Ashley Judd Biography

NAME: Ashley Judd

OCCUPATION: Actress

BIRTH DATE: April 19, 1968 (Age: 43)

EDUCATION: University of Kentucky, Playhouse West

PLACE OF BIRTH: Los Angeles, California

Actress. Born Ashley Tyler Ciminella, on April 19, 1968, in Los Angeles, California. Her father, sports broadcasting producer Michael Ciminella, left the family before she was four years old; Ashley moved with her mother, Naomi Judd, and older sister, Wynonna Judd, to her parents' native state of Kentucky soon after. She was 15 when her mother and sister signed their first record deal, with RCA, as the country-singing duo the Judds. While Naomi and Wynonna were away on tour, Judd often stayed with her maternal grandmother and paternal grandparents; she sometimes lived with her father, who was based in Louisville. She also traveled with the Judds, reportedly earning $10 per day to clean the duo's tour bus.

The studious Judd attended college at the University of Kentucky, where she majored in French and graduated Phi Beta Kappa. Judd considered joining the Peace Corps but was encouraged by Wynonna, among others, to try her luck in Hollywood. She moved to Los Angeles in 1990, where she began studying acting at the prestigious Playhouse West school. After two years of study, Judd won a small role in the disappointing Christian Slater vehicle Kuffs (1992), which was enough to earn her a Screen Actor's Guild card.

Exhibiting both beauty and intelligence, actress Ashley Judd stepped out from the shadows of her country music star mother and sister to become one of the more sought-after female leads of the late 1990s. After a pair of early performances on the science fiction franchise "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (syndicated, 1987-1994), she landed her breakthrough role in the inspirational drama "Ruby in Paradise" (1993). Soon after, Judd played Val Kilmer's put-upon wife in the crime thriller "Heat" (1995), and essayed a pre-fame Marilyn Monroe in "Norma Jean & Marilyn" (HBO, 1996). However, it was as a kidnap victim who eludes her psychotic captor in "Kiss the Girls"(1997) that the actress' Hollywood stock rose dramatically. Although future projects met with varying degrees of success, Judd still managed to deliver strong performances as complex women in films like the adaptation of the best-selling novel "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" (2002), and the creepy-crawly horror feature "Bug" (2006). After seeking treatment for her life-long issues of depression and loneliness, Judd published her cathartic memoir All That is Bitter & Sweet in 2011, a less-than glamorous portrait of her famous family. While not maintaining the A-list profile of film contemporaries like Sandra Bullock, Judd continued to seek out roles that were both challenging and accessible, balanced by her personal life far from the lights of Hollywood.