Linda Hamilton

Linda Carroll Hamilton (born September 26, 1956) is an American actress. Known for portraying tough, resilient characters,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> she made her film debut in 1979 before achieving fame with her starring role as Sarah Connor in The Terminator (1984) and two of its sequels, Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and Terminator: Dark Fate (2019). She is the recipient of various accolades, including two Saturn Awards, two MTV Movie Awards, a Satellite Award and a Romy Award, as well as nominations for three Golden Globes and one Primetime Emmy.

Hamilton's other film credits include Children of the Corn (1984), Black Moon Rising, King Kong Lives (both 1986), Mr. Destiny (1990), Dante's Peak (1997), and The Kid & I (2005). On television, she starred as Catherine Chandler in Beauty and the Beast (1987–1989) and played the recurring role of Mary Elizabeth Bartowski on NBC's Chuck (2010–2012). Her stage work includes Laura (Tiffany Theater, 2000) and The Night of the Iguana (Berkshire Theatre, 2006). Divorced from actor Bruce Abbott and director James Cameron, she has a child from each marriage.

Early life

Hamilton was born in Salisbury, Maryland, on September 26, 1956.<ref name="bio">Template:Cite web</ref> Hamilton's father (1928-1962) died when she was five; her mother (1931-2019) later married a police chief.<ref name=JewishJournal>Template:Cite web</ref> Hamilton had an identical twin sister, Leslie Hamilton Freas (1956–2020),<ref name="legacy">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=TodayTwin>Template:Cite web</ref> as well as one older sister, a younger brother, and a stepbrother.<ref name="legacy"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She has said that she was raised in a "very boring, white Anglo-Saxon" household, and that she "voraciously read books" in her spare time.<ref name=JewishJournal/> Hamilton went to Wicomico Junior High and Wicomico High School in Salisbury.<ref name=TributeBio>Template:Cite web</ref>

She studied for two years at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, before moving on to acting studies in New York City.<ref name=TributeBio/> Hamilton has said that her acting professor at Washington College told her she had no hope of earning a living as an actress.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In New York, she attended acting workshops given by Lee Strasberg.<ref name="bio"/>

Career

1979–1983: Film debut and early roles

Hamilton made her professional debut at age 23 with a small part in the 1979 drama Night-Flowers. Her first major role came the following year when she appeared as Lisa Rogers on the short-lived CBS soap opera Secrets of Midland Heights (December 1980–January 1981). She appeared in the TV series "King's Crossing," as Lauren Hollister, immediately afterward in 1982. Marilyn Jones seemed to be the focal point of both of the last two efforts, with Linda Hamilton playing the bad girl. She subsequentally appeared in her first starring film role in the low-budget thriller TAG: The Assassination Game (1982), and co-starred that same year in the made-for-television movie Country Gold. She was listed as one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1982" in John A. Willis' Screen World, Vol. 34.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

1984–1997: The Terminator franchise and television work

Hamilton made two prominent film appearances in 1984: firstly, a starring role in Children of the Corn, a horror film based on the short story by Stephen King. Hamilton played Vicky Baxter, a motorist who runs into trouble while travelling with her boyfriend through rural Nebraska. The film was financially profitable, making US$14 million at the domestic box office against a budget of US$3 million,<ref>" Children of the Corn (1984)" Template:Webarchive. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved October 4, 2012.</ref> but received generally negative reviews.<ref>"Children of the Corn (1984)" Template:Webarchive. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved October 4, 2012.</ref> In a more positive assessment by The New York Times, Hamilton's performance was praised.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Her next role was co-starring in James Cameron's science fiction action film The Terminator (1984) as Sarah Connor, a young waitress—and soon-to-be mother of a valiant resistance leader—who finds herself at the center of a nightmarish ordeal when a soldier travels back in time to help her defeat the titular cyborg assassin, sent from the future to execute her. The film was a surprise commercial hit,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> topping the U.S. box office for two weeks.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Critics believed it to be a perfect example of its genre,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> with some attributing its strength to Hamilton's performance; The Hollywood Reporter wrote that she displayed "tremendous resiliency" as Connor,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> while Janet Maslin felt she played the part "engrossingly" in her review for The New York Times.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> That same year, she guest-starred in four episodes of the NBC police drama Hill Street Blues.

Following the success of The Terminator, Hamilton starred as car thief Nina in the action thriller Black Moon Rising (1986). Also that year, she guest-starred in an episode of Murder, She Wrote and headlined the big-budget adventure film King Kong Lives, a sequel to the 1976 remake of King Kong. The film was a moderate financial success but was universally panned by critics.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Hamilton's next major role was that of savvy district attorney Catherine Chandler in the television series Beauty and the Beast. A modern re-telling of the classic fairy tale, the show ran for three seasons on CBS between 1987 and 1990, though Hamilton requested to be written out during its third season when she fell pregnant.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> For her portrayal of Chandler, she won Austria's Romy Award for Favorite Actress in a Series in 1990,<ref name="romy">Template:Cite web</ref> as well as receiving Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominations in 1988 and 1989, respectively.<ref name="AwardsGG"/>

File:Linda Hamilton 1.JPG

Hamilton in 1997

Hamilton returned to film with a starring role opposite in the 1990 fantasy-comedy Mr. Destiny. In her review for the Los Angeles Times, Sheila Benson believed that the film only worked because of "Hamilton's intrinsic warmth".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The following year, she re-teamed with James Cameron to star in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Reported at the time to be the most expensive motion picture ever made,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> it went on to gross over US$500 million worldwide; more than any other film that year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Of his decision to present a more troubled version of the Sarah Connor character, Cameron later reflected, "It was all inspired by Linda really. I called her and said, 'Hey, we're [doing] another TerminatorTemplate:'. And she [replied], 'I want to be crazy'. I said, 'I can do that — I'll put you in a mental hospital'. She said, 'Perfect. That's what I want'".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Hamilton underwent intense physical training to emphasize the character's transformation during the seven years since the first film.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> "I hated [my trainer] most of the time", she later said; "He would yell at me and throw tennis balls while I was shooting weapons blindfolded. I'd go off to the bathroom to cry for a minute, then I'd wipe away my tears and go back".<ref name=JewishJournal/> Critics were impressed by Hamilton's "wild-eyed" performance,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> with Derek Malcolm of The Guardian singling out her "formidable sweaty intensity".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She went on to receive two MTV Movie Awards and the 1991 Saturn Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Connor, which has since been recognised as one of the most iconic female roles in cinematic history.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Following the success of T2, she was invited to host an episode of Saturday Night Live on November 16, 1991.<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Cbignore</ref>

Hamilton's subsequent film appearances were in the psychological thrillers Silent Fall (1994) and Separate Lives (1995). For her performance in the television movie A Mother's Prayer (1995), where she played a widow diagnosed with AIDS, Hamilton received a CableACE Award and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress. On her decision to take the part, she said, "So many people think I'm just this incredibly ferocious, fierce woman. Sarah Connor has sort of etched herself into my psyche and will never go away. So I chose [to play] this woman because she was a great balance of strength and frailty".<ref name=Spokesman>Template:Cite web</ref> She put herself on a strict diet in preparation for the role, saying, "I had to know what it was like … I knew that I had to sort of sink in on myself. So I got very, very thin".<ref name=Spokesman/>

After guest-starring in an episode of Frasier, Hamilton played leading roles in two features that were released one week apart in 1997: political thriller Shadow Conspiracy and the big-budget action-adventure film Dante's Peak. The latter proved to be one of the biggest commercial hits of the year, grossing US$180 million.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Critics were mostly unimpressed by the film's derivative narrative,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> but some praised the effects and performances, with Roger Ebert writing in his review for the Chicago Sun-Times, "In Brosnan and Hamilton [the filmmakers] have actors who play for realism and don't go over the top".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> For her portrayal of small-town mayor Rachel Wando, Hamilton was named Best Actress at the following year's Blockbuster Entertainment Awards. Speaking of her casting, she said, "Police officers, military officers and lesbians. That was pretty much what I [used to get offered] and nothing else. [When I auditioned for director] Roger Donaldson, he literally said to me: 'You've never played a part like this before' … And [I said], 'What do you mean?' [He replied] 'Normal.' He thought I couldn't play normal! Jesus! It was just the way people thought [about me]".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

1998–2018: Stage, television, and film roles

Between 1998 and 1999, Hamilton appeared in a succession of voice roles in episodes of The New Batman Adventures, Hercules, and Batman Beyond. Her next project was the Lifetime movie Sex & Mrs. X (2000), where she played a magazine writer who experiences a sexual reawakening when she is assigned to interview an upper-class Parisian madam. The Los Angeles Times called it an "[intriguing] character study that passes muster on the strength of good performances by [its leads]", adding that Hamilton was both "tough" and "tender" in the part.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Later that year, she received a Satellite Award for Best Actress for her performance in the television film The Color of Courage, which Variety called "excellent".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She also headlined a production of Laura, an adaptation of the 1944 film noir of the same name, at California's Tiffany Theater in December 2000. Hamilton received praise for her portrayal of the title character, with Jay Reiner of The Hollywood Reporter commenting:

The following year, Hamilton starred in the small-scale mystery thriller Skeletons in the Closet (2001), subsequently winning a DVD Exclusive Award for Best Supporting Actress. She then portrayed the real-life Ethel Rosenberg in Worse Than Murder: Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, admitting that her decision to "transform myself into a tenement Jew from the Lower East Side" had been a daunting one: "I'm already prepared for the critics to be unkind to me, like, 'Why is she playing a Jewish character' or 'What's she trying to do, prove she's an actress?' But the fear is just part of the process".<ref name=JewishJournal/> The play opened in May 2002—at the Ventura Theatre in California—to a rave review from Variety, who felt that Hamilton played her part with "sumptuous veracity".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Next, she had supporting roles in two films: the post-Vietnam war drama Missing in America (2005) and the Penelope Spheeris-directed comedy The Kid & I (2005).

File:10.17.09LindaHamiltonByLuigiNovi.jpg

Hamilton at the Big Apple Convention, 2009

Hamilton's portrayal of Maxine Faulk in the 2006 stage adaptation of The Night of the Iguana by Tennessee Williams was met with acclaim. Writing for Variety, Frank Rizzo said, "[She is] well cast as the recently widowed but hardly mourning proprietress … She takes over the stage with natural assurance and plays this overripe survivor with lusty humor and cunning".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The production ran between August 1–12 at the Berkshire Theatre in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Hamilton reprised the role of Sarah Connor for a second time with a voice cameo in 2009's Terminator Salvation,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> which grossed US$371 million at the worldwide box office.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2010, she joined the cast of NBC's espionage-style comedy series Chuck, playing the recurring role of CIA agent Mary Elizabeth Bartowski.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> That same year, she guest-starred in three episodes of the Showtime dark comedy Weeds—as the marijuana supplier for the series' protagonist—and appeared as a "cartoon American cop" in the poorly received Irish film Holy Water.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2011, Hamilton narrated the Chiller network's The Future of Fear, a documentary on the history of horror films.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She then played a fictional U.S. president in the television miniseries Air Force One Is Down (2013), and had recurring roles as a bounty hunter on the Showcase series Lost Girl (2013) and a mentally ill mother on Syfy's Defiance (2014–2015).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Her next projects were the television pilot Shoot Me Nicely (2016),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> which was later released as a short film,<ref name=GoldenDoor/> and the small-scale science fiction film Curvature (2017). In his evaluation of the latter for The Hollywood Reporter, Frank Scheck described it as "awfully loopy", adding, "it's always a pleasure to see Hamilton, even if it's painfully obvious that she's been cast [here] because of the genre resonance she brings to the table".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

2019–present: Return to mainstream projects

Hamilton returned once more to the Terminator franchise and the character of Sarah Connor when she headlined the Tim Miller-directed Terminator: Dark Fate, set 25 years after the events of T2. She admitted to being reluctant to sign on to the project, having spent the previous few years away from the spotlight: "I love my alone time like no one you've ever met … That was my hesitation: Do I want to trade this lovely, authentic life [that I've built] for that? I didn't want my neighbours looking at me differently. We're neighbors because of who we are, not what we do, and I don't want that to creep into my life again".<ref name=FledHollywood>Template:Cite news</ref>

File:Linda Hamilton (48355081587).jpg

Hamilton at San Diego Comic Con, 2019

Filming on Dark Fate took place in Hungary, Spain and the U.S. between May and November 2018.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Though a financial disappointment,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> it received generally positive reviews upon its 2019 release, particularly for Hamilton's performance.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Writing for Rolling Stone, David Fear felt that she provided the film's "sinew, heart, and soul", and said of her introduction:

Later that year, Hamilton was named Best Actress at the Los Angeles Crime and Horror Film Festival for her portrayal of "King George"—a ruthless crime boss—in Easy Does It,<ref name="lacrimehorror">Template:Cite web</ref> which Film Threat described as "excellent … a throwback to grindhouse adventure films [and westerns]".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She began appearing as General McCallister on Syfy's Resident Alien in 2021, which IndieWire called a "genre-bending … spry half-hour comedy [series]".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Also that year, she guest-starred as a hippie life coach in six episodes of the TNT dark comedy Claws during its final season.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

It was announced in June 2023 that Hamilton would join the ensemble of the Netflix mystery-horror series Stranger Things for its fifth and final season—due to air in 2025—as an unspecified character.<ref name=MashableStranger>Template:Cite web</ref> A self-proclaimed fan of the show, she said of her casting, "I don't know how to be a fangirl and an actress at the same time. I'm going to work on that".<ref name=MashableStranger/>

Personal life

Hamilton's twin sister, Leslie, died on August 22, 2020, at the age of 63.<ref name=TodayTwin/> Leslie appeared as Linda's double in a few scenes of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, including the scene in which the T-1000 disguises itself as Sarah Connor. Hamilton has described herself politically as a Democrat, but she voted for Republican candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger—her Terminator co-star—in the 2003 California election after his campaign convinced her he was suitable for the job.<ref name="CaliforniaElection">Template:Cite web</ref> While filming Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Hamilton suffered permanent hearing damage in one ear because she had forgotten to put in her earplugs for a scene which called for Schwarzenegger to fire a shotgun inside an elevator.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Marriage and relationships

Hamilton has been married and divorced twice.<ref name=King>Template:Cite web</ref> Her first marriage was to actor Bruce Abbott, from 1982 to 1989. He left Hamilton when she was pregnant with their son Dalton, who was born in 1989.<ref name="yahoomovies">Linda Hamilton Biography - Yahoo! Movies Template:Webarchive</ref> She later stated Abbott departed due to her mood swings and physical abuse towards him stemming from bipolar disorder, and she publicly apologized to him 14 years later in 2004.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 1991,<ref name="yahoomovies" /> Hamilton began a relationship and moved in<ref name="FledHollywood" /> with film director James Cameron after filming Terminator 2: Judgment Day.<ref name="elpais">Template:Cite web</ref> They had a daughter, born in 1993.<ref name="yahoomovies" /> Hamilton said she experienced postpartum depression after the birth of her second child.<ref name="elpais" /> Hamilton and Cameron briefly separated when Cameron was filming Titanic (1997) and he began a relationship with actress Suzy Amis, who played a small role in the film.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="elpais" /> Hamilton and Cameron later got back together and married in 1997;<ref name="elpais" /> this ended in a $50 million divorce settlement for Hamilton in 1999.<ref name="elpais" />

In a 2019 interview for The New York Times, Hamilton said she had been celibate for "at least 15 years".<ref name="FledHollywood" /> "One loses track, because it just doesn't matter — or at least it doesn't matter to me. I have a very romantic relationship with my world every day and the people who are in it," she said.<ref name="FledHollywood" />

Mental health

Hamilton started to binge eat when she entered high school.<ref name="elpais"/> After seeing a psychologist for the first time at the age of 22 in 1978–1979,<ref name="elpais"/> she thought acting would help her feel better, but she ended up having a breakdown in the beginning of her acting career and turned to drugs and alcohol use and self-medicated with cocaine in order to get her confidence up.<ref name="elpais"/> In an October 2005 appearance on Larry King Live, Hamilton discussed her depression and bipolar disorder, which led to violent mood swings and suicidal thoughts during her marriage to Abbott and, in her view, caused the failure of both her marriages.<ref name=King/> She also discussed how she eventually received therapy and medication to manage the condition.<ref name=King/>

Accolades

Selected accolades for Linda Hamilton

Year	Association	Category	Nominated work	Result	Template:Abbr
1985	Saturn Awards	Best Actress	The Terminator	Template:Nom	<ref name="Awards">Template:Cite web</ref>
1988	Golden Globe Awards	Best Actress – Drama Series	Beauty and the Beast	Template:Nom	<ref name="AwardsGG">Template:Cite web</ref>
1989				Template:Nom	<ref name="AwardsGG"/>
	Primetime Emmy Awards	Lead Actress in a Drama Series		Template:Nom	<ref name="Emmys">Template:Cite web</ref>
	Viewers for Quality Television	Best Actress in a Quality Drama Series		Template:Nom	Template:Citation needed
1990	Romy Awards	Audience Award - Favorite Actress in a Series		Template:Won	<ref name="romy"/>
	Saturn Awards	Best Genre TV Actress		Template:Won	<ref name="Awards"/>
1991	Awards Circuit Community Awards	Best Actress in a Leading Role	Terminator 2: Judgment Day	Template:Nom	Template:Citation needed
	Bravo Otto	Best Female Film Star	Template:N/a	Template:Runner-up	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1992	Fangoria Chainsaw Awards	Best Actress	Terminator 2: Judgment Day	Template:Nom	<ref name="AwardsMTV"/>
	MTV Movie Awards	Best Female Performance		Template:Won	<ref name="AwardsMTV">Template:Cite web</ref>
		Most Desirable Female		Template:Won	<ref name="AwardsMTV"/>
	Saturn Awards	Best Actress		Template:Won	<ref name="Awards"/>
1995	CableACE Awards	Actress in a Movie or Miniseries	A Mother's Prayer	Template:Won	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1996	Golden Globe Awards	Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film		Template:Nom	<ref name="AwardsGG"/>
1998	Blockbuster Entertainment Awards	Favorite Actress	Dante's Peak	Template:Won	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2000	Satellite Awards	Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film	The Color of Courage	Template:Won	<ref name="Awards"/>
2001	DVD Exclusive Awards	Best Supporting Actress	Skeletons in the Closet	Template:Won	<ref name="Awards"/>
2015	Artemis Women in Action Film Festival	Action Icon	Terminator 2: Judgment Day	Template:Won	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2016	Hollywood International Moving Pictures Film Festival	Best Ensemble Cast	Shoot Me Nicely	Template:Won	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
	NYC Indie Film Awards	Best Actress		Template:Won	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
	Williamsburg Independent Film Festival	Best Featured Actress		Template:Won	<ref name="Williamsburg">Template:Cite web</ref>
2017	Austin Revolution Film Festival	Best Actress in a Series		Template:Nom	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
	European Independent Film Awards	Diamond Award for Best Actress		Template:Won	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
	Golden Door Film Festival	Best Actress in a Short Film		Template:Won	<ref name=GoldenDoor>Template:Cite web</ref>
	L.A. Shorts Awards	Best Actress		Template:Won	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
	Northeast Film Festival	Best Supporting Actress in a Short Film		Template:Nom	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2019	CinemaCon	Best Ensemble	Terminator: Dark Fate	Template:Won	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
	Los Angeles Crime and Horror Film Festival	Best Actress	Easy Does It	Template:Won	<ref name="lacrimehorror"/>
2021	Saturn Awards	Best Supporting Actress	Terminator: Dark Fate	Template:Nom	<ref name="Awards"/>

External links

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