March 20 - Holly Hunter

Image courtesy fandango.com

On this day, in 1958, Holly Hunter was born in Conyers, Georgia. Holly moved north when it came time for college, earning a degree from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She hung around the three rivers area for a few years after graduation, performing at City Theater on Pittsburgh's southside. Eventually she moved to New York City where she roomed with another young actress named Frances McDormand. In 1982, she was briefly stuck in an elevator and that random event changed the course of her career. The only other person stuck with her just happened to be a playwright, Beth Henley, who just happened to have a show playing on Broadway, Crimes of the Heart, that just happened to need a replacement actress.

Holly followed up Crimes with Beth's off-Broadway show The Miss Firecracker Contest. The two together gave her the means to move to Los Angeles, California to take on Hollywood. She got a few bites in made-for-television movies before landing her first significant role in 1984's Swing Shift, starring Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell. That same year she had her first collaboration with the Coen Brothers, albeit an uncredited one as the voice on an answering machine. Holly's breakout happened three years later when she reteamed with the Coens for Raising Arizona (which included her old roommate, Frances, another Coen favorite) and was nominated for an Oscar for Broadcast News.

Image copyright Miramax

Holly followed up 1987 with the screen adaptation of Miss Firecracker, a Steven Spielberg movie (Always) and, on television, Roe v. Wade (which earned her an Emmy Award). In 1992, Oscar smiled on her twice more, first with a nomination for Best Supporting Actress for The Firm and then with a gold statue for Best Actress in The Piano. Holly continued to divide her time between the big and small screens. She earned another Emmy in 1993 for her part in The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom. She's been in dramas like Levity and comedies like Little Black Book. She earned another Oscar nomination in 2003 for the film Thirteen. Starting in 2007, Holly executive produced and starred in her own drama, Saving Grace, on the TNT network. Grace ran for three seasons and earned its star two SAG Award nominations, a Golden Globe Nomination and another Emmy nomination.

Image copyright Disney

Holly first joined the Disney family with her third collaboration with the Coen Brothers, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, which was a Touchstone Pictures production. She also appeared in Touchstone's 2002 drama Moonlight Mile. Her biggest contribution to Disneyana though came in 2004, when she gave voice to Helen Parr (also known as Elastigirl) in Pixar's smash hit The Incredibles. She reprised the role in the sequel (14 years later) in The Incredibles 2 as well as several video games that have featured Elastigirl.

In recent years, Holly has continued to spend time on screens both large and little. She earned a whole slew of award nominations (and two wins) for her supporting role in The Big Sick. She also was nominated for a SAG Award and won an Equity Award for her work in the Sundance network miniseries Top of the Lake. In 2016, for all her accomplishments in the theatrical world, Holly was presented with an honorary doctorate from her alma mater, Carnegie Melon University. No word on what Dr. Holly's next project might be, but the chances that it will make a splash come award season are pretty high.