Helen Hunt is an American actress and producer born on June 15, 1963 in Culver City, California. She is the daughter of Gordon Hunt, a director and acting coach. She is of Jewish and Methodist background. As a child, Helen Hunt spent time acting in bit roles on television, and parted her time between New York and California. Later on she attended the University of California at Los Angeles.

She began her acting career in 1973 as a child actress who appeared in the hit TV series, “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” She was then cast in an episode of “The Bionic Woman,” and bagged a role in the long running series “The Swiss Family Robinson.” Helen Hun also portrayed a role in “The Facts of Life,” the after school special “Desperate Lives,” and “St. Elsewhere.”

Helen Hunt gained more fame in the 1990, when she was cast in the series “My Life and Times.” But it was her role in the TV sitcom “Mad About You” which made her a bankable actress, by having won an Emmy Award for four consecutive years during her stay on the show. She also won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her character in the movie “As Good As It Gets.”

On stage, Helen Hunt starred in “Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night,” as well as the Broadway production of “Life x 3.”
Her other movie credits include “Dr. T & the Women,” “What Women Want,” and “Pay It Forward.”

Helen Hunt is also a director, having directed episodes for “Mad About You,” and the film “Then She Found Me.” Together with Connie Tavel, she owns the production company Hunt/Tavel Productions.

Helen Hunt was once married to actor Hank Azaria in 1999. She also dated actor Kevin Spacey. She now is in a relationship with Matthew Carnahan. Together they have a daughter, Makena Lei Gordon Carnahan.