Bonnie Hunt credits her nursing degree with helping her navigate Hollywood excesses
Bonnie Hunt is opening up about how her real-life passion as a nurse has humbled her in Hollywood.
The “Cheaper by the Dozen” star, 63, shared that “this business can make you so self-obsessed, so insecure and reveal that you are pompous or a narcissist.”
“The one gift patients always give me is perspective,” she told The Post exclusively at the premiere of “Red One” on Monday night. “They let me in when they’re facing their own mortality.”
Hunt was an oncology nurse at Northwestern Memorial Hospital before she got her first role in the 1988 blockbuster “Rain Man.”
The “Jerry Maguire” star explained that being a nurse has influenced her choice of roles, which has leaned heavily toward family fare like “Jumanji” and “Beethoven.”
“On purpose, I was very selective,” she shared. “I wanted to do things that were more timeless and could be seen by entire families. I really did, that’s why I went into show business.”
Hunt added that while working in the oncology unit, she saw the importance of family and learned “to cherish the time you have.”
She explained, “You can watch some story together as a family and escape your worries, your heartache, it’s medicinal in a way and that’s what drove me.”
Hunt volunteers as a patient advocate and is also a Pixar favorite. She’s voiced characters in “A Bug’s Life” (1998), “Zootopia” (2016), “Monsters, Inc.” (2001), “Cars” (2006) and some of the “Toy Story” franchise (2010-2019).
“Pixar has been so good to me,” she said. “They’ve brought me in as a writer as well. I’ve done nine films with Pixar.”
She’s hoping to add to her canon of family classics with “Red One,” a Christmas flick starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as a tracker who has been tasked with finding a kidnapped Santa Claus and, of course, his goal is to save Christmas..
Johnson, along with the movie’s other stars — Nick Kroll, Lucy Liu, Chris Evans and Kiernan Shipka —was also on hand for the premiere.
The festive film is rated PG-13 and reportedly cost $250 million to make.
“Red One” debuts in US movie theaters today.
