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Ashley Judd (born Ashley Tyler Ciminella
on 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.
Biography: Judd was born in Granada Hills,
California to Michael Ciminella, Jr., an Italian
American marketing analyst for the horseracing industry,
and Naomi Judd, a well-known country music singer; she
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 wouldn'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 in poverty. The family sometimes lived
without running water, electricity, or a telephone.
Judd was raised in her mother's Baptist religion, and
attended twelve schools before college. 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 did not 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 had 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 Star Trek: The Next Generation.
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 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 moderate reviews and mixed box
office, although she did receive positive notices for
her performance in the 2004 biography of Cole Porter,
De-Lovely, opposite Kevin Kline.
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.
Personal life: During the 1990s, Judd dated
baseball player Brady Anderson, singers Lyle Lovett and
Michael Bolton, and actors Matthew McConaughey and
Robert DeNiro. She became engaged to Scottish CART,
later IndyCar 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 of
Franklin, Tennessee. Judd can be easily be recognized in
Gasoline Alley in her white hat almost every year, and
was present at the 2007 Indianapolis 500 when her
husband won the race.
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. At the request of her cousin, 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
international organization 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. |
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