September 2013

renaissance woman During the shoot, Stephanie Hunt's sisterly banter with Phoebe ranged from comments on clothing and accessories that brought out their best features— or definitely did not—to playfully self-deprecating remarks: “Oh yeah, work it!” and “Does this make my (fill in the blank) look big?” to “You definitely should buy those jeans; you look hot in those.” to critiques of music and musicians and light gossip about the Hollywood scene. Growing up in Austin (they graduated from Bowie High School), the pair also shared a love of music and all things ATX. Stephanie Hunt is a renaissance woman, wearing the multiple hats of musician, composer, actress, producer and screenwriter. She is in a band, Nancy and Beth (“No one knows who Nancy and Beth are.”) with comedienne and actress Megan Mullally. Their recent appearance on Conan was a hit, and they will be touring the East coast in September. You may also recognize Stephanie Hunt as part of Austin-based T Bird and the Breaks, or from her roles on Friday Night Lights, Californication and most recently, How to Live With Your Parents for the Rest of Your Life.

In 2009, Hunta produced, acted in, composed music for and co-wrote Love and Tambourines along with Austinite Jeremy Cohen. The documentary-style exploration of love, music and the space in between, through the lens of two friends spending Valentine’s Day together, got rave reviews at the Austin Film Festival. The pair just completed Dalai Lama, a short starring Hunt as a girl who becomes “too good at meditating.” The film premiered last month at the HollyShorts Film Festival in Los Angeles.

Based mostly in Los Angeles, Stephanie Hunt plans to spend as much time in Austin as possible. Following our shoot, she was rushing to catch a plane but vowed to be back soon. After a quick hug she said, “I love my family and I love Austin. The place feeds my creativity.”

—Deborah Hamilton-Lynne