Hunt has had a successful career on television and in voice-over work, notably being the narrator for the Ancient Greek mythology themed God of War video game series. From 1997 to 2002, she played the recurring role of Judge Zoey Hiller on The Practice and played Commander Chennault on the sci-fi series Space Rangers. From 2009 to 2023, she portrayed Henrietta "Hetty" Lange on the CBS television series NCIS: Los Angeles, a role for which she has received two Teen Choice Awards.
Hunt was a well-known live-stage actress before she entered film and television.[citation needed] She made her Broadway debut in the 1975 revival of Ah, Wilderness.[7] She was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her work in the 1984 play End of the World.[8] She also received two ensemble Obie Awards for her work Off-Broadway in Top Girls and A Metamorphosis in Miniature.[9][better source needed]
In an interview with writer Craig Gholson and actor Vincent Caristi, Hunt said: "Acting onstage is like an explosion each night. And what comes in at you all the time as you are trying to . . . create something which is a tremendous act of organization and concentration."[11]
Two years later, Hunt co-starred as Billy Kwan in The Year of Living Dangerously, Peter Weir's film adaptation of the novel of the same name. For her work in this film, Hunt won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1983, becoming the first person to win an Oscar for playing a character of the opposite sex.[16][17][18] In her screen test, Hunt wore a hairpiece, a fake moustache, and "paste-on pieces above her eyes to [appear] Asian."[19] To play the role, Hunt had her hair dyed and cut short, had her eyebrows shaved, wore padding and makeup, and wore something in her shirt pocket.[19][20] In her 1986 interview with the Bomb magazine, Hunt remarked that Billy Kwan "is supra-personal [with] layers of sexual ambiguity[.]"[11]
From 2009 to 2023, Hunt co-starred as Operations Manager Henrietta "Hetty" Lange on the CBS television series NCIS: Los Angeles. Her co-stars on the series included Chris O'Donnell, LL Cool J, Daniela Ruah, Eric Christian Olsen, Miguel Ferrer and Barrett Foa.[27][28][29] Hunt was a main cast member on the series for twelve seasons, but was downgraded to a special guest star position in season thirteen as a safety precaution due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She was supposed to return in the series finale, but was unable to due to availability issues. As a result, her return was condensed to a voiceover. Hunt won two Teen Choice Awards for her work on NCIS: Los Angeles.[30]
Hunt narrated the National Geographic documentary The Great Indian Railway (1995).[33][34] In 1998, she narrated the Discovery Channel documentary "Titanic: Untold Stories." Hunt's voice work also includes the character of Management in Carnivàle (2003, 2005)[17][35] and the narrator for God of War video game series.[36] She narrated a PBS Nature special entitled Christmas in Yellowstone (2006).[37][38]
Personal life
Hunt has been in a relationship with psychotherapist Karen Kline[39] since 1978. The two were married in 2008.[40][41]
As a teenager, Hunt was diagnosed as having hypopituitary dwarfism. Hunt stands 4 feet 9 inches (145 cm) tall.[42]
In July 2018, People magazine reported that she was involved in a multicar accident in Los Angeles. The accident resulted in Hunt taking most of a year off from NCIS: Los Angeles.[44]
