Linda Hamilton

This article is about the actress. For the international association football player, see Linda Hamilton (soccer).
Linda Hamilton

Hamilton at the Big Apple Convention in Manhattan, October 17, 2009.
Born Linda Carroll Hamilton
(1956-09-26) September 26, 1956
Salisbury, Maryland, U.S.
Occupation Actress
Years active 1980–present
Spouse(s) Bruce Abbott (m. 1982–89)
James Cameron (m. 1997–99)
Children Dalton Abbott
Josephine Cameron

Linda Carroll Hamilton (born September 26, 1956) is an American actress best known for her portrayal of Sarah Connor in The Terminator film series and Catherine Chandler in the 1987–1990 television series Beauty and the Beast, for which she was nominated for two Golden Globes and an Emmy. She also starred as Vicky in the cult classic horror film Children of the Corn. Hamilton had a recurring role as Mary Elizabeth Bartowski on NBC's Chuck.

Early life

Hamilton was born in Salisbury, Maryland. Hamilton's father, Carroll Stanford Hamilton, a physician, died when she was five, and her mother later married a police chief.[1][2][3] Hamilton has an identical twin sister (Leslie Hamilton Gearren), one older sister and one younger brother. She has said that she was raised in a "very boring, white Anglo-Saxon" family, and “voraciously read books” during her spare time.[2] Hamilton went to Wicomico Junior High (now Wicomico Middle School) and Wicomico High School in Salisbury, with Leslie, her twin. She studied for two years at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, before moving on to acting studies in New York City. Hamilton has said that her acting professor at Washington College told her she had no hope of earning a living as an actress. In New York, she attended acting workshops given by Lee Strasberg.[4]

Career

Hamilton's acting debut came first on television, followed by a major role as Lisa Rogers in the prime-time soap opera Secrets of Midland Heights (December 1980/January 1981). Her big-screen debut was in the thriller TAG: The Assassination Game (1982) and as a result, she was listed as one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1982" in John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 34. She also shared a starring role in the CBS made-for-TV movie Country Gold, with Loni Anderson and Earl Holliman.

Hamilton played the lead role in Children of the Corn, based on the horror short story by Stephen King. The movie, which made $14 million at the box office,[5] was panned by critics.[6] Hamilton's next role was in The Terminator, opposite Michael Biehn, in 1984. The movie was an unexpectedly huge commercial and critical success.[7][8][9] Following The Terminator, Hamilton starred in Black Moon Rising, an action thriller with Tommy Lee Jones. She then returned to television as a guest-star in the mystery series Murder, She Wrote, scoring favorable reviews. Hamilton next starred opposite Ron Perlman in the TV series Beauty and the Beast. The series was critically acclaimed, and she received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. Hamilton left the series in 1989 and it ended in 1990.

Hamilton returned to the big screen in 1990 with Michael Caine in Mr. Destiny and in 1991 with Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the sequel to The Terminator. The latter was a smash at the box office, grossing over $500 million, more than any other film of that year. Hamilton underwent intense physical training to emphasize the character's transformation from the first film.[10] Her identical twin sister was Linda's double in Terminator 2. Hamilton received two MTV Movie Awards for her role in the film, one for Best Female Performance and the other for Most Desirable Female. She reprised the character, Sarah Connor, for the theme park attraction T2 3-D. In 1990, Hamilton was chosen by People Magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world. Following the success of the Terminator series, she hosted Saturday Night Live.

She returned to television in A Mother's Prayer (1995) playing a mother who lost her husband and is diagnosed with AIDS. For her performance in the film, which co-starred Kate Nelligan and Bruce Dern, Hamilton was awarded a CableACE Award for best dramatic performance and nominated for another Golden Globe in 1996. That same year, Hamilton filmed two motion pictures that were released one week apart in 1997: Shadow Conspiracy with Charlie Sheen and Dante's Peak with Pierce Brosnan. Shadow Conspiracy flopped at the box office, but Dante's Peak grossed $180 million and was one of the biggest commercial hits of the year. She received a Blockbuster Entertainment Award for female performance in Dante's Peak.

Hamilton has since appeared on the television shows Frasier (season 4 episode "Odd Man Out" as Laura) and According to Jim and has done more TV movies, including On the Line, Robots Rising, Rescuers: Stories of Courage: Two Couples, Point Last Seen, and The Color of Courage. Hamilton and her Beauty and the Beast costar Ron Perlman reunited in the 2005 post-Vietnam war drama Missing in America.

In 2009, she returned as Sarah Connor in Terminator Salvation, in voice-overs only. In 2010, she joined the cast of Chuck in the recurring guest role of Mary Elizabeth Bartowski, a CIA agent and long-missing mother of Chuck and Ellie.[11][12] She also appears as a guest star in the Showtime cable television show Weeds as the marijuana supplier for the show's main character (Mary-Louise Parker). In November 2011, she narrated the Chiller The Future of Fear horror documentary.[13][14]

More recently, Hamilton has had a prominent guest role on Lost Girl and a prominent recurring guest role on Defiance.

Personal life

Hamilton has been married and divorced twice.[15] Her first marriage, from 1982 to 89, was to Bruce Abbott, who left her when she was pregnant with their son Dalton.[16][17] In 1991, she moved in with film director James Cameron following his divorce from Kathryn Bigelow.[17] They had a daughter, Josephine, born on February 15, 1993.[16] She and Cameron married in 1997; but the marriage was short-lived, ending in a $50 million divorce settlement in 1999.[18]

Hamilton has described herself politically as a Democrat, but she voted for Republican candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger, her Terminator co-star, in the 2003 California gubernatorial election after his campaign convinced her he was suitable for the job.[19]

In an October 2005 appearance on Larry King Live, Hamilton told the audience that she has bipolar disorder, which she said destroyed her marriage to Abbott, whom she admitted having abused verbally and physically, and eventually sought treatment.[15]

While filming Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Hamilton suffered permanent hearing damage in one ear when she fired a gun inside an elevator without using her ear plugs.[20]

TV and filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1980 Shirley Gloria Episode: "Teddy Roosevelt Slept Here"
1980 Reunion Anne Samoorian Television movie
1980 Rape and Marriage: The Rideout Case Greta Rideout Television movie
1980–1981 Secrets of Midland Heights Lisa Rogers 10 episodes
1982 King's Crossing Lauren Hollister 10 episodes
1982 Tag: The Assassination Game Susan Swayze
1982 Country Gold Josie Greenwood Television movie; air date: November 23, 1982[21]
1984 Children of the Corn Vicky
1984 The Terminator Sarah Connor
1984 Hill Street Blues Sandy Valpariso 4 episodes
1984 The Stone Boy Eva Crescent Moon
1985 Secret Weapons Elena Koslov Television movie
1986 King Kong Lives Dr. Amy Franklin
1986 Black Moon Rising Nina
1986 Murder, She Wrote Carol McDermott Episode: "Menace, Anyone?"
1987–1989 Beauty and the Beast Catherine Chandler 46 episodes
1988 Go Toward the Light Claire Madison Television movie
1990 Mr. Destiny Ellen Jane
1991 Terminator 2: Judgment Day Sarah Connor
1991 Saturday Night Live Host Episode: "Linda Hamilton/Mariah Carey"
1994 Silent Fall Karen Rainer
1995 A Mother's Prayer Rosemary Holstrom
1995 Separate Lives Lauren Porter/Lena
1996 T2 3-D: Battle Across Time Sarah Connor Short film
1997 Dante's Peak Mayor Rachel Wando $180 million gross
1997 Shadow Conspiracy Amanda Givens
1997 Frasier Laura Episode: "Odd Man Out"
1998 On the Line Det. Jean Martin Television movie
1998 Rescuers: Stories of Courage: Two Couples Marie Taquet Television movie
1998 Point Last Seen Rachel Harrison Television movie
1998 The Color of Courage Anna Sipes Television movie
1998–1999 Hercules Nemesis Voice only in two episodes: "Hercules and the King for a Day" (1998) and "Hercules and the Romans" (1999)
1999 The Secret Life of Girls Ruby Sanford
2000 Skeletons in the Closet Tina Conway
2000 Sex & Mrs. X Joanna Scott Television movie
2000 Buzz Lightyear of Star Command Dr. Furbanna 3 episodes
2001 Bailey's Mistake Liz Donovan Television movie
2001 A Girl Thing Rachel Television movie
2002 Silent Night Elisabeth Vincken Television movie
2003 Wholey Moses Valerie Short film
2004 Jonah June Short film
2005 Smile Bridget
2005 According to Jim Melissa Evans Episode: "Lean on Me"
2005 Missing in America Kate
2005 The Kid & I Susan Mandeville
2006 Thief Roselyn Moore 2 episodes
2006 Home by Christmas Julie Bedford Television movie
2006 Broken Karen
2008–2009 The Line Carol 11 episodes
2009 Hard Times Cory
2009 Terminator Salvation Sarah Connor Voice only; uncredited
2010 Weeds Linda 3 episodes
2010 DC Showcase: Jonah Hex Madame Lorraine
2010–2012 Chuck Mary Elizabeth Bartowski 12 episodes
2013 Bad Behavior
2013 Lost Girl Acacia 2 episodes
2013 Air Force One Is Down United States President Harriet Rowntree Television Mini-Series
2014 Bermuda Tentacles Admiral Hansen Television movie
2014–2015 Defiance Pilar McCawley 6 episodes
2015 A Sunday Horse Mrs. Walden

Awards and nominations

List of awards and nominations
Year Award Category Work Result
1992 Saturn Award Best Actress Terminator 2: Judgment Day Won[22]
1998 Blockbuster Entertainment Awards Favorite Actress—Action/Adventure Dante's Peak Won[22]
1995 CableACE Awards Actress in a Movie or Miniseries A Mother's Prayer Won[22]
2001 DVD Exclusive Awards Video Premiere Award Best Supporting Actress Skeletons in the Closet Won[22]
1988 Golden Globe Awards Best Performance by an Actress in a TV-Series—Drama Beauty and the Beast Nominated[22]
1989 Golden Globe Awards Best Performance by an Actress in a TV-Series—Drama Beauty and the Beast Nominated[22]
1996 Golden Globe Awards Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV A Mother's Prayer Nominated[22]
1992 MTV Movie Awards MTV Movie Award Best Female Performance Terminator 2: Judgment Day Won[22]
1992 MTV Movie Awards MTV Movie Award Most Desirable Female Terminator 2: Judgment Day Won[22]
2000 Satellite Awards Golden Satellite Award Best Performance by an Actress in a Miniseries or a Motion Picture The Color of Courage Won[22]

References

  1. ↑ "Linda Hamilton Biography (1956–)". Film Reference. Retrieved November 14, 2010.
  2. 1 2 Pfefferman, Naomi (May 16, 2002). "The ‘Jewish’ Side of Linda Hamilton". The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles.
  3. ↑ "Philadelphia Inquirer: Search Results". nl.newsbank.com. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Linda Hamilton biography". biography.com. Retrieved October 6, 2013.
  5. ↑ " Children of the Corn (1984)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved October 4, 2012.
  6. ↑ "Children of the Corn (1984)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved October 4, 2012.
  7. ↑ "The Terminator – Box Office Data". The Numbers. Retrieved September 19, 2010.
  8. ↑ "The Top Movies, Weekend of November 9, 1984". The Numbers. Retrieved September 19, 2010.
  9. ↑ "'The Terminator' surprises the critics; is a top grosser". Tri City Herald. November 30, 1984. Retrieved September 19, 2010.
  10. ↑ "Making of Terminator 2". Empire Magazine. September 1991. Retrieved June 5, 2014.
  11. ↑ Hibberd, James (July 24, 2010). "Linda Hamilton joins 'Chuck'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 2010-08-26. Retrieved July 25, 2010.
  12. ↑ "Linda Hamilton Returns to 'Chuck' for the Series Finale". Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  13. ↑ "The Future of Fear". Chiller TV. Retrieved January 1, 2012.
  14. ↑ Zimmerman, Samuel. "Chiller contemplates 'THE FUTURE OF FEAR'". Fangoria. November 23, 2011
  15. 1 2 "CNN Larry King Live Interview with Linda Hamilton (transcript)". CNN.com. 2005-10-14. Retrieved January 2, 2008.
  16. 1 2 Linda Hamilton Biography - Yahoo! Movies
  17. 1 2 Sewards, Lisa (February 5, 2011). "My Rollercoaster Marriage To The Crazy Genius Behind Avatar". Daily Mail.
  18. ↑ "Forbes: Michael Jordan's Divorce Most Costly Ever". Fox News. 2007-04-16. Retrieved December 15, 2008.
  19. ↑ "Linda Hamilton: 'I Voted for Scwarzenegger'". starpulse.com. 2007-07-24. Retrieved August 30, 2010.
  20. ↑ Julius, Marshall. "Linda Hamilton : Interview". Blockbuster LLC. Archived from the original on 2012-10-25. Retrieved 2016-03-03. To this day I have serious hearing loss in one ear. We were shooting a scene in an elevator and I'd forgotten to put my earplugs in.
  21. ↑ "Garage Sale Finds: What was on TV November 20th through 26th, 1982 (TV Guide Magazine reproduction)". GarageSalin. Retrieved March 19, 2015.
  22. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Awards for Linda Hamilton". imdb. Retrieved October 6, 2013.

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