Helen Hunt Gets Personal During Women’s Conference

Sep 17, 2013 No Comments by

FRESNO – Emmy and Oscar Award winning actress Helen Hunt, this year’s luncheon keynote speaker for the Central California Women’s Conference, gave many of the conference attendees a chance to find out about her life in front of and behind the cameras.

Hunt took questions during a VIP event this morning inside the Diamond Room in the New Exhibit Hall of the Fresno Convention Center from a portion of the sell-out crowd of 3,536 attendees, the biggest in the conference’s 26 years.

“To me, gathering with women is a nurturing thing,” Hunt said.

Hunt got her first job in acting playing Sarah Sargeant in the TV show “Pioneer Woman” in 1973.  Since then, she has had success in other TV programs, including “Mad About You,” playing Jamie Buchman.  During the show’s run, she picked up four Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.  She was awarded an Oscar for best actress for her work in the 1997 film “As Good as it Gets.”  Hunt also received an Oscar nomination for best actress in 2013 for “The Sessions.”

Hunt is currently working on the movie “Ride,” a film she is writing, directing and starring in.  She lets on that there will be some “mothering” involved in the movie.

“There are things out there bigger than us,” Hunt has realized.

Hunt currently lives in Los Angeles with partner Matthew Carnahan, daughter Makena Lei and stepson Emmett.  Hunt says Makena Lei, who is 9 years old, doesn’t yet know what she wants to do in life, and Hunt says she prefers it that way.  Reading and writing are among her favorite activities when she feels stressed.

More than 30 other speakers are presenting on topics pertaining to women during today’s conference.  Through the years, the conference has given $550,000 to local women’s and children’s groups, and generates more than $500,000 for the economy each year.

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About the author

James Olinger is a native of the San Joaquin Valley. He graduated from West Hills College in Coalinga, California in 2000 with an associate's degree in liberal arts. He joined Business Street in 2004 as a staff writer, and became the associate editor in 2007. He maintains that position today, writing for Business Street Online in a variety of topics.
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