Cherry Jones, in conversation with Linda Hunt November 27, 2006

Cherry Jones is a consummate actress, whose work in film, television, and especially theater has been lauded for incredible range and intelligence. Best known for her stage roles, Jones began acting in plays in her hometown of Paris, Tennessee, before graduating from the acting program at Carnegie Mellon University. She is a founding company member of the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she honed her skills between 1980 and 1991. Jones made her Broadway debut as the Angel in Tony Kushner’s Angels in America. For her powerful lead performance in the revival of The Heiress, Jones received a Tony Award in 1995. In 2005, Jones won her second Tony for her role as “Sister Aloysius,” the inscrutable Catholic grammar school principal, in John Patrick Shanley’s Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning play Doubt. She recently concluded a long run of Faith Healer on Broadway. Jones is reprising her intense and unsentimental performance in the national tour of Doubt, which runs in San Francisco from November 7 until December 3, 2006, as part of SHN’s 2006 Best of Broadway series.

Linda Hunt began her study of drama at age thirteen and, after majoring in directing at the prestigious Goodman Theater School in Chicago, she went on to spend several years in New York as a stage manager, director, and actress. Hunt won two Obie awards and a Tony nomination for her early stage work. Hunt's film debut was in Robert Altman's Popeye, but it was her second film, The Year of Living Dangerously, that earned Hunt international praise. For her nuanced and emotive portrayal of Billy Kwan, a half-Indonesian, half-Australian male photojournalist, Hunt was awarded the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Hunt's versatility is reflected in her eclectic characters, such as a fashionista in Robert Altman's Pret-a-Porter and Judge Zoey Hiller on ABC’s The Practice. She frequently lends her rich, resonant voice to television, film, and radio. Most recently, she portrayed Sister Aloysius in the Pasadena Playhouse production of John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt. Linda Hunt has been the on-air radio host for City Arts & Lectures since 1997.

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