Helen Hunt Net Worth and Salary: Helen Hunt is an American actress, film director, and screenwriter who has a net worth of $75 million. She is known for starring in the 90s sitcom Mad About You. At the height of “Mad About You,” Helen earned $1 million per episode. That temporarily made her the highest-paid television actress in the world and still remains one of the highest per-episode fees ever paid to an actor.
The first years of life: Helen Hunt was born on June 15, 1963 in Culver City, California to a family in the entertainment industry. Her mother Jane was a photographer and her father Gordon Hunt worked as a film, voice and stage director as well as an acting coach. The family moved to New York City when Helen was three years old. Hunt attended plays several times a week, thanks to her father’s job as a theater director in the city.
Early career: Hunt realized she wanted to be an actress by the age of nine, and landed her first agent in that lifetime and a role in the 1973 TV movie The Pawn Girl. She also made other appearances throughout the 1970s on classic television series, including “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “The Bionic Woman,” as well as a regular role on “The Swiss Family Robinson.” In the mid-to-late 1980s, Hunt appeared frequently in studio films aimed at teenage audiences, including major roles in 1984’s “Trancers” and opposite Sarah Jessica Parker in “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” (1985). In 1986, she was cast as the daughter of a couple on the verge of divorce in Francis Ford Coppola’s Peggy Sue Got Married.
Success:The 1990s saw Hunt trade her smaller roles for bigger hits. She came to the limelight in the US when she starred in the hugely popular sitcom ‘Mad About You’ from 1992-1999. She played the role of Jamie Buchman, a public relations specialist in New York, opposite Paul Reiser, who played the role of the newly married couple’s other mother. Hunt made a name for herself with her charming and witty portrayal of Jamie. Hunt also directed several episodes of the series, including the series finale. The show was a ratings and awards darling season, leading to critical acclaim and high praise for the two stars. At the height of “Mad’s” success, Helen earned $1 million per episode, roughly $20 million per season. This temporarily made her the highest paid television actress in the world. She is the first television actress to earn $1 million per episode. She set this record four years before the “Friends” actresses also reached that mark.
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She made her comeback to the big screen in 1996 when she starred in the box office hit “Twister” opposite Bill Paxton, in which she played a storm chaser in the Midwest. “Twister” was the second highest-grossing film of that year. One later, he won critical acclaim and an Oscar for his role opposite Jack Nicholson in the romantic comedy As Good as it Gets. She played a single mother and waitress who falls for a misanthropic romance writer (Nicholson). The film received positive reviews for its casting choices and Nicholson and Hunt’s amazing on-screen chemistry.
Hunt released four films in 2000, including the comedy Dr. T & The Women”, starring Richard Gere. She landed the female lead in “What Women Want” with Mel Gibson and starred in “Cast Away” with Tom Hanks. These were remarkable box office successes and continued to catapult Hunt’s career and fame forward. Then She Found Me (2007) was Hunt’s first feature directorial debut, and she also starred in the film. The film was panned by critics and audiences alike.
2012 saw Hunt in one of her more serious roles, playing sex surrogate Cheryl Cohen-Greene in “The Sessions” alongside William H. Macy and Hawkes. This vulnerable role was critically acclaimed and earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. In 2014, Helen wrote, directed and starred in the drama Ride. She went on to do more directing work on various sitcoms and series (including directing “This Is Us”) and returned to the big screen with the 2017 Louis CK comedy “I Love You, Daddy.” However, the film never made it to theatrical release due to the sexual misconduct allegation against CK. She went on to star in the horror film I See You in 2019, and later that year appeared as journalist Nancy Campbell in the BBC series World on Fire. .
Prizes: Hunt won Emmy Awards for her role on “Mad About You” in 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999. She was nominated seven years in a row and won the last four. In 1998, Hunt won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Carol Connelly in As Good as It Gets. She has been nominated for 31 awards over the years and won 15.
Personal life: Hunt began dating fellow actor Hank Azaria, who also had a role on Mad About You, in 1994. The two married in July 1999, but separated in August 2000. Their divorce was finalized on December 18, 2000. Hunt and producer Matthew Carnahan were together for 16 years before splitting in 2017. The two have a daughter, Makena Lei, born in May 2004.
