Ashley Judd

American screen actress who spent much of the early 1990s in supporting roles while gaining industry respect and a huge fan following. During the latter half of the decade, Judd became one of the most in-demand actresses in Hollywood, starring in numerous high-profile films including A Time to Kill (1996), Kiss The Girls (1997), Double Jeopardy (1999) and Where The Heart Is (2000). She starred as Rebecca Winstone in the 2012 television series Missing, for which she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie.

The daughter of country-music star Naomi Judd and Michael Ciminella, a marketing specialist, Ashley grew up in near-poverty after her parents divorced in 1972. Her older sister, Wynonna, a singer like their mother, absorbed herself in her music while Ashley read books and retreated into a fantasy world where she pretended to be various characters from the stories she loved. Their mother supported the family by working odd jobs, which resulted in frequent moves. As a consequence, Ashley attended 12 different schools by the time she was 13 years old. After her mother and sister became big-name country-music stars, Ashley attended the University of Kentucky. In 1990, she graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in French.

Beauty, brains and talent, combined with an outgoing nature and self-assured attitude, proved invaluable when Ashley headed for Hollywood where she marched into an agent’s office and was signed immediately. In 1987 she won a part on Star Trek: The Next Generation and went on to a recurring role in Sisters from 1991-1994. Although she was originally cast in a much larger role in Kuffs (1992), she turned it down due to a nude scene, saying her "mother had worked too hard for me to take my clothes off in my first movie." Her first major role was in the independent film, Ruby in Paradise (1993), and she followed that success with a critically acclaimed appearance in Smoke (1995).