HELEN HUNT (Jo) has won two Golden Globe Awards, three American Comedy Awards, three Emmy Award nominations, a Screen Actors Guild Award and numerous other honors as Best Actress for her starring role in the hit comedy series "Mad About You," also starring Paul Reiser. Hunt also serves as a producer of the acclaimed series, which will begin its fifth season this September.
On the big screen, Hunt's credits include her acclaimed performance in "The Waterdance" as well as "Kiss of Death," "Mr. Saturday Night," "Peggy Sue Got Married," "Next of Kin," "Miles From Home" and "Project X."
Her additional telefilm credits include "Murder in New Hampshire: The Pamela Smart Story" and "In the Company of Darkness."
Interspersed with her work in feature films, Hunt was a regular in three television series prior to successfully making the transition to more adult roles with a two-year stint on "St. Elsewhere." Hunt earned an ACE Award nomination for her performance in HBO's "The Hitchhiker."
After shooting "Project X," Hunt left Los Angeles for New York, determined to break into theater. She was cast in the Ensemble Studio Theater's production of "Been Taken" with Mary Stuart Masterson and then performed on Broadway in Thornton Wilder's classic "Our Town" at the Lyceum Theater, co-starring with Eric Stoltz and Spalding Gray.
In 1988, Hunt starred as Mary Austin in the PBS American Playhouse series "Land of Little Rain," receiving positive critical notices. In 1990, Hunt assumed the coveted role of Bianca in the Shakespeare in the Park production of "Taming of the Shrew," with Tracey Ullman and Morgan Freeman at the Delacorte Theater.
BILL PAXTON recently completed "The Evening Star," the sequel to the Oscar-winning "Terms of Endearment." He stars as a psychiatrist who becomes romantically involved with Shirley MacLaine's character. Prior to that, Paxton wrapped production on the independent feature "Traveler," in which he plays a modern-day grifter from a family of Irish gypsies. He also serves as producer for the project, which marks the directing debut of Jack Green, the cinematographer of "Twister."
In the Academy Award-nominated "Apollo 13," Paxton starred opposite Tom Hanks and Kevin Bacon for director Ron Howard. He also appeared opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis in yet another recent box-office triumph, "True Lies," which reunited him with director James Cameron. This marked the third collaboration between Cameron and Paxton, following "Aliens" and "The Terminator."
Paxton first emerged as a leading man with director Carl Franklin's acclaimed thriller, "One False Move," which won the 1992 Los Angeles Film Critics Association New Generation Award. In "Trespass," co-starring Ice T and Ice Cube, Paxton reunited with director Walter Hill, with whom he had previously worked on "Streets of Fire."
Paxton got his start in Hollywood working as a set designer on Roger Corman's "Big Bad Mama" in 1974. After working on several features, Paxton decided to change pace and moved to New York to study acting. Upon returning to Los Angeles, he began accumulating acting credits, first in low-budget horror films like "Mortuary" and later in major motion pictures, including "The Lords of Discipline," Kathryn Bigelow's "Near Dark" and the hit John Hughes comedy "Weird Science."
CARY ELWES (Dr. Jonas Miller) decided to move to New York at the age of 18 and study film. His cinematic debut came in "Another Country." He was then chosen by the director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Trevor Nunn, to play opposite Helena Bonham Carter in "Lady Jane."
Soon after, Elwes starred in Rob Reiner's smash hit, "The Princess Bride," which he followed with the award-winning Civil War epic, "Glory." In 1990, he starred opposite Tom Cruise in "Days of Thunder," then returned to comedy in the action-adventure parody, "Hot Shots."
Elwes went on to star in Francis Ford Coppola's all-star adaptation of "Bram Stoker's Dracula" and, more recently, in "The Crush," "Robin Hood: Men in Tights" and "Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book."
Elwes recently returned from Dublin, Ireland, where he completed work on "Field of Blood," a Showtime production co-starring Timothy Dalton and directed by Jim McBride.
JAMI GERTZ (Melissa) is a native of Chicago who received her professional training at the New York University drama school. Gertz moved to Los Angeles to work on the coming-of-age television series "Square Pegs" and soon after was cast for the leading role in the film "Alphabet City."
Gertz's feature-film credits include Joel Schumacher's "The Lost Boys," as well as "Sibling Rivalry," "Less Than Zero," "Listen to Me," "Don't Tell Her It's Me," "Renegades," "Crossroads," "Quicksilver," "Mischief," "Silence Like Glass" and "Jersey Girl."
On television, she starred in the series "Sibs" and "Dreams" and in the movie-of-the-week "This Can't Be Love," opposite Katharine Hepburn and Anthony Quinn.
Throughout her career, Gertz has successfully alternated film, television and theater roles. She made her Los Angeles stage debut in "Out of Gas on Lover's Leap" with Jason Patric, followed by a role opposite Tyne Daly in the Los Angeles Theater Center production of "Come Back, Little Sheba." She starred in the Off-Broadway production of "Wrong Turn at Lungfish" with George C. Scott and Tony Danza, directed by Garry Marshall.
LOIS SMITH (Aunt Meg) has established herself as a leading character actress since her early film appearances in "East of Eden" and "Five Easy Pieces." Recently, Smith created memorable dramatic roles in "Dead Man Walking" and "How To Make an American Quilt" as well as appearing in such hits as "Falling Down," "Fried Green Tomatoes" and "Green Card." Her other feature-film credits include "Fatal Attraction," "Black Widow," "Reckless," "Reuben, Reuben," "Foxes," "Four Friends," "Resurrection," and "Next Stop, Greenwich Village."
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