Bonnie Hunt Best Actress

Alice Hunt always told her sixth child, Bonnie that she was a Bob & Alice production. The incredibly talented actress took that to heart and years later named her television company Bob and Alice Productions.

Because family means so much to Bonnie Hunt, she postponed her acting career to earn a nursing degree at the request of her father. While nursing at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, she took roles in local plays and performed with small improve groups. Her natural gift for comedy was soon recognized and Ms. Hunt was invited to join Chicago’s world-renowned Second City Improvisational Theater.

Bonnie Hunt began her motion picture career in 1988 when she played the waitress in Rainman with Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise. Her future in comedy was secured when America fell in love with Bonnie as the mom in a shaggy dog story called Beethoven in 1992; her reputation as a thief made the following year when she stole the scene as the White House tour guide in Dave with that now famous line . . . “We’re walking. We’re walking...we’re stopping.”

In 1995, Bonnie Hunt played Sarah Whittle in Jumangi for which she received Saturn’s Best Actress Award. Bonnie was brilliant in Jerry McGuire when she lead the divorced women in the support group scenes.

Bonnie’s voice is heard in It’s a Bug’s Life and Monster Inc.

Fans of the gifted comedian were awed by Bonnie Hunt’s poinant dramatic performance opposite Tom Hanks in The Green Mile. Playing husband and wife, these two had amazing chemistry on the screen and became close friends off camera as well. Ms Hunt was nominated by the Screen Actors Guild for their 2000 Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Theatrical Motion Picture for The Green Mile.

In 2000, Bonnie Hunt directed and starred in Return to Me. She and long time co-writing partner, Don Lake wrote the screenplay and it was incredible. When Return to Me was honored by the Catholics in the Media Association, Bonnie told the group that her faith and soul were the most important things in her life. If there was an award for All Time Greatest Chick Flick, Return to Me would have been the hands down winner. This touching and funny film about true love that transcends time and space is unforgettable. Most recently Ms. Hunt has been in Chicago working on a spiritual coming-of-age film called Stolen Summer.

In 1996, the Viewers for Quality Television presented its Founder’s Award to The Bonnie Hunt Show. Bonnie Hunt received the Petcabus Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series 1995-1996. For the year 2000, Chicago Film Critics gave Bonnie Hunt their Commitment to Chicago Award.

Bonnie currently writes, produces, directs and stars in the ABC sitcom Life with Bonnie that is also nominated for a CFT Excellence Award this year.

Bonnie is happily married to an investment banker. She is very active in charity work, supporting shelters for the homeless and for battered women, as well as cancer research and Gilda's Club, a support group for people with cancer.