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Ashley Judd (born April 19, 1968) is
an American actress, well known for playing a number of strong women
characters in films such as Ruby in Paradise, Kiss the Girls, Double
Jeopardy, and High Crimes.
Ashley is the daughter of Naomi Judd, a country music singer and
motivational speaker, and Michael Ciminella Jr., a marketing analyst for
the horseracing industry. Ashley's elder half-sister Wynonna is also a
country music singer. At the time of her birth, her mother was unemployed
and did not become well-known as a singer until the early 1980s. Judd's
parents divorced in 1972, and in 1973, her mother took her back to her
native Kentucky, where Judd mostly grew up. She also lived in Marin
County, California for two years during grade school.
Judd attended thirteen schools before college, including the Sayre School
in Lexington, Kentucky and Franklin High School in Tennessee. She briefly
tried modeling in Japan during one school break. An alumna of the sorority
Kappa Kappa Gamma at the University of Kentucky, she majored in French and
minored in anthropology, art history, theater and women's studies. She
spent a semester studying in France as part of her major, a move that
mirrored her role as Reed in the television series Sisters. She graduated
from the UK Honors Program and was nominated to Phi Beta Kappa, but did
not graduate with her class. Forgoing her commitment to join the Peace
Corps, after college she drove to Hollywood, where she studied with
well-respected acting teacher, Robert Carnegie, at Playhouse West. During
this time, she worked as a hostess at The Ivy restaurant and lived in a
Malibu rental house, which burned down during the great Malibu fires of
fall 1993. On May 9, 2007, it was announced Judd had completed her
bachelor's degree in French from the University of Kentucky. In a May 2007
appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Judd explained she had completed
her degree requirements in 1990 with 27 more hours taken than the required
120 hours, but had mistakenly thought she was one class short. She only
needed to "sign a piece of paper" in order to graduate. DeGeneres then
surprised Judd by presenting her with her diploma, which DeGeneres had
acquired from the university.
Judd appeared as Ensign Robin Lefler, a Starfleet officer, in two 1991
episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Darmok" and "The Game". From
1991 to 1994, she had a recurring role as Reed, the daughter of Alex
(Swoosie Kurtz), on the NBC drama Sisters. She made her feature film debut
with a small role in 1992's Kuffs. In 1993 Judd fought for and was cast in
her first starring role playing the title character in Victor Nuñez's
Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize Winning, Ruby in Paradise. She
received rave reviews playing Ruby Lee Gissing, a young woman trying to
make a new life for herself, and it was this performance that would launch
her career as an actress. Oliver Stone, who had seen her in Nuñez's film,
cast Judd in Natural Born Killers, but her scenes were later cut from the
version of the film released theatrically. The following year she gained
further critical acclaim for her role as Harvey Keitel's estranged
daughter in Wayne Wang's Smoke and also as Val Kilmer's wife in Michael
Mann's Heat. That same year she also played the role of Callie in Philip
Ridley's dark, adult fairy tale, The Passion of Darkly Noon.
By the end of the 1990s, Judd had managed to achieve significant fame and
success as a leading actress, after leading roles in several thrillers
that performed well at the box office, including Kiss the Girls in 1997
and 1999's Double Jeopardy. Several of her early 2000s films, including
2001's Someone Like You and 2002's High Crimes, received only mixed
reviews and moderate box office success; although, she did receive
positive recognition, and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress, for
her performance in the 2004 biography of Cole Porter, De-Lovely, opposite
Kevin Kline.
Judd is currently the magazine advertising "face" of American Beauty, an
Estée Lauder cosmetic brand sold exclusively at Kohl's department stores,
and H. Stern jewelers. In June 2007, Goody's Family Clothing announced
they were going to be releasing three fashion clothing lines with Judd in
the Fall to be called - "AJ", "Love Ashley" and "Ashley Judd." Regarding
the clothing line, Judd said, "I'm thrilled to be involved in a clothing
line that provides simple, lovely solutions for women's wardrobes. I've
always loved items that you can throw on easily and know that you'll feel
and look good. This line does just that, while keeping with the best of
current styles and trends."
During the 1990s, Judd dated baseball player Brady Anderson, singer
Michael Bolton, and actor Matthew McConaughey. In December 1999, she
became engaged to Scottish auto racer Dario Franchitti, who was at the
time driving in Champ Car World Series (he has since raced in IndyCars and
NASCAR). The two were married at Skibo Castle, near Dornoch, Scotland, on
December 12, 2001. She and her husband divide their time between a home in
Scotland and their farm outside Franklin, Tennessee.
Ashley regularly attends University of Kentucky basketball games,
frequently sitting in the student section but she also attended a few of
Kentucky's football games. Last year, Judd was a guest columnist for a
local Kentucky newspaper, writing about the NCAA championships. She is
frequently sought out for celebrity camera shots during televised games.
Judd posed for a poster wearing only a hockey jersey for fund raising
purposes for their alma mater's hockey team. She is also an avid
practitioner of yoga, cooking and gardening.
In February 2006, Judd entered a program at Shades of Hope Treatment
Center in Buffalo Gap, Texas and stayed for 47 days. She was there because
of personal issues, including depression and codependency.
A disagreement between Judd and Indy race car driver Milka Duno took place
during the 2007 Indy Racing League season. After the final race of the
2007 season, the actress stated to the assembled news media, "I know this
is not very sportsmanlike, but they've got to get the 23 car (Duno) off
the track. It's very dangerous. I'm tired of holding my tongue. She
shouldn't be out there. When a car is 10 miles (an hour) off the pace,
it's not appropriate to be racing. People's lives are at stake."
Judd was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Union College
in Barbourville, Kentucky on May 9, 2009. In July 2009, Judd enrolled at
Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government in the Mid-Career Master in
Public Administration (MC/MPA) program.
In 2008, Ashley supported Barack Obama. In 2009, Judd appeared in a
one-minute video advertisement for the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund,
in which Judd condemned Alaska governor Sarah Palin for supporting aerial
wolf hunting. In response, Palin stated the reason these wolves are killed
is to protect the caribou population in Alaska, and she called the
Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund an "extreme fringe group".
Judd is active in humanitarian and political causes. She was appointed
Global Ambassador for YouthAIDS, an education and prevention program of
the international NGO Population Services International (PSI), promoting
AIDS prevention and treatment, and speaks and demonstrates at pro-choice
events. Judd was honored November 10 as the recipient of the fourth annual
USA TODAY Hollywood Hero. Award for her work with PSI. Judd received the
award at a private award gala on the evening of November 10, 2009 at The
Montage Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills. Guests enjoyed special
celebrity tributes to Ashley Judd, dinner, a silent auction and an
exciting live auction, with all proceeds to benefit PSI. On October 29,
2006, Judd appeared at a "Women for Ford" event for Democratic Tennessee
Senate candidate Harold Ford, Jr. She has also campaigned extensively
locally and nationally for a variety of Democratic candidates, including
President Barack Obama in critical swing states. |
