Kathryn Hunter

Kathryn Hunter (birthname: Aikaterini Hadjipateras) is one of the most acclaimed British-based (though American-born) stage actors, acclaimed for extraordinary physical performances, who has also acted in a brief list of movies but with a remarkable roster of world-class filmmakers, including Sophie Barthes, Joel Coen, Francis Ford Coppola, Matteo Garrone, Peter Greenaway, Yorgos Lanthimos, Mike Leigh, Sally Potter, and Julie Taymor.

Hunter made her cinema debut as an actor in Sally Potter’s gorgeous adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s novel, Orlando (1992), starring Tilda Swinton, Billy Zane, Lothaire Bluteau, John Wood, and Quentin Crisp, premiering at the Venice Film Festival and grossing an excellent $13 million.

Hunter was cast for the ensemble of Peter Greenaway’s highly charged drama, The Baby of Macon (1993), starring Julia Ormond, Ralph Fiennes, Philip Stone, Jonathan Lacey, and Don Henderson, and premiering at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival to extremely divided reviews and which wasn’t released in the U.S. until 1997. Hunter joined another notable British filmmaker, Mike Leigh, for his acclaimed drama All or Nothing (2002), starring Timothy Spall, Lesley Manville, James Corden, Ruth Sheen, and Sally Hawkins, premiering at the Cannes Film Festival.

Kathryn Hunter was cast in her first major studio movie and biggest grosser ($942 million) in the Harry Potter sequel, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), directed by David Yates and starring a Who’s Who of Anglo acting royalty including Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Brendan Gleeson, Richard Griffiths, Jason Isaacs, Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman, Fiona Shaw, Maggie Smith, Imelda Staunton, David Thewlis, Emma Thompson, and Julie Walters.

Hunter co-starred with David Harewood and Max Casella in Julie Taymor’s filmed record of her production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2014) at the Brooklyn-based Theatre for a New Audience, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. Hunter played her first of two consecutive film roles as a witch in director/writer/producer Matteo Garrone’s fantastical Tale of Tales (2015), based on Giambattista Basile’s 17^th-century Neapolitan fairy tale collection, Pentamerone, with Salma Hayek, Vincent Cassel, Toby Jones, John C. Reilly, and Shirley Henderson, grossing $5.5 million (against a $14.5 million budget), after premiering in competition at the Cannes Film Festival.

Hunter earned her greatest acclaim in a movie to date in her astounding performance as all three witches in Joel Coen’s stark black-and-white version of Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021), earning her the Best Supporting Actress award from the New York Film Critics Circle, starring Denzel Washington, Frances McDormand, Harry Melling, and Brendan Gleeson, and released via Apple Original Films.

Kathryn Hunter co-starred with Rory Alexander and Mark Rylance in the indie British drama, Inland (2022), marking the feature debut of director/writer/producer Fridtjof Ryder and released by Verve after premiering at the London Film Festival. Then Hunter soon jumped into the production of director/writer Sophie Barthes’ future-set comedy, The Pod Generation (2023), with Emilia Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival before a release by Roadside Attractions/Vertical Entertainment.

Hunter was then cast by filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos for his astonishing version (with screenwriter Tony McNamara) of Alasdair Gray’s 1992 novel, Poor Things (2023), starring Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, and Christopher Abbott, winning the Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion (for best premiere in the competition) as well as four Oscars (including best actress for Stone), and grossing a solid $117.6 million for Fox Searchlight (against $35 million costs).

Hunter co-starred with Brandy in a boldly physical performance in Max and Sam Eggers’ surreal thriller, The Front Room (2024), based on Susan Hill’s short story, and co-starring Andrew Burnap, and Neal Huff, and released by A24. Hunter then joined the sprawling ensemble of Francis Ford Coppola’s long-in-the-making utopian epic, Megalopolis (2024), starring Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel, Giancarlo Esposito, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Talia Shire, Jason Schwartzman, and Dustin Hoffman. Kathryn Hunter co-starred in Paramount Pictures’ horror movie, Vicious (2025), directed and written by Bryan Bertino, with Dakota Fanning, Mary McCormack, Rachel Blanchard, and Devyn Nekoda.