Helen Hunt

Hunt in 2010, image via vonora/Bigstock.com

Birth Name: Helen Elizabeth Hunt

Place of Birth: Culver City, Los Angeles, California, United States

Date of Birth: June 15, 1963

Ethnicity:
*75% English
*25% Ashkenazi Jewish

Helen Hunt is an American actress, writer, and director. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for As Good as It Gets (1997).

She is the daughter of Jane Elizabeth (Novis), a photographer, and Gordon Hunt, a director and casting director. Her uncle, father’s half-brother, was director Peter H. Hunt. Her father was of half German Jewish and half English descent. Her mother was of English ancestry.

She has a daughter with her former partner, producer, writer, and director Matthew Carnahan.

Helen’s paternal grandfather was George Smith Hunt II (the son of Philip Barstow Hunt and Fannie Ella Perry Kibbee). George was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and was from a New England family of English descent. Philip was the son of George Smith Hunt and Augusta Merrill Barstow. Fannie was the daughter of Chandler Waldo Kibbee and Harriet Sophia Stebbins.

Helen’s paternal grandmother was Helen Florence Roberts (originally Rothenberg, the daughter of Gustav Rothenberg and Florence Scholle). Helen’s grandmother Helen was born in New York. Gustav was a German Jewish immigrant, the son of Reuben Rothenberg and B. Hothfeld. Helen’s great-grandmother Florence was born in California, to German Jewish parents, William Wolf Scholle, from Burgkunstadt, Oberfranken, Bavaria, and Rose/Rosa Turnauer/Thurnauer.

Helen’s maternal grandfather was Edward Norman Novis (the son of Frederick George Novis and Charlotte Morris). Edward was English, born in Hastings, Sussex, England. Frederick was the son of George Novis and Harriet/Harriett Streeter. Charlotte was the daughter of John Morris and Elizabeth.

Helen’s maternal grandmother was Dorothy Jane Anderson (the daughter of Claude Frederick Anderson and Esther Alma Shearer). Dorothy was born in Iowa, of English ancestry. Claude was the son of Frank Pierce Anderson and Elizabeth G./A. “Lizzie” Templeton. Esther was the daughter of John Edward Shearer and Mary Elizabeth Ward, who was born in New York, to English parents.

Sources: Genealogies of Helen Hunt – http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com
https://www.geni.com

Genealogy of Helen Hunt (focusing on her father’s side) – http://www.wikitree.com