Described by Entertainment Weekly as "the hands-down best (talk show) guest in America," Chicago-born Bonnie Hunt began pursuing her acting career while working as a nurse at that city's Northwestern University Hospital. (Reportedly as late as the early 1990s, she returned to that profession for a month or so each year.) The smart, pixie-like writer-performer co-founded the Chicago improvisational troupe An Impulsive Thing before joining the famed Second City improv group, appearing in their productions "Bright Lights, Night Baseball," "Jean Paul Sartre and Ringo" and "How Green Were My Values.” After making her feature debut as the waitress who spills toothpicks before a calculating Dustin Hoffman in Barry Levinson's Oscar-winning Best Picture "Rain Man" (1988), she moved to Los Angeles with a short-lived West Coast offshoot of Second City and turned down three offers from "Saturday Night Live" while working to get her own show on the air.

Hunt's first leading role cast her as second fiddle to both Charles Grodin and the galumphing Saint Bernard "Beethoven" (1992), with whom she reunited for "Beethoven's 2nd" (1993). She also had a memorable 30-second cameo as a fanatical tour guide in "Dave" (also 1993) but had less luck as Marisa Tomei's best pal in the uneven "Only You" (1994), despite savoring the three-month shoot in Italy. Though critics were indifferent to her portrayal of Robin Williams' love interest in "Jumanji" (1995), her years at Second City had prepared her well for the Williams whirlwind, and the film earned over $100 million at the box office. No such fate awaited the reception of "Getting Away With Murder" (1996), an embarrassment for Jack Lemmon, Lily Tomlin and Dan Aykroyd, from which Hunt emerged relatively unscathed as Aykroyd's cast off girlfriend. After a small role in the coming-of-age drama "Now and Then" (1995), she impressed reviewers as the bitter older sister of Renee Zellweger in Cameron Crowe's romantic/sports comedy "Jerry Maguire" (1996).

As for TV, she made her debut as a regular on the short-lived, soap-like sitcom "Grand" (CBS, 1990), followed by a stint on the elementary school sitcom "Davis Rules" (ABC, 1991; CBS, 1992), co-starring with Randy Quaid and Jonathan Winters and displaying her considerable comic talents, which included holding her own opposite the exuberant Winters. Her friendship with talk show host David Letterman led to her becoming the first woman to create, write, co-executive produce (with Letterman) and star in her own short-lived series, "The Building" (CBS, 1993). The ensemble comedy featuring Hunt's Second City colleagues attempted to recreate the feel of an improvisational troupe with its rich characterizations and overlapping dialogue. Again with Letterman's backing, she created and produced the "The Bonnie Hunt Show/Bonnie" (CBS, 1995-1996), on which she played a Chicago TV station reporter. Taped in real time without retakes, each episode combined scripted and improvisational material, including a "man-in-the-street" report by Hunt, but in spite of sterling reviews and a small but loyal following, the show died after one season.

Though there were no more stabs at series TV, Hunt remained busy with a starring turn as a woman trapped overnight in a locked subway exit in the "Fern's Heart of Darkness" segment of HBO's "Subway Stories: Tales From the Underground" (1997) and small roles in "Kissing a Fool" (1998) and Sydney Pollack's anachronistic "Random Hearts" (1999), in which she played an old friend of Kristin Scott Thomas. She also voiced the character of Rosie the black widow spider in the delightful, animated adventure comedy "A Bug's Life" (also 1998) and played Tom Hanks' plain-speaking, ever-warm wife in "The Green Mile" (also 1999). Hunt signed to direct her first feature, "Convenience", in 1997, but with it on hold, she made her directorial debut at the helm of "Return to Me" (2000), co-scripted by longtime collaborator Don Lake, a regular on both her TV series. Shot almost entirely in her hometown of Chicago, the romance starred David Duchovny as a man who falls in love with Minnie Driver, the recipient of his deceased wife's transplanted heart.

In 2002, Hunt got the chance to become the hands-down best TV talk show host—fictionally, anyway—playing local Chicago morning show personality Bonnie Molloy, who finds it hard to separate her professional and personal lives in the ABC television sit-com "Life With Bonnie" (2002-2004). The show—with scripts that were largely improvised and benefited from guest spots by many of Hunt's showbiz colleagues such as Duchovny—was not on the air long before Hunt took near-total control, removing many of the writers and handling many of the production details herself. With Hunt at the helm, the show was renewed for an even more successful second season as part of ABC's "TGiF" lineup, and the actress received Golden Globe nominations for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy in both 2003 and 2004. She also continued her successful career in film, teaming with Steve Martin as the parents of a dozen demanding kids in the mild but commercially successful remake of "Cheaper by the Dozen" (2003).

She next starred in a little known indie feature, “Loggerheads” (2005), a family drama about a mother (Hunt) who makes a last ditch effort to find the son (Kip Pardue) she was forced to give up for adoption as a teenager. Hunt then reprised her role as the overburdened mother in “Cheaper By the Dozen 2” (2005), costarring Steven Martin as the patriarch of a family of twelve. Meanwhile, she crossed over to animation, providing the voice of Sally in “Cars” (2006), the latest soon-to-be animated classic from Pixar Studios about a hotshot race car (Owen Wilson) stuck in a sleepy Route 66 town populated by an eccentric array of characters who help steer him right.