Linda Carroll Hamilton (born September 26, 1956) is a Saturn Award-winning, Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated American actress, best known as Sarah Connor in The Terminator and its sequel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Hamilton was born in Salisbury, Maryland to a physician father who died when she was five. She has said that she was raised in a "very boring, white Anglo-Saxon" family, and "voraciously read books" during her spare time. Hamilton went to Wicomico Junior High (now Wicomico Middle School) and Wicomico High School in Salisbury, Maryland, with her identical twin sister, Leslie Hamilton Gearren. She studied for two years at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, before moving on to acting studies in New York. While attending Washington College, her acting professor told her she had no hope of earning a living as an actress. In New York she attended acting workshops given by Lee Strasberg.

Hamilton's acting debut came first with guest starring appearances on television. Hamilton's film debut was a lead role in the horror film Children of the Corn. The movie was panned by critics, but it made a profit at the box office, and had a strong cult following. Hamilton's next role was in The Terminator in 1984. The movie was a huge commercial success. Following The Terminator, Hamilton starred in Black Moon Rising, an action thriller starring Tommy Lee Jones. She then returned to television in the mystery comedy Murder, She Wrote, scoring favorable reviews.

Hamilton then starred opposite Ron Perlman in the TV series Beauty and the Beast. The series was critically-acclaimed and she received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. Hamilton left the series in 1989; after the series ended in 1990, Hamilton went back to the big screen with the follow-up to The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The film was a smash at the box office, grossing over 500 million, and becoming the highest grossing film of 1991. Her identical twin sister Leslie Hamilton Gearren was Linda's double in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Hamilton reprised her Terminator 2 character, Sarah Connor, for the theme park attraction "T2-3D".

Due to the success of the Terminator series, Hamilton hosted Saturday Night Live. She then returned to television in A Mother's Prayer playing a mother who lost her husband and is diagnosed with AIDS. She earned yet another Golden Globe nomination. That same year, Hamilton filmed two motion pictures, Shadow Conspiracy and Dante's Peak. Shadow Conspiracy flopped at the box office, but Dante's Peak opened in at number two with an opening gross of 18 million, going on to gross 180 million. Hamilton has since appeared on Frasier and has done more TV movies, including On the Line, Robots Rising, Rescuers: Stories of Courage: Two Couples, Point Last Seen, and The Color of Courage.

Hamilton has been married and divorced two times. Her first marriage was to Bruce Abbott, from 1982 to 1989. They had a son, Dalton Abbott, born on October 4, 1989. Her second marriage was to film director James Cameron from 1997 to 1999; they had a daughter, Josephine Archer Cameron, born on February 15, 1993. They divorced after Linda discovered he was having an affair with actress Suzy Amis during the making of the movie Titanic, the end result of that affair netted Linda an 80 million dollar divorce settlement.

Hamilton appeared on the October 14, 2005, episode of Larry King Live to reveal that she suffered from bipolar disorder. She revealed that her condition destroyed her marriage to her first husband, Bruce Abbott, revealing that she abused him verbally and physically. Linda said that it was her love for her two children that finally forced her to seek treatment and she began taking medication in 1996. Linda says that she will always be grateful she chose treatment and regrets the pain it caused those she loves.

Hamilton is good friends with former Beauty and the Beast co-star Ron Perlman. They reunited in the post-Vietnam war drama Missing in America.

*Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA ** 1992 – Won Saturn Award Best Actress for Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) *Blockbuster Entertainment Awards ** 1998 – Won Blockbuster Entertainment Award Favorite Actress—Action/Adventure for Dante's Peak (1997) *CableACE Awards ** 1995 – Won CableACE Actress in a Movie or Miniseries for A Mother's Prayer (1995) (TV) *DVD Exclusive Awards **2001 – Won Video Premiere Award Best Supporting Actress for: Skeletons in the Closet (2001)

*MTV Movie Awards **1992 – Won MTV Movie Award Best Female Performance for Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) **1992 – Won MTV Movie Award Most Desirable Female *Satellite Awards ** 2000 – Won Golden Satellite Award Best Performance by an Actress in a Miniseries or a Motion Picture Made for Television for The Color of Courage (1999) (TV)

Beauty and the beast

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* * *2006 Linda Hamilton Interview on Sidewalks Entertainment *Linda Hamilton interview with Larry King *20th Anniversary of Beauty and the Beast Television Series