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Beauty, brains and talent
Lameez Abrahams
Posted Wed, 27 Jun 2001
Brainy and talented actress Ashley Judd was born on 19 April 1968 in Los Angeles to a single mother, country superstar Naomi Judd. Life was not rosy for the Judd family: they were dirt poor, and suffered a nomadic existence, with Judd’s mother taking odd jobs to support her daughters (Ashley has a younger half-sister Wynnona, who followed her mom’s footstep into the country music industry). Over thirteen years, Ashley attended twelve different schools in Kentucky and California, until Naomi and Wynonna finally hit it big in the country music business.
With no forms of entertainment, the young Ashley read books and amused herself by pretending to be various characters. After her sister and mother’s careers took off, putting an end to a life of hardship, Ashley attended the University of Kentucky, graduating in 1990 with a degree in French.
While Ashley toyed with the idea of working for the Peace Corps in Africa, her sister encouraged her to try acting. And she was an instant success: on the day she arrived in Los Angeles she secured an agent.
Ashley’s first audition won her a small part in Christian Slater’s “Kuffs”(1992). Judd was originally meant to have a larger part, but rejected it when she learned of a nude scene. Shortly afterward, she landed a recurring role on the television series “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and went on to play Swoosie Kurtz's daughter on “Sisters”.
Ashley’s first major role was in the independent drama “Ruby In Paradise” (1993). She garnered considerable acclaim for her subtle, realistic portrayal of a spoiled Tennessee heiress who runs away to sell tourist jewellery in a horrible resort. The role won her an Independent Spirit Award at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival, while the film was awarded the Grand Jury Prize.
After filming Oliver Stone’s “Natural Born Killers”, only to have her scenes end up on the cutting room floor, Judd found acclaim with her turn in the 1995 “Smoke”, in which she played the pregnant, drug-addicted daughter of Harvey Keitel and Stockard Channing. Next came the much-lauded “Heat” (1995), and then the made-for-television Marilyn Monroe biopic, “Norma Jean and Marilyn” (1996) in which she starred alongside Mira Sorvino.
A role of note came as Matthew McConaughey's wife in Joel Schumacher's adaptation of John Grisham's novel “A Time to Kill” (1996). A lead in the crime flop “A Normal Life” (1996) didn’t do much to further Judd’s career, but this was redeemed by a solid role the following year in the thriller “Kiss the Girls” alongside Morgan Freeman.
Ashley’s most recent starring roles have been critical disappointments: the 1998 drama “Simon Birch”, and 1999’s “Double Jeopardy”, where she played an ex-convict planning revenge on those who framed her for a crime she did not commit.
Judd switched gears in 2000, starring as a friend and mentor to a pregnant 17-year-old (Natalie Portman) in “Where the Heart Is”. The post-noir thriller “Eye of the Beholder” was released the same year, pairing Judd with Ewan McGregor in hi-tech espionage.
The stunning actress has been romantically linked with co-starsRobert De Niro and Matthew McConaughey, and she indulged in a short-lived fling with singer Michael Bolton. Her engagement to racing driver Dario Franchitti was announced in April 2000, a day after the release of her latest film, tear-jearker “Someone like You.” Here, Judd plays a talk show talent booker who concocts a theory about the animal nature of men after being dumped by her beau (Greg Kinnear).
