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Bonnie Hunt’s heartfelt inspiration behind ‘Amber Brown’ series

Bonnie Hunt is a Hollywood triple threat. Not only does she act, but she also works behind-the-scenes.

On her latest project, “Amber Brown,” she’s the writer and executive producer. She brought the show to life by directing the very first episode.


The “Jerry McGuire” star brought the book to life after initially wanting to do a story based on her life as an aunt to multiple nieces and nephews. That idea was given to her by her late-mother. Later, Hunt then ran into an executive at Boat Rocker who had the rights to the story, and the rest was Hollywood magic.

Hunt then met with the family of the “Amber Brown” author, and they allowed her to put her own spin on the story. She even took anecdotes from her own life.

“I got to make Amber an artist. When I was a kid, I was always sketching to deal with my emotions,” she said. “There are some episodes where Amber volunteers in a nursing home, which my mom had me do when I was a teenager. I, at first, resented it, and I [later] got great value from it as a young woman.”

“Amber Brown” became a special memory between her and her mother, Alice, who died in November at 95.

“My mom was right by my side when we were watching the auditions over zoom,” she said. “So, it’s a really special memory putting the show together.”

“Amber Brown” is streaming now on Apple TV+.