Biography
Holly Patricia Hunter is an American actress. Her accolades include an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award and two Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2008, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. For her performance as Ada McGrath in the 1993 drama film The Piano, Hunter won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She earned three additional Academy Award nominations for Broadcast News (1987), The Firm (1993) and Thirteen (2003). For her roles in the television films Roe vs. Wade (...
Known For
Complete Filmography

The Electric State
2025
as Madeline Vance
An orphaned teen hits the road with a mysterious robot to find her long-lost brother, teaming up with a smuggler and his wisecracking sidekick.

My Darling Vivian
2020
as Self (archive footage)
The story of Vivian Liberto, Johnny Cash's first wife and the mother of his four daughters. Includes never-before-seen footage and photographs of John...

Bergman: A Year in a Life
2018
as Self
The year 1957 was one of the most prolific for the Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman: he shot two films, released two of his most celebrated films and ...

Incredibles 2
2018
as Helen Parr / Elastigirl (voice)
Elastigirl springs into action to save the day, while Mr. Incredible faces his greatest challenge yet – taking care of the problems of his three child...

Spielberg
2017
as Self
A documentary on the life and career of one of the most influential film directors of all time, Steven Spielberg.

The Big Sick
2017
as Beth Gardner
Pakistan-born comedian Kumail Nanjiani and grad student Emily Gardner fall in love but struggle as their cultures clash. When Emily contracts a myster...

Song to Song
2017
as Miranda
In this modern love story set against the Austin, Texas music scene, two entangled couples — struggling songwriters Faye and BV, and music mogul Cook ...

Breakable You
2017
as Eleanor Weller
A divorced playwright and his therapist ex deal with new relationships and their daughter.

Strange Weather
2016
as Darcy Baylor
Years after her son's suicide, a woman longs to confront both the past and a friend of his who took his business idea.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
2016
as Senator Finch
Fearing the actions of a god-like Super Hero left unchecked, Gotham City’s own formidable, forceful vigilante takes on Metropolis’s most revered, mode...

Manglehorn
2015
as Dawn
AJ Manglehorn is an aging, ordinary guy in a small town. He nurses his sick cat, squeezes out a conversation with the local bank teller every Friday, ...

And the Oscar Goes To...
2014
as Self (archive footage)
The story of the gold-plated statuette that became the film industry's most coveted prize, AND THE OSCAR GOES TO... traces the history of the Academy ...

Paradise
2013
as Melanie Mannerheim
After surviving a plane crash a young conservative woman suffers a crisis of faith.
From the Bottom of the Lake
2013
as herself
The creative process at the heart of creating TV series Top of the Lake (2013). From the writing process with long-time collaborator Gerard Lee to sho...

Trespassing Bergman
2013
as Self
In the sixties, Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman (1918-2007) built a house on the remote island of Fårö, located in the Baltic Sea, and left Stockholm...

Won't Back Down
2012
as Evelyn Riske
Jamie Fitzpatrick and Nona Alberts are two women from opposites sides of the social and economic track, but they have one thing in common: a mission t...

Jackie
2012
as Jackie
Two Dutch twin sisters travel to the United States, looking for their long-lost mother.

Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen
2012
as (archive footage)
A film where anything can happen - the hero and the heroine changes their faces, age, look, names, and so on. The only same thing: The love between ma...

Portraits in Dramatic Time
2011
A series of 40 art films created by artist David Michalek featuring performances of theater artists and actors of all genres and nationalities both we...
Sangre
2006
as Cafe waitress
Short movie about a grandfather, with memory issues, and his grandson taking a road trip to San Diego for the grandfather's and wife's 50th wedding an...

The Big White
2005
as Margaret Barnell
To remedy his financial problems, a travel agent has his eye on a frozen corpse, which just happens to be sought after by two hitmen.

Nine Lives
2005
as Sonia
Captives of the very relationships that define and sustain them, nine women resiliently meet the travails and disappointments of life.

The Incredibles
2004
as Helen Parr / Elastigirl (voice)
Bob Parr has given up his superhero days to log in time as an insurance adjuster and raise his three children with his formerly heroic wife in suburbi...

Little Black Book
2004
as Barb
Determined to learn about her boyfriend's past relationships, Stacy -- who works for a talk show -- becomes a bona fide snoop. With her colleague, Bar...

Thirteen
2003
as Melanie
When average 13-year-old Tracy befriends Evie, the most popular girl in school, Tracy's world is turned upside down as Evie introduces her to a world ...

Thirteen
2003
Executive Producer
When average 13-year-old Tracy befriends Evie, the most popular girl in school, Tracy's world is turned upside down as Evie introduces her to a world ...

Levity
2003
as Adele Easley
Manuel Jordan is a man who is free after serving 23 years for killing a teenager during an attempted robbery. After nearly two decades of staring at h...

Moonlight Mile: A Journey to Screen
2003
as Self / Mona Camp

Moonlight Mile
2002
as Mona Camp
As he copes with the death of his fiancee along with her parents, a young man must figure out what he wants out of life.

Searching for Debra Winger
2002
as Self
Rosanna Arquette talks to various actresses about the pressures they face as women working in the entertainment industry.

Festival in Cannes
2001
as Self (uncredited)
Cannes, 1999. Alice, an actress, wants to direct an indie picture. Kaz, a talkative (and maybe bogus) deal maker, promises $3 million if she'll use Mi...

Down from the Mountain
2001
as Self
On May 24, 2000, the historic Ryman Auditorium was booked to offer Nashvillians an evening of sublime beauty. Label executives and soundtrack producer...

When Billie Beat Bobby
2001
as Billie Jean King
The historic 1973 tennis match between middle-aged champion Bobby Riggs and young feminist Billie Jean King.

When Billie Beat Bobby
2001
Co-Executive Producer
The historic 1973 tennis match between middle-aged champion Bobby Riggs and young feminist Billie Jean King.
The Coen Brothers
2000
as Self
During the promotional campaign for "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" in 1999, BBC broadcast a documentary about the Coen brothers, mainly concerning their...

Lost Souls
2000
Thanks
A young woman becomes aware of a conspiracy to enable the Devil to walk the Earth in human form. To defeat the prophesy, she must convince a respected...

O Brother, Where Art Thou?
2000
as Penny
In the deep south during the 1930s, three escaped convicts search for hidden treasure while a relentless lawman pursues them.

Jesus' Son
2000
as Mira
A young man turns from drug addiction and petty crime to a life redeemed by a discovery of compassion.

Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her
2000
as Rebecca Waynon (segment "Fantasies About Rebecca")
In California, a group of women struggle with personal problems as their paths intertwine in unexpected ways. Dr. Elaine Keener, the sole caretaker fo...

Harlan County War
2000
as Ruby Kincaid
A Kentucky woman whose mine-worker husband is nearly killed in a cave-in, and whose father is slowly dying of black lung disease, joins the picket lin...

Timecode
2000
as Renee Fishbine
A production company begins casting for its next feature, and an up-and-coming actress named Rose tries to manipulate her filmmaker boyfriend, Alex, i...

Woman Wanted
1999
as Emma Riley
After the death of his wife, Richard hires a recently divorced housekeeper, Emma. Soon finding himself falling for her, his emotionally destructive so...

Living Out Loud
1998
as Judith Moore
Judith Moore is suddenly single after discovering her husband of fifteen years, a successful doctor, has been having an affair with a younger woman. J...

A Life Less Ordinary
1997
as O'Reilly
A couple of angels, O'Reilly and Jackson, are sent to Earth to make sure that their next supervised love-connection succeeds. They follow Celine, a sp...

Crash
1996
as Helen Remington
After getting into a serious car accident, a TV director discovers an underground sub-culture of scarred, omnisexual car-crash victims, and he begins ...

Home for the Holidays
1995
as Claudia Larson
After losing her job, making out with her soon-to-be former boss, and finding out that her daughter plans to spend Thanksgiving with her boyfriend, Cl...

Copycat
1995
as M.J. Monahan
An agoraphobic psychologist and a female detective must work together to take down a serial killer who copies serial killers from the past.

The Firm
1993
as Tammy Hemphill
Mitch McDeere is a young man with a promising future in Law. About to sit his Bar exam, he is approached by 'The Firm' and made an offer he doesn't re...

The Piano
1993
as Ada McGrath
When an arranged marriage brings Ada and her spirited daughter to the wilderness of nineteenth-century New Zealand, she finds herself locked in a batt...

The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom
1993
as Wanda Holloway
A Texas housewife plots hire a hit man to kill the girl who beat out her daughter for a place on the cheerleading squad.

Inside 'The Piano'
1993
as Self
This 1993 program about the making of 'The Piano' features interviews with director Jane Campion; actors Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, and Sam Neill; a...

Crazy in Love
1992
as Georgie Symonds
Three generations of women live on a small island off the coast of Washington state with their men with whom they have no end of problems.

Once Around
1991
as Renata Bella
Renata Bella feels like a failure at life and career. But when Renata attends a seminar on selling real estate, she finally finds True Love. Sam Sharp...

Always
1989
as Dorinda Durston
The spirit of a recently deceased expert pilot mentors a newer pilot while watching him fall in love with the girlfriend that he left behind.

Animal Behavior
1989
as Coral Grable
Biologist Alex Brisco develops a new method to communicate with chimpanzees. Instead of using machines, she teaches the chimps simple sign language. H...

Rabbit Ears - The Three Billy Goats Gruff/The Three Little Pigs
1989
as Narrator (voice)
The Three Billy Goats Gruff: When a troll threatens to eat up the billy goats who want to eat the grass on the other side of the bridge, the biggest b...

Roe vs. Wade
1989
as Ellen Russell / Jane Doe
Holly Hunter plays a lonely, single, poorly educated Texan who finds herself pregnant with no means to support a child. To avoid giving up the child, ...

Miss Firecracker
1989
as Carnelle Scott
Carnelle Scott is a restless Mississippi girl looking for a life change. She decides to enter a beauty pageant, which her cousin had won years before....

Broadcast News
1987
as Jane Craig
Basket-case network news producer Jane Craig falls for new reporter Tom Grunnick, a pretty boy who represents the trend towards entertainment news she...

End of the Line
1987
as Charlotte
When the closure of a railway is announced, employees commandeer a locomotive to get to corporate headquarters and confront the president.

A Gathering of Old Men
1987
as Candy Marshall
A regular day in a Louisiana sugarcane plantation changes course when a local white farmer is shot in self defense. A group of old, black men takes a ...

Raising Arizona
1987
as Ed
When a childless couple--an ex-con and an ex-cop--decide to help themselves to one of another family's quintuplets, their lives become more complicate...

With Intent to Kill
1984
as Wynn Nolen
A high school football hero Bo Reinecker tries to piece together the events leading up to murder of his girl friend Lisa Nolen. Claiming to have exper...

Swing Shift
1984
as Jeannie Sherman
In 1941 America, Kay and her husband are happy enough until he enlists after Pearl Harbor. Against his wishes, she takes a job at the local aircraft p...

Blood Simple
1984
as Helene Trend (voice) (uncredited)
The owner of a seedy small-town Texas bar discovers that one of his employees is having an affair with his wife. A chaotic chain of misunderstandings,...
An Uncommon Love
1983
as Karen
Recently divorced college professor, Kinser, becomes attracted to comely student Cynthia who's studying marine biology, only to learn that she is not ...

Svengali
1983
as Leslie
An old singer coaches a young woman whom he believes will be the next singing sensation. As she starts off with her career, their bond gets stronger. ...

The Burning
1981
as Sophie
A caretaker at a summer camp is burned when a prank goes tragically wrong. After several years of intensive treatment at hospital, he is released back...

Hurricanna
N/A
In an attempt to save Anna Nicole Smith's life, her devoted therapist, Khristine embarks on a 36-hour odyssey in which she unknowingly delivers the fa...

The Making of Thirteen
N/A
as Self