Linda Hunt

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Linda Hunt (born April 2, 1945 in Morristown, New Jersey), is an Academy Award-winning American actress. Her movie debut occurred in 1980 in Robert Altman's musical comedy Popeye. She won the Oscar as Best Supporting Actress for her role as the male Chinese-Australian dwarf Billy Kwan in the film The Year of Living Dangerously in 1982. This made her the first actor to ever win an Oscar for playing a character of the opposite gender. Hilary Swank has since won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the film "Boys Don't Cry" where she starred as a transgendered boy named Brandon.

Linda Hunt is also a well known stage actress, who has received two Obie awards and a Tony nomination for her theatre work. She created the role of Aunt Dan in Wallace Shawn's play Aunt Dan and Lemon. Recently, she portrayed Sister Aloysius in the Pasadena Playhouse production of John Patrick Shanley's Tony Award-winning play "Doubt."

Beside her acting abilities, Linda Hunt is distinguished by her small stature (she is 4' 9" or 1.45 m), and her rich, resonant voice, which she has used effectively in numerous documentaries, cartoons, and commercials. Linda Hunt is the on-air host for City Arts & Lectures, a radio program recorded by KQED public radio. She was chosen by Walt Disney Feature Animation to lend her enigmatic speaking and singing voice to "Grandmother Willow" in Pocahontas. Her voice work also includes the character of "Management", on US TV series Carnivàle and the Narrator in the God of War video game.

[edit] Filmography

Nature, Christmas in Yellowstone (2006) - Narrator (voice)
Stranger Than Fiction (2006)
Auschwitz -- Inside the Nazi State (2005) - Narrator
Yours, Mine and Ours (2005) - Mrs. Munion
A Lot Like Love (2005) - Airline Attendant
Dragonfly (2002) - Sister Madeline
The Relic (1997) - Dr. Ann Cuthbert
Eat Your Heart Out (1997) - Kathryn
Pocahontas (1995) - Grandmother Willow (voice)
Prêt-à-Porter (1994) - Regina Krumm
Younger and Younger (1993) - Frances
Twenty Bucks (1993) - Angeline
Rain Without Thunder (1992) - Atwood Society Director
If Looks Could Kill - Teen Agent (1991) - Ilsa Grunt
Kindergarten Cop (1990) - Miss Schlowski
Carmilla (1990) - Narrator
She-Devil (1989) - Hooper
Waiting for the Moon (1987) - Alice B. Toklas
Eleni (1985) - Katina
Silverado (1985) - Stella
Dune (1984) - Shadout Mapes
The Bostonians (1984) - Dr. Prance
The Year of Living Dangerously (1982) - Billy Kwan – Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Popeye (1980) - Mrs. Oxheart

Preceded by: Jessica Lange for Tootsie	Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress 1983 for The Year of Living Dangerously	Succeeded by: Peggy Ashcroft for A Passage to India