guests often interacting with the audience. Many of the series' staffers were longtime friends of Hunt from Chicago. The series typically started with an opening monologue followed by guest interviews and games played with the audience. Hunt's mother Alice often appeared in webcasts from her home in Chicago. The Bonnie Hunt Show taped in Culver City, California, and was viewed in 17 of the top 20 US television markets in the United States. In its first year, The Bonnie Hunt Show was nominated for three Daytime Emmy Awards, for opening theme, hairstyle, and makeup. It won the Gracie Award for "Outstanding Talk Show" in 2009. In 2010, Hunt was nominated for "Outstanding Talk Show Host" at the Daytime Emmy Awards. The final episode aired on May 26, 2010.
Personal life
In 1988, Hunt married investment banker John Murphy.[10] The couple separated in 2006; their divorce was officially finalized in 2008.[11]
↑ "Bonnie Hunt (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved September 22, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
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