'Mr Mayor': How did Holly Hunter become deaf in one ear? Here's how she used the impediment to her advantage
'Mr Mayor' is almost here, and promises to be another fun sitcom. Ted Danson plays the role of Neil Bremer, a wealthy retired businessman and former billboard mogul, who ran for LA mayor rather impulsively and is now stuck in the position of running a major city without any expertise in the field. However, that doesn't mean he doesn't want to learn: Neil is optimistic and cheery, ready to meet the challenge of being mayor head-on and willing to put in the necessary work. He recruits his former campaign manager, social-media influencer Mikaela Shaw (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s Vella Lovell), as his chief of staff, and he appoints former city council member Arpi Meskimen (Holly Hunter) as deputy mayor as a way to keep an eye on his biggest critic.
Before the show releases, here's understanding a little more about the lives of the actors. While Danson's life is no secret, Holly's story is inspiring. She has played powerful women in her lifetime, Sally Yates in 'The Comey Rule' being just one of them and Elastigirl in 'The Incredibles', another. This is just one of the characters that she chooses: She seems to have an affinity with those characters who are reckless and are determined to choose their own path. And now, she is all set to impress with 'Mr Mayor'.
Holly didn't let her childhood hearing impairment stop her from acting. In childhood, she had a case of mumps and that lead to her losing her ability to hear in her left ear. Scenes are usually restaged to favor her right ear. But that has been far from an impediment in her illustrious career, which has spanned several decades.
The disability didn’t prevent her from learning to play the piano when she was 9, a skill she used for her role as a mute woman living in the 1850s in "The Piano." The effort won her an Oscar for Best Actress (1993) and was also nominated for an Academy Award in 'Broadcast News' as well as 'The Firm'. She is also a seven-time Primetime Emmy Award nominee and won hearts with her voicing of Elastigirl in 'The Incredibles' as well as the sequel. A tiny tidbit from Reddit reveals that due to the hearing impairment, Holly speaks mostly out of the right side of her mouth. Her character in 'The Incredibles' (Elastagirl/ Helen Parr) shares this trait.
She once said in an interview, "Acting for me is the last vestige of doing something that I would like to feel really naive about."
Catch her in 'Mr Mayor' on NBC, January 7.