Helen Hunt

Helen Elizabeth Hunt (born June 15, 1963) is an American actress, film director, and screenwriter. She starred in the sitcom Mad About You for seven years, and played single mother Carol Connelly in the 1997 romantic comedy film As Good as It Gets, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. Some of her other notable films include Twister, Cast Away, What Women Want, Pay It Forward, and The Sessions, the later for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She made her directorial debut in 2007 with Then She Found Me. In addition to her Oscar, Hunt has won four Emmy awards, four Golden Globe awards, and two Screen Actors Guild awards.

Early life

Hunt was born in Culver City, California. Her mother, Jane Elizabeth (née Novis), worked as a photographer, and her father, Gordon Hunt, is a film, voice and stage director and acting coach. Her uncle, Peter H. Hunt, is also a director. Her maternal grandmother, Dorothy (Anderson) Fries, was a voice coach. Hunt's paternal grandmother was from a German Jewish family, while Hunt's other grandparents were of English descent (her maternal grandfather was born in England), with a Methodist religious background. When she was three, Hunt's family moved to New York City, where her father directed theater and Hunt attended plays as a child several times a week. Hunt studied ballet, and briefly attended UCLA.

Helen Hunt (hair stylist)

Helen Hunt was a hair stylist in Hollywood movies from the 1930s up to 1967, when she worked on Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. She was the chief hair stylist for Columbia Pictures.

Hunt fell into her career by accident. She was working as a stenographer for a costume company in Omaha, Nebraska. She began washing and arranging the company's wigs on her own time because they were being neglected. When she went into a shop to look over a display of wigs, she was offered a job by the owner, George Westmore of Hollywood. This eventually led to a position with Columbia Pictures. According to IMDb, the first film with which she was involved (uncredited) was the 1935 Party Wire, starring Jean Arthur.

She worked with Rita Hayworth before the latter became a star. According to some sources, it was Hunt who came up with the idea to dye Hayworth's black hair auburn. She also arranged for the painful, lengthy electrolysis that raised Hayworth's hairline. For the 1946 film noir Gilda, Hunt stated, "I got fan mail - and hate mail - about Rita's hair! Some clergymen declared that I would go to hell for contributing to evil because of Rita's hair in Gilda!" When Orson Welles insisted on shortening the actress's long hair (and dyeing it blonde) for The Lady from Shanghai (1947), Hunt was flown in from New York, where she was on her honeymoon, to do the cutting.

Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live (abbreviated as SNL) is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title NBC's Saturday Night. The show's comedy sketches, which parody contemporary culture and politics, are performed by a large and varying cast of repertory and newer cast members. Each episode is hosted by a celebrity guest (who usually delivers an opening monologue and performs in sketches with the cast) and features performances by a musical guest. An episode normally begins with a cold open sketch that ends with someone breaking character and proclaiming, "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!", properly beginning the show.

In 1980, Michaels left the series to explore other opportunities. He was replaced by Jean Doumanian, who was replaced by Ebersol after a season of bad reviews. Ebersol ran the show until 1985, when Michaels returned; Michaels has remained since then. Many of SNL's cast found national stardom while appearing on the show, and achieved success in film and television, both in front of and behind the camera. Others associated with the show, such as writers, have gone on to successful careers creating, writing, or starring in TV and film.

Saturday Night Live (season 31)

The thirty-first season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between October 1, 2005, and May 20, 2006. 19 episodes were produced (rather than the usual 20) due to the 2006 Winter Olympic Games.

History

This season is notable for the people who hosted the show. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, an SNL cast member from 1982 to 1985 under Dick Ebersol, became the first former female cast member to come back and host the show (and also the third cast member from Seinfeld to host). It is worth noting that Gilda Radner was originally supposed to host in 1988, but could not due to the Writer's Guild of America Strike and then Radner's death the following year. This season is also known for the return of such frequent hosts as Alec Baldwin (who last hosted in season 29 with musical guest Missy Elliott in 2003), Tom Hanks (who last hosted the first episode of season 22 with musical guest Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in 1996), and Steve Martin (who last hosted the first episode of season 20 with musical guest, Eric Clapton in 1994).

Saturday Night Live (season 38)

The thirty-eighth season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between September 15, 2012, and May 18, 2013.

Also airing this season were two election-themed episodes of Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday, which aired on September 20, 2012 and September 27, 2012. Two months before the season premiere, original writer and occasional featured player Tom Davis died after a two-year battle with throat and neck cancer.

Cast

Before the start of the season, many cast changes occurred. Kristen Wiig and Andy Samberg, both cast members since 2005, decided not to return following the end of the previous season. As well, before the start of the season, Abby Elliott, who had been a cast member since 2008, was let go after four seasons on the show.Vanessa Bayer, Taran Killam, and Jay Pharoah were upgraded to repertory status.

To fill the void, the show hired three new cast members: Chicago improvisers Aidy Bryant, Tim Robinson, and Cecily Strong as the replacements. According to the official press release, "Bryant trained at the iO Chicago, Annoyance Theatre and she was also part of the ensemble that performed on the Second City E.T.C Stage. Robinson also trained at the The Second City, he performed on their Mainstage and was also part of their National Touring Company. Like Robinson, Strong has also performed as part of the National Touring Company and trained at the iO Theater".