Linda Hamilton Says It’s 'Liberating' That Her Work at 69 Isn’t Based on 'Youth or Beauty' (Exclusive)
Linda Hamilton Says It’s 'Liberating' That Her Work at 69 Isn’t Based on 'Youth or Beauty' (Exclusive)
Brianne TracyWed, February 18, 2026 at 5:54 PM UTC
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Linda Hamilton
Jonathan Brady/PA Images via Getty
At 69, Linda Hamilton describes herself as a "workhorse"
The actress recently made a cameo in Dark Winds and had an important role in the fifth and final season of Stranger Things
"I really love the work that comes to me now, which isn't based on keeping your nails done or any of that stuff that goes with youth and beauty," she tells PEOPLE
Linda Hamilton is happily on a career roll.
Recently, the Terminator star, 69, made a cameo in the season 4 premiere episode of AMC's Dark Winds on Feb. 15, just months after her turn as Dr. Kay in the fifth and final season of Netflix's Stranger Things.
"I've been a workhorse, which is really strange," Hamilton tells PEOPLE. "I've sort of worked more as an older lady, as an older actress, than in my early career."
"I really love the work that comes to me now, which isn't based on keeping your nails done or any of that stuff that goes with youth and beauty," she continues. "I mean, it's liberating in some great way to shed all of that and just be a human being who is 69 years old on film. I'm glad I get to work. I really do love the work."
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Linda Hamilton in 'Stranger Things' season 5
Courtesy of Netflix
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Hamilton adds "we've all learned that you don't necessarily have much of a career as an aging actress."
"I feel like I kind of beat that a little bit," she says. "I beat that. I think in our 40s and 50s, maybe they don't quite know what to do with women, but now that I've safely arrived at this age, it's like, go ahead. It's quite wonderful."
When she looks ahead to her upcoming 70th birthday on Sept. 26, Hamilton says she wants to "reinvent myself" as "grandy" to her 1-year-old grandson. Hamilton's son Dalton Abbot, 36, whom she shares with ex-husband Bruce Abbot, welcomed the baby last year."This is a treasured time," she says. "I want more of it. I want to be that grandmother in his life. I feel just so deeply planted in my life because there's this little guy that shares it, and it's really an amazing feeling."
Despite not being an "oh-all-babies-smell-delicious kind of woman," Hamilton says the connection between her and her grandson is undeniable.
"I've looked in that baby's eyes over and over and over again, and I've just thought, 'What is happening?'" she says. "There is this connection between him and I. So, I'm happy to go with that for the rest of the year, really."
New episodes of Dark Winds season 4 air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on AMC and AMC+.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
