I lived in an apartment near Wrigley Field.
— Bonnie Hunt
Barry Levinson saw me on a tape and put me in 'Rain Man' as the waitress who dropped the toothpicks. The scene was talked about a lot. Then, all of a sudden, I started to get more auditions.
I love talking to people and finding out their opinion.
I loved when my folks would watch 'The Dean Martin Show.'
When you're the mom in a big family comedy, you have to get your personality when you can.
I don't have the fear I won't be able to think of something else to write. It's what I do.
My dad was a man of great wisdom in his short time here.
Not only do people stop me on the street to say, 'We're walking, we're walking', but I have actually been in restaurants where the hostess was saying it to customers.
There were seven kids in our family. My mom had seven kids in 10 years. So you had to learn how to talk and think fast if you wanted to be heard.
I worked at a nursing home though high school... There's a lost appreciation for a generation that has so much to tell us when we're so full of self-help books and doctors on TV.
You gain a certain maturity from being a nurse in a cancer ward.
I only have one job, and that's being a storyteller.
I don't think of myself as a comedian.
I thought of Second City as just the greatest therapeutic job anybody could ever dream of having.
Everywhere I go, people think I'm Helen Hunt.
Carl Reiner is perfection.
Chicago has definitely played a part in my character development. I love the essence of the city, the personalities of the people, the hard-working spirit that you need to get through the winters. And every neighborhood has its great restaurants and the local hot-dog stand.
I really appreciate the everyday stuff as far as material.
What kind of woman irons her husband's sheets? Even the clothes I wear, I just throw 'em in the dryer with some golf balls.
To have children on the set, you realize that if a 10-year-old can do it, who are you kidding? It humbles you.
I think you have to see the high highs and the low lows to get to the core of what makes us tick as people.
If an executive producer has written a certain line, and an actress says it, and it's not very funny, you don't dare go to them and say, 'I don't like this,' because it will make your life miserable.
My only power is my ability to do something with passion and do it well. It's also something someone cannot take way from me, so it's very valuable.
I'm a blue-collar Chicago girl raised on wonderful movies my mom took us to, ones that had a lot of heart.
There's nothing funnier than religion. Try explaining it to a kid. I had it all wrong when I was a kid.
When the Pixar people call, you jump at the opportunity.
I have a great affinity for senior citizens.
I keep saying I won't go back to television, but I do.
I am on the phone with my sisters every day.
I'm trying to be truthful.
When a fan holds out Helen's picture for me to autograph, I usually sign it Linda Hunt - just to make their heads really crazy.
I love writing.
I like regular meals and restaurants that will adapt things to your taste. Not a place where they roll their eyes if you want the sauce on the side.
The thing about Pixar, they don't do the 'trend is your friend.' They're really about timeless story telling, and that's pretty great.
I think what happens is that some writers, who are so great in television or whatever, once they become successful, they get out of the loop of real life. It's real hard to draw on something to write.
If you can maintain your standards and your integrity and you fail, it's OK. It's when you sell out and you fail that you feel pretty sick inside.
Because I've been so blessed with a background in nursing and spent so much time with patients at a really intimate, vulnerable time in their lives, the one lesson I've learned is that you never turn down a challenge where you can keep your creative integrity and your heart and soul and your sense of self.
Over the years, if you look at the films of people like Billy Wilder, Preston Sturges, Frank Capra, their supporting characters, even if it's a doorman with two lines, always seem three-dimensional. To me, that's a sign of good storytelling.
I don't have the fear of my looks changing.
I was very down as a teenager, very upset because I had gotten hurt in a car accident. But my dad was a source of strength. He used to say, 'It's the character with strength that God gives the most challenges to.' I've thought about that so many times in my life when things didn't go right.
When you're an actress, you are a part of the storytelling process. You have to do the same thing when you direct.
I'm from an Irish Catholic family.
I would hope to have some of the same audience that Oprah has earned. And I would love to earn that, as well.
It's not that I don't take TV seriously. I take it very seriously. But I've got my priorities straight. Call it my extra gift. Without it, I would be devastated every day in Hollywood.
I was so angry at God for taking my father from me that I marched up to my mother before the funeral and told her I was going to quit nursing school. I just wanted to stop living.
Everyone hopes to get a fall slot, but I'm just happy to get on the air.
If you're authentic, people smile because they sense there's a piece of themselves there.
My mother gets told, 'Oh, you're so lucky that your daughters are doing so well.' She never corrects anybody when they assume Helen is her daughter.
I am a storyteller, and I take great pride in the storytelling and a great joy.
Restaurants in Chicago are seldom disappointing.
