Linda Hunt of 'NCIS: Los Angeles'

NCIS: Los Angeles
Henrietta ”Hetty” Lange
2009-present
Creator Shane Brennan told Hunt she got the job because he was a fan of her work in Living Dangerously.
For me, Hetty is like I grew up and finally got to be an adult. I get to be this kind of eccentric lady who’s lived a fantastic, slightly crazy life. Hetty seems to be really popular with the young people. I think that anybody who is an underdog, who kicks ass and tells the truth, is a tremendous attraction to the kids.

God of War Franchise
Narrator 2005-present
Hunt’s voice-over résumé is vast (Disney’s Pocahontas, PBS’ The American Experience), with this immensely popular videogame as a crown jewel.
Every once in a while, a kid will say, ”You’re that lady who is in my game — the war game.” The picture of my character is quite fearsome-looking. She’s a big woman, and she’s morphed at this point into several different creatures over the series of the three games. And there’s going to be a fourth!

The Practice
Judge Zoey Hiller 1997-2002
The trend of character actors recurring as judges on courtroom dramas began, in part, with Hunt on this ABC series.
That was [the show’s] way of not paying actors more. They thought, ”We’ll have a stable of interesting actors as judges, but none of them will be regulars. We won’t make a big thing out of any of them, but we’ll keep them available to us.” But I had a good run!

Kindergarten Cop
Miss Schlowski 1990
Costar Arnold Schwarzenegger made Hunt uneasy.
I was so uptight that first day of work. I was playing the principal of the elementary school, and I was going to hire Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character. I don’t think of him as an actor. I was so startled by him. I mean, he’s so big! I kept getting more and more uptight.

Dune
Shadout Mapes 1984
Hunt doesn’t recall her work on this sci-fi flick very fondly — but it had nothing to do with the material.
I just remember being sick as a dog in Mexico City. That’s where they shot the part that I was in. The air was just awful. I’m a big reader, but I never read sci-fi. It was a weird film, but that’s exactly what [director] David Lynch wanted it to be.

The Year of Living Dangerously
Billy Kwan 1982
She made her movie debut in Robert Altman’s 1980 live-action version of Popeye, and in her second film role, Hunt became the first (and only) actor to win an Oscar for playing a character of the opposite sex.
I arrived at LAX early to meet my parents, who were going to the Oscars with me. I bought a newspaper, went to the bathroom, and started to read this piece about how I was going to win. I just thought, ”This is extraordinary.” I was 39, and my parents had always worried for me. My father died the following spring. I think he died definitely not worried about me anymore.