Helen Hunt been part of Hollywood since she was just a girl. Although the four-time Emmy Award winner has now proven she has perseverance in the entertainment industry, there was a time when Hunt had to let go of her past as a child actress to pursue her career. Luckily she did, otherwise we would have missed one of the best actresses of the 90s, 00s and beyond.

Helen Hunt’s Long Hollywood Journey

As a young girl in the 1970s, Helen Hunt could be seen regularly on television. She played Murray Slaughter’s daughter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and was a frequent familiar face on The Swiss Robinson familywhere she played a regular role.

As she grew older, the nature of her roles also began to change. She played a marijuana-smoking classmate on The facts of life and sadly appeared in the made-for-TV movie Desperate Lives, where she played a young woman who jumped out of a window after taking PCP. Hunt would later poke fun at this moment during an appearance on Saturday Night Live! years later.

Despite the silly moments she would laugh at later in her career, Hunt continued to keep her nose down and stayed on the job. Her dedication paid off in the early 90s when she was chosen to Crazy of you in front of Paul Reiser. Hunt starred on the popular sitcom from 1992 to 1999, winning multiple Emmys, though it was far from her only high-profile role during that time.

Hunt also starred in kiss of death alongside Nicolas Cage in 1994, and in Tornado opposite Bill Paxton two years later in 1996. The role that won Hunt the Best Actress Oscar was for 1997 As good as it getswho shared the bill with Jack Nicholson.

Hunt’s red carpet debut

Before all that success, however, Hunt was still just a young Hollywood hopeful, which is very apparent in this first red carpet photo of the actress. At the time this photo was taken, Crazy of you had already become a commercial success, which translated to many more opportunities opening up for Hunt to become the leading lady she is today.

Hunt looks so young in this photo, even though we know she has already achieved so much that others would only dream of. There is a spark in her that cannot be ignored. Fortunately, that spark was carefully nurtured and allowed to grow. Hollywood simply wouldn’t be the same without Helen Hunt.

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