Hurd is the daughter of a Los Angeles businessman and grew up in Palm Springs, California. She formed her own production company, Pacific Western Productions, in 1982. Hurd has produced many movies including The Terminator (1984), Aliens (1986), The Abyss (1989), and Armageddon (1998). Many of her films were directed by former husband, James Cameron, to whom she was married from 1985 to 1989. Her recent run of films however have been received poorly at the box office, including Hulk (2003), The Punisher (2004) and Ĉon Flux (2005).