She had all prepared since the very beginning. Having a father who was a reputable acting coach, a mother who was a photographer, plus a passion to become an actress, the good-looking and sensational Helen Hunt had always known that she would be an actress someday. Her father Gordon Hunt gave personal acting lessons when she was only eight. An opportunity came in a snap. She was to play Sarah Sargeant, a daughter in a family who had to survive the well being without the help from the breadwinner, in the TV movie titled �Pioneer Woman� (1973).

As a young actress, she continued playing the role of daughters in �Amy Prentiss� (1974) and �The Swiss Family Robinson� (1975). Her cast as the girlfriend of Dr. Jack 'Boomer' Morrison in �St Elsewhere� (1982) marked the beginning of her adult roles. After numerous appearances on TV, the actress who was born on June 15, 1963 finally ventured to wide screen as seen in �Girls Just Want to Have Fun� (1985). In this movie, she became a 'new in town' who met someone that shared the same passion for dancing, played by Sarah Jessica Parker. The blond actress then appeared in the same set with Nicolas Cage in her next movie �Peggy Sue Got Married� (1986) and later on in a thriller movie �Kiss of Death� (1995).

Earning a role in �The Waterdance� (1992) should have been a bless for her. The film served as a catalyst for her acting career. She showed excellent characterization as the depressed lover of an author who got injured and paralyzed after going hiking. However, her acting had never been better than her performance in �Mad About You� (1992). Acknowledged as the most popular TV show in its time, �Mad About You� granted Helen Hunt abundant awards including Emmy Award consecutively for four years since 1996 to 1999 under the category Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series and three Golden Globe Awards in 1994, 1995, and 1997. Hunt involved herself deeply in this production. She was the all-time actress, the writer for episode �The Final Frontier�, the producer since the pilot and the director for five episodes between the year 1998 to 1999.

Hunt brought a strong and intelligent character to her next big screen movie about natural disaster �Twister� (1996) tells the story of two rival group of scientists, Dr. Jo Harding and Dr. Jonas Miller, who have been waiting to earn their place in meteorogical history. Each team wants to be the first to launch their equipments. Thanks to her outstanding performance in �The Waterdance� that she gloriously secured the role of Dr. Jo Harding. After that, she added Oscar to her collection through �As Good as It Gets� (1997). Together with Jack Nicholson, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Greg Kinnear, Hunt brought triumph to this movie. The character Carol Connelly was splendidly presented by Hunt, and her first Oscar did play a trick on her career. She said �On a professional level, an Oscar means that your salary suddenly increases by a few million and you get offered a lot more movies which in the past you had to beg to have a chance to read for.�

While nurturing her film resume and bank account, Hunt also taking her relationship with boyfriend Hank Azaria a step forward. On July 17, 1999 the couple got married, but a year later they abducted the marriage vows. She moved to New York to do Shakespeare's �Twelfth Night� as Viola at the Lincoln Centre, New York City. At the same time, she began dating producer, writer and also director Matthew Carnahan. Although the pair is not married, they have a daughter uniquely named Makena' Lei Gordon Carnahan, born on May 13, 2004. The name was inspired by a friend's dream, which means 'many flowers of heaven', and the middle name is an honor to Hunt's father, Gordon Hunt.

Still busy with her job, the year 2000 was probably the most notorious year for Hunt. She scored combos in blockbusters �Dr T and the Women� opposite Richard Gere, �Cast Away� with Tom Hanks, �Pay It Forward� with Kevin Spacey and �What Women Want� with Mel Gibson. She afterwards attained a not-huge character as Betty Ann Fitzgerald in �The Curse of the Jade Scorpion� (2001) which was written and directed by the well known Woody Allen. One more big project entitled �Bobby� (2006) came along. Tells the assassination of U.S. senator Robert F. Kennedy, the flick reunites Hunt with other notable actors and actresses, such as Anthony Hopkins, Sharon Stone, Laurence Fishburne and Lindsay Lohan. For a new job, Hunt decided to write and direct her own movie �Then She Found Me� (2006) where she recruited Diane Keaton alongside her own role.