Everything about Ashley Judd totally explained
Ashley Judd (born
April 19,
1968) is an
American actress. She is perhaps best known for her leading roles in a series of late 1990s and early 2000s thrillers, including
Kiss the Girls,
Double Jeopardy and
High Crimes. She has been nominated for two
Golden Globe Awards.
Biography
Early life
Judd was born
Ashley Tyler Ciminella in
Granada Hills,
California, the daughter of
Naomi Judd, a well-known
country music singer and motivational speaker, and Michael Ciminella, Jr., a marketing analyst for the
horseracing industry. Judd's father is of Italian descent. Judd has a half-sister,
Wynonna Judd, who is also a country music singer. At the time of her birth, her mother was working as a nurse, and didn't become well-known as a singer along with her daughter Wynonna until the early 1980s. Judd's parents divorced in 1972, and in 1974, her mother took her back to her own native
Kentucky, where Judd grew up.
Judd's mother raised her
Baptist, and she attended twelve schools before college including
Franklin High School (Tennessee). She briefly tried
modeling in
Japan during school breaks. 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 was in the UK Honors Program and was elected to
Phi Beta Kappa, but didn't graduate with her class, leaving university early to drive cross-country in pursuit of an acting career in
Hollywood, where she studied with well-respected acting teacher, Robert Carnegie, at Playhouse West. During this time, she worked as a waitress at "The Ivy" restaurant and lived in a
Malibu,
California house her sister bought her, which burned down during the great Malibu fires. On
May 9,
2007, it was announced that 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 that she'd completed her degree requirements in 1990, but had mistakenly thought she was one class short. She only needed to "sign a piece of paper" in order to graduate. Ellen then surprised Judd by presenting her with her diploma, which Degeneres had acquired from the university.
Career
Judd began acting on
television, and appeared as
Ensign Robin Lefler, a
Starfleet officer, in two 1991 episodes of . From 1991 to 1994 she'd a recurring role as Reed, the daughter of Alex (
Swoosie Kurtz), on the NBC drama
Sisters. She made her feature film debut in 1992's
Kuffs, and had the starring role in 1993's
independent film,
Ruby in Paradise, for which she received good reviews. She also had a role in the 1994
Oliver Stone film
Natural Born Killers, but her scenes were cut from the version of the film released theatrically. She gained further critical acclaim for her roles in 1995's
Smoke and
Heat. 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, although she did receive positive notices, and a
Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress, for her performance in the 2004 biography of
Cole Porter,
De-Lovely, opposite
Kevin Kline. Judd's movie nude scenes, notably in "Norma Jean and Marilyn" and "A Normal Life" have drawn frequent criticism from her family's southern, conservative fan base.
She is currently the magazine advertising "face" of American Beauty, an
Estee Lauder cosmetic brand sold exclusively at Kohl's department stores, and H. Stern jewelers. In June 2007, American family clothing retailer Goody's, announced that they were going to be releasing three fashion clothing lines with Judd in the Fall to be called - AJ(TM), Love Ashley(TM) and Ashley Judd(TM). "I'm thrilled to be involved in a clothing line that provides simple, lovely solutions for women’s wardrobes," said Ashley Judd in a statement. "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".
Personal life
During the 1990s, Judd dated baseball player
Brady Anderson, singers
Lyle Lovett and
Michael Bolton, and actors
Matthew McConaughey and
Robert De Niro. She became engaged to
Scottish CART, later
IndyCar driver, and now
NASCAR driver
Dario Franchitti, in December 1999, and 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. Judd can be easily be recognized in
Gasoline Alley wearing a white hat, and was present at the
2007 Indianapolis 500 when her husband won.
When in
Manhattan, she attends services at a
charismatic Missionary Baptist Church. Judd regularly attends
University of Kentucky basketball games, frequently sitting next to Donna Smith (wife of former UK Coach
Tubby Smith), or in the student section. Last year, she 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. She posed for a poster wearing only a
hockey jersey for fundraising 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 isolation.
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. On
October 29,
2006, Judd appeared at a "Women for Ford" event for
Democratic Tennessee Senate candidate
Harold Ford Jr.
A long running feud between Judd and Indy race car driver
Milka Duno took place throughout the 2007
IRL season. After the final race of the 2007 season the actress stated to the assembled news media that, "I know this isn't 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".
Filmography
Further Information
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