In 2005, she earned an Emmy nomination for “Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series” for her portrayal of Lizzie Spaulding in the soap opera Guiding Light. “Honestly? That felt like a fairytale. The nominations are announced early in the morning. They invited me to come to the ceremony where they announce all of the nominees and I politely declined. I was such a ball of nerves waiting for the day to arrive that the last thing I wanted to do was be up bright and early with a chance of not getting good news in front of a ton of people and press. It was a day off, so I decided to not set an alarm and pass the time. If my phone rang to wake me up it was because it was good news, if not, I would sleep in and find out when I woke up. Needless to say, my producer and dear friend called me bright and early to let me know that I had received a nomination and to congratulate me. I’d never been so happy to have someone call and wake me up so early on a day off,” she said, with excitement.
Being a former soap actress, that has helped her substantially with other roles, especially since on most soaps, actors have to learn 40 to 80 pages of dialogue a night. “100 percent,” she concurred. “If an actor gets the opportunity to work on a soap opera, do it, it is the best acting class in existence, and you actually get paid! You don’t even realize how much your’re learning and at such a rapid pace. Things that felt so foreign before, you suddenly find yourself doing involuntarily. Like that age old saying says, ‘practice makes perfect’.”
In addition, she has been a part of such acting project as Magic Mike XXL and the series Hilton Head Island. “I started Magic Mike within hours of wrapping Lycan. So, to go from filming long, humid, mosquito-infested nights in the middle of 5,000 acres of woods in Columbus, Georgia, to filming long nights in Savannah, Georgia with my former Guiding Light co-star Matt Bomer and Channing Tatum could not have been more polar opposite! No complaints whatsoever. Everyone was so nice and down to earth, which made for a fun shoot,” she said.
She continued, “Hilton Head Island is a blast because I’m getting to work with Donna Mills again. I love her to pieces! It’s a new experience for all of us though, shooting an entire soap opera on green screen. The majority of us haven’t really worked much in front of a green screen, if at all. It’s completely different than everything we know, but so cool to learn about and see it come together,” she said.
Her upcoming thriller Lycan, will be out on August 18. “Yes, it’s a suspense thriller that is based on a true legend. Though, it has the appearance of a werewolf movie, it is actually based upon a mental illness that was ramped in the late 1800s and early 1900s called lycanthropy. It still exists in parts of Central and South America,” she said.
On her acting inspirations, Hunt said, “It’s something I’ve loved from the time that I was a little girl. I think most children enjoy playing pretend at some point in their childhood. I’ve just been blessed to be able to play pretend for a living. It’s so exciting to be able to create characters and challenge yourself to go places emotionally that you didn’t know you were capable of.”
Regarding her future plans she said, “Well, obviously, I will always continue with my acting. That being said, Lycan is just the first of many projects that I intend to make.”
She listed comedian Adam Sandler as her dream male acting partner. “Adam is definitely one of the top people I would love to work with. I’ve never not loved a performance of his. I love to laugh. I can’t fathom any shoot with him would be dull,” she said.
For her fans, she concluded, “Thank you for remaining loyal to me throughout this journey. I hope that I continue to create work that leaves you excited for what’s next.”
