Linda Hamilton
Biography
Born in Salisbury, Maryland, USA, following high school Linda studied for two years at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, before moving on to acting studies in New York. In New York she attended acting workshops given by Lee Strasberg. Her first parts were small parts in TV series, with her biggest break coming with her role in The Terminator (1984). Most known to public at large from her part in the TV series Beauty and the Beast (1987) (before Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), at least).
Family
James Cameron (26 July 1997 - 16 December 1999) ( 1 child)
Trivia
Has a daughter with James Cameron: Josephine Cameron (born February 15, 1993).
Has a son with Bruce Abbott: Dalton Abbott (born October 4, 1989).
Has an identical-twin sister (Leslie Hamilton Gearren), an older sister (Laura Hamilton) and a younger brother (John Hamilton).
Attended Wicomico Junior High School in Salisbury, Maryland, with her identical-twin sister, Leslie Hamilton Gearren.
She reprised her Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) character, Sarah Connor, for the theme-park attraction T2 3-D: Battle Across Time (1996), a short film shot in a new 3-D process that makes the film appear to jump out at you.
While Hamilton was attending Washington College, the acting professor told her that she had no hope of earning a living as an actress.
After her role in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), she learned that she made such an impression as the pumped and ferociously tough Sarah Connor that she was typecast into being offered only roles for similarly tough characters.
She turned down a chance to reprise the role of Sarah Connor in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003).
Her identical twin sister Leslie Hamilton Gearren was Linda's double in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). Leslie is seen when Sarah is remembering playing with John at the park and when the T-1000 is impersonating her.
Sprained her ankle prior to filming The Terminator (1984) and it never quite healed right on account of all the running she had to do in the film. While filming Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), she suffered permanent hearing damage in one ear while she fired a gun inside an elevator without using her earplugs.
She divorced second husband James Cameron after discovering he was having an affair with actress Suzy Amis during the making of the movie Titanic (1997). Her divorce from him was the second-most expensive divorce next to that of Steven Spielberg and Amy Irving. Hamilton stood to take half of Cameron's earnings - close to $50 million.
Auditioned for the role of Captain Kathryn Janeway on Star Trek: Voyager (1995), which went to Kate Mulgrew.
Good friends with Beauty and the Beast (1987) co-star Ron Perlman. They reunited in the theater play "Love Letters" (1990), and in the post-Vietnam war drama Missing in America (2005).
Has appeared on television and revealed that she suffered from bipolar disorder. She said that her condition had destroyed her marriage to her first husband Bruce Abbott, abusing him verbally and physically, and that it also had ruined her marriage to second husband James Cameron. Linda said that it was her love for her two children that finally forced her to seek treatment, and she began taking medication. That was 10 years ago, and Linda says that she will always be grateful that she chose treatment and regrets the pain that her illness caused those she loves.
Personal Quotes
My heart is so light that it's amazing. I get to play all this grief, all this loss, all this disaster and chaos. It's hysterically funny. I am very light. I keep saying I'm Lucy Ricardo trapped in somebody else's body.
[At the 1997 Academy Awards, on then-husband James Cameron] My husband is the sexiest man in the world.
[on the development of the character Sarah Connor from the Terminator films] A woman who grows and transforms on screen is always a wonderful thing to play. Sarah went from a vulnerable, normal girl to someone who finds all of her deep reservoirs of strength and comes through it all.
[on her reaction to Arnold Schwarzenegger being cast as the Terminator in the original film] I didn't take Schwarzenegger very seriously as an actor at that time. I said, "Oh Lord, why cast a man who looks like a machine as a machine? Cast somebody who's very thin to do these superhuman acts." And I was wrong. He was used tremendously effectively, and he was served very well by that film.
[on James Cameron after their divorce] I love him as much as I ever did. But that doesn't mean that the heartache wasn't huge and I haven't suffered. I knew how Jim was when I married him and I love him still.
[on her marriage to James Cameron] He was all brain and work and I was all heart and living. He had guns next to his side of the bed and I had crystals and fertility symbols next to mine. We were just really not meant to be together. Nowadays, we just tease and play and have a lot of respect for each other. I think the man is an extraordinary director. He is a complete genius.
[on why she turned down Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)] They offered me a part. I read it and knew my character arc was so complete after the first two, but in the third one, it was negligible. She died halfway through and there was no time to mourn her. It was all so disposable so I said no thank you.
[1991, on leaving Beauty and the Beast (1987) to devote her time to motherhood] It was a leap of faith. One never knows what one is doing in my opinion. I just have to trust in the perfection of my instincts: that wherever I am or wherever I'm going to go is exactly where I'm supposed to be. I do believe that in my life -- it's very comforting.
