Bonnie Hunt

Shortly after moving to L.A., Bonnie Hunt landed the lead on the sitcom Grand in 1990. Though short-lived, the show led to more TV work, including a guest spot on Late Night with David Letterman. She and Letterman quickly became friends, and a year later he helped her write and star in her own series, The Building. Hunt has also been featured in films such as Jerry Maguire and Jumanji.

Actor, director, writer, comedian, producer. Born September 22, 1964 in Chicago, Illinois. The daughter of an electrician and a homemaker, Bonnie was one of seven children growing up in the Hunt household. She attended Notre Dame High School for Girls in Chicago and went on to earn a degree in nursing.

After graduation, she worked at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where her day-to-day interaction with cancer patients inspired her to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming an actress. She studied improve at Chicago's prestigious Second City Improvisational Theater and formed a three-woman comedy troupe with Holly Wortell and Joan Cusack called An Impulsive Thing. She later turned down three offers to join the cast of Saturday Night Live in order to get her own show on the air.

Shortly after moving to Los Angeles, she landed the starring role of Carol Anne Smithson on the NBC sitcom Grand in 1990. Though short-lived, the show led to more television appearances, including a guest spot on Late Night With David Letterman in 1992. She and the amiable host quickly became friends, and a year later he helped her write and star in her own series for CBS, The Building. Hunt was the first woman in the history of television to do so. Other attempts to make her sitcom dream a reality were Davis Rules in 1991 and The Bonnie Hunt Show in 1995. Her latest effort is ABC's semi-improvisational family series Life with Bonnie, which debuted in 2002.

Hunt married investment banker John Murphy in 1988.