Ashley Judd (born April 19, 1968)[2] is an American actress and activist. She grew up in a family of performing artists, the daughter of country music singerNaomi Judd and the half-sister of country music singerWynonna Judd. Her acting career has spanned more than three decades, and she has become heavily involved in global humanitarian efforts and political activism. Judd made her television debut in 1991 with a guest role onStar Trek: The Next Generation and her film debut in 1992'sKuffs.
Judd was born Ashley Tyler Ciminella,[1] in 1968 inGranada Hills, Los Angeles. Her parents areNaomi Judd, who later became acountry music singer and motivational speaker, and Michael Charles Ciminella, a marketing analyst for thehorse racing industry.[3][2] Ashley's elder half-sister,Wynonna Judd, is also a country music singer.
Ashley's paternal grandfather was ofSicilian (Italian) descent, and her paternal grandmother was a descendant of Mayflower pilgrimWilliam Brewster.[4]
When Judd was born, her mother was a homemaker. Judd's parents divorced in 1972 when she was four. The following year, Judd's mother Naomi returned with Ashley toKentucky, where Judd lived for most of her childhood.[5] Judd has stated that even if she professionally uses her mother's maiden name, her legal surname is still the Ciminella of her father, as "I loved both my last names and the branches of the family they represented", and the one time she tried to legally change it the judge refused it.[6]
After college Judd moved to Hollywood, where she studied with acting teacher Robert Carnegie atPlayhouse West. During this time, she worked as a hostess atThe Ivy restaurant and lived in aMalibu rental house. Around that time, she returned East toWilliamson County, Tennessee, where she lived near her mother and sister.[8]
She made her feature film debut with a small role in 1992'sKuffs. In 1993, she was cast in her first starring role playing the title character inVictor Nuñez'sRuby in Paradise. This won theSundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize. Believing that this role would shape the rest of her career, Judd was extremely nervous before the audition, nearly getting into a car accident en route. "From the first three sentences, I knew it was written for me", she told theSan Jose Mercury News.[9] She received rave reviews in her role as Ruby Lee Gissing, a young woman trying to make a new life for herself.[citation needed]
Nuñez told biographer James L. Dickerson that Judd created the resonance of this character: "The resonance, those moments, was not contrived. It was just a matter of creating the scene and trusting that it was worth telling."[10]
In 1996, she co-starred withMira Sorvino asMarilyn Monroe inNorma Jean and Marilyn, where she recreated the photo shoot for the centerfold for the first issue ofPlayboy. The same year she had a supporting role in the thriller filmA Time to Kill. It received positive reviews and was a major box office success. By the end of the 1990s, Judd had achieved considerable success as a leading actress, having lead roles in additional thrillers that performed well at the box office, includingKiss the Girls (1997) andDouble Jeopardy (1999).[citation needed]
In 2014, Judd was the narrator of the documentary film about Turkish preacherFethullah Gülen,Love Is a Verb, directed by Terry Spencer Hesser.[18] The following year she became the first woman to narrate the opening for the telecast of theKentucky Derby.[19][20]
Starting in 2004, Judd was the advertising "face" of American Beauty,[21] anEstée Lauder cosmetic brand sold atKohl's department stores, and ofH. Stern jewelers. In June 2007,Goody's Family Clothing launched three fashion clothing lines with Judd in the fall to be called "AJ", "Love Ashley", and "Ashley Judd". In 2008 they added an "Ashley Judd Plus" line.[22]
In December 1999, Judd became engaged toDario Franchitti, a Scottish racing driver who competed inChampionship Auto Racing Teams (CART). They married in December 2001 atSkibo Castle in Scotland.[23][24] They did not have any children, as she is known to have said: "It's unconscionable to breed with the number of children who are starving to death in impoverished countries."[24] They divorced in 2013.[25]
In February 2006, she entered a program at Shades of Hope Treatment Center inBuffalo Gap, Texas and stayed for 47 days.[30] She was there for treatment of depression, insomnia, andcodependency.[31]
In 2011, Judd released her memoirAll That is Bitter and Sweet, in which she discusses her life from adolescence to adulthood.[32] The memoir concentrates on her humanitarian work as an adult.
In February 2021, while hiking in the jungle in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Judd shattered her leg. Porters transported her for 55 hours to reach a hospital for surgery in South Africa.[33]
Judd is a Christian and cited her faith as why she went public againstHarvey Weinstein.[34]
During the 2007IndyCar season, Judd criticized allowing rookieMilka Duno to race. After the final race, Judd said to reporters "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."[40][41]
In October 2015, Judd toldVariety that she had been sexually harassed by a studio mogul but did not name the person. In October 2017, she said the person wasHarvey Weinstein, co-founder ofMiramax, and said that the sexual harassment occurred during the filming ofKiss the Girls.[42]
On April 30, 2018, Judd filed adefamation andsexual harassment lawsuit against Weinstein, stating that he hurt her career by spreading lies about her after she rejected his sexual advances.[43] Weinstein filed a motion to dismiss in July.[44] In January 2019, a federal judge in California dismissed Judd's claim of sexual harassment against Weinstein but allowed Judd to pursue her defamation claim that Weinstein sabotaged her career.[45]
At theWomen in the World summit in April 2019, Judd addressedGeorgia's six-week abortion ban, which had been passed in March 2019. She said that she had been raped three times, and became pregnant once. She said, "As everyone knows, and I'm very open about it, I'm a three-time rape survivor. One of the times that I was raped there was conception and I'm very thankful I was able to access safe and legal abortion. Because the rapist, who is a Kentuckian, as am I, and I reside in Tennessee, has paternity rights in Kentucky and Tennessee, I would've had to co-parent with my rapist."[46]
Judd (upper left) on the cover ofMs. magazine's "This is what a feminist looks like" 2003 issue
Judd has conducted humanitarian work that focuses on gender equality, pro abortion causes and the rights of women and girls. In 2016, she was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador forUNFPA, the United Nations agency with responsibilities including sexual and reproductive health. As of May 2018, she had visited UNFPA's projects for women and girls affected by humanitarian crises in Jordan,[47] Turkey, Ukraine,[48] and Bangladesh,[49] and its development work in India[50] and Sri Lanka.[51]
Judd has travelled withYouthAIDS to places affected by illness and poverty, such as Cambodia, Kenya, and Rwanda.[52] She has become an advocate for preventing poverty and promoting awareness internationally. She has met with political and religious leaders on behalf of the deprived about political and social change.[52] Judd has narrated three documentaries for YouthAIDS that aired on theDiscovery Channel, inNational Geographic, and onVH1.
In 2011, she joined the Leadership Council of theInternational Center for Research on Women.[53] Other organizations Judd has been involved with includeWomen for Women International andEquality Now.[52] She is a member of the advisory board for Apne Aap Women Worldwide, an organization fighting sex-trafficking and inter-generational prostitution in India.[54] Judd is active on the speakers' circuit, giving speeches about gender equality, abuse and humanitarian topics.[55]
In 2008, Judd supportedBarack Obama's presidential campaign. In 2009, she appeared in a one-minute video advertisement for theDefenders of Wildlife Action Fund, in which Judd condemnedAlaska GovernorSarah Palin for supporting aerialwolf hunting.[56] In response, Palin stated the reason these wolves are killed is to protect thecaribou population in Alaska. Palin called the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund an "extreme fringe group".[57] In 2010, Judd signed theAnimal Legal Defense Fund's petition to urgeKentucky GovernorSteve Beshear to protect that state's homeless animals through tough enforcement of Kentucky's Humane Shelter Law.[58]
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. Judd was honored November 10, 2009, as the recipient of the fourth annualUSA Today Hollywood Hero, awarded for her work with PSI.[59] On October 29, 2006, Judd appeared at a "Women for Ford" event forDemocratic TennesseeSenate candidateHarold Ford Jr. She has also campaigned extensively both locally and nationally for a variety of Democratic candidates, including President Barack Obama in critical swing states.
On September 8, 2010,CNN interviewed Judd about her second humanitarian mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[60] Judd traveled with theEnough Project, a project to end genocide and crimes against humanity. In the interview, Judd discussed her efforts to raise awareness about howconflict minerals fuel sexual violence in Congo. During her trip, Judd visited hospitals for victims of sexual violence, camps for displaced persons, mines, and civil society organizations. On September 30, 2010, CNN published an op-ed titled "Ashley Judd: Electronics fuel unspeakable violence"[61] by Judd and Enough Project co-founderJohn Prendergast regarding the continued violence in Congo. On November 26, 2010, she published a subsequent op-ed, "Costs of Convenience",[62] excerpted from her trip diary from eastern Congo. These pieces discussed the recent provision in theDodd-Frank Reform bill that requires companies to prove where their minerals originated, and the link between modern electronics (which rely on those minerals) and mining camps plagued by such violence.
In February 2013, she invited her Twitter followers to join a mailing list, hinting that she might ultimately announce a run for the Senate to those on the list.[65] However, she announced on March 27, 2013, that she would not run, citing her need to be focused on her family.[66] Judd later endorsedKentucky Secretary of StateAlison Lundergan Grimes.[67][68]
^Kentucky Colonels, Honorable Order of."Colonels website". Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels. Archived fromthe original on October 12, 2007. RetrievedDecember 21, 2009.
