Linda Hamilton
Hamilton at the Big Apple Convention in Manhattan, October 17, 2009.
Born	Linda Carroll Hamilton September 26, 1956 (1956-09-26) (age 53) Salisbury, Maryland, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1979–present
Spouse(s)	Bruce Abbott (1982-1989) James Cameron (1997-1999)

Linda Carroll Hamilton (born September 26, 1956) is an American actress, best known for her roles as Sarah Connor in The Terminator and its sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day and as Catherine Chandler in Beauty and the Beast.

Early life

Hamilton was born in Salisbury, Maryland to a physician father who died in a car accident when she was five.¹² Hamilton has an identical twin sister, one older sister and one younger brother. She has said that she was raised in a "very boring, white Anglo-Saxon" family, and "voraciously read books" during her spare time.² Hamilton went to Wicomico Junior High (now Wicomico Middle School) and Wicomico High School in Salisbury, Maryland, with her twin sister, Leslie. She studied for two years at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, before moving on to acting studies in New York City. While attending Washington College, her acting professor told her she had no hope of earning a living as an actress. In New York she attended acting workshops given by Lee Strasberg.

Career

Hamilton's acting debut came first with guest starring appearances on television, followed by a major role as Lisa Rogers in the prime-time soap opera Secrets of Midland Heights (1980).

Listed as one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1982" in John Willis' Screen World, Vol 34, Hamilton made her film debut playing a lead role in the horror film Children of the Corn, even though this very article's Filmography lists her as a cast member in the 1982 film Tag: The Assassination Game. The movie, Children of the Corn, was panned by critics, but it made a profit at the box office, and had a strong cult following. Hamilton's next role was in The Terminator, costarring Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1984. The movie was an unexpectedly huge commercial as well as critical success. Following The Terminator, Hamilton starred in Black Moon Rising, an action thriller starring Tommy Lee Jones. She then returned to television in the mystery comedy Murder, She Wrote, scoring favorable reviews. Hamilton then starred opposite Ron Perlman in the TV series Beauty and the Beast. The series was critically-acclaimed and she received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. Hamilton left the series in 1989 and it ended in 1990.

Hamilton went back to the big screen with the sequel to The Terminator titled Terminator 2: Judgment Day in 1991. The film was a smash at the box office, grossing over $500 million, and becoming the highest grossing film of the year. Hamilton underwent immense physical training to emphasize the character's transformation from the first film. Her identical twin sister Leslie Hamilton Gearren was Linda's double in Terminator 2. Hamilton received two MTV Movie Awards for her role in the film, one for Best Female Performance and the other for Most Desirable Female. Hamilton reprised this character, Sarah Connor, for the theme park attraction T2 3-D.

In 1990, she was chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world. Following the success of the Terminator series, Hamilton hosted Saturday Night Live. She then returned to television in A Mother's Prayer (1997) playing a mother who lost her husband and is diagnosed with AIDS. She earned yet another Golden Globe nomination. In 1996, Hamilton filmed two motion pictures that were released one week apart in 1997: Shadow Conspiracy with Charlie Sheen and Dante's Peak with Pierce Brosnan. Shadow Conspiracy flopped at the box office, but Dante's Peak grossed $180 million and was one of the biggest commercial hits of the year. Hamilton has since appeared on the television shows Frasier and According to Jim and has done more TV movies, including On the Line, Robots Rising, Rescuers: Stories of Courage: Two Couples, Point Last Seen, and The Color of Courage.

In 2009, she returned as Sarah Connor in Terminator Salvation, in voice-overs only.

Personal life

Hamilton has been married twice.³ Her first marriage was to actor Bruce Abbott, whom she wed on December 18, 1982. The couple had a son, Dalton, on 4 October 1989 but divorced shortly afterward. Her second marriage was to James Cameron, who directed her in both Terminator films. They had a daughter, Josephine Archer (b. 15 February 1993) before marrying on July 26, 1997.⁴

Hamilton appeared on the October 4, 2005 episode of Larry King Live to reveal that she suffered from bipolar disorder. She revealed that her condition destroyed her marriage to her first husband, Bruce Abbott, and she said that she abused him verbally and physically. Linda said that it was her love for her two children that finally forced her to seek treatment and she began taking medication in 1996. Hamilton says that she will always be grateful she chose treatment and regrets the pain it caused her loved ones. She's also stated that, despite Internet rumors to the contrary, she was never married to Peter Horton.³

Hamilton is good friends with former Beauty and the Beast co-star Ron Perlman. They reunited in the post-Vietnam war drama Missing in America.

Awards

• Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA
  • 1992 – Won Saturn Award Best Actress for Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

• Blockbuster Entertainment Awards
  • 1998 – Won Blockbuster Entertainment Award Favorite Actress—Action/Adventure for Dante's Peak (1997)

• CableACE Awards
  • 1995 – Won CableACE Actress in a Movie or Miniseries for A Mother's Prayer (1995) (TV)

• DVD Exclusive Awards
  • 2001 – Won Video Premiere Award Best Supporting Actress for: Skeletons in the Closet (2001)

• MTV Movie Awards
  • 1992 – Won MTV Movie Award Best Female Performance for Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
  • 1992 – Won MTV Movie Award Most Desirable Female

• Satellite Awards
  • 2000 – Won Golden Satellite Award Best Performance by an Actress in a Miniseries or a Motion Picture Made for Television for The Color of Courage (1999) (TV)

Filmography

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Linda Hamilton

• Linda Hamilton at the Internet Movie Database
• Linda Hamilton at TV.com
• 2006 Linda Hamilton Interview on Sidewalks Entertainment
• Linda Hamilton interview with Larry King
• 20th Anniversary of Beauty and the Beast Television Series