Celebrity Nooz: Ashley Judd

Ashley Judd (Actress) - Double Jeopardy

Updated: 4/30/09

Name: Ashley Judd

Birth Name: Ashley Tyler Ciminella

Born: April 19, 1968, Granada Hills, California

Claim To Fame: She is noted for her portrayal of strong woman characters in such films as Double Jeopardy, Kiss the Girls, and High Crimes.

Family Life: She has been married to Indy car racer Dario Franchitti since 2001. Judd is the daughter of well-known country singer Naomi Judd, and half-sister of Wynonna Judd.

Info: Judd attended twelve schools before college, including the Sayre School in Lexington, Kentucky and Franklin High School in Tennessee. Very involved in education, she majored in French and minored in anthropology, art history, theater and women's studies at the University of Kentucky.

She studied for a semester in France, was in the UK Honors Program, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. However, she left the university early to pursue an acting career in Hollywood, where she studied with well-respected acting teacher, Robert Carnegie, at Playhouse West.

Her first acting role was an appearance as Ensign Robin Lefler, a Starfleet officer, in two 1991 episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. She had a recurring role on the NBC drama Sisters from 1991-1994, and made her feature film debut in 1992's Kuffs. She starred in 1993's independent film Ruby in Paradise, appeared in 1995's Smoke and Heat, and played the role of Callie in Philip Ridley's dark, adult fairy tale, The Passion of Darkly Noon.

Leading roles in thrillers like 1997's Kiss the Girls and 1999's Double Jeopardy followed, increasing Judd's fame and success as a leading actress. Her early 2000s films, including Someone Like You and High Crimes, did not fare as well, but she did receive a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress for her performance in the 2004 biography of Cole Porter, De-Lovely, opposite Kevin Kline.

Trivia: Turned down a larger role in Kuffs (1992) because she was asked to do nude scenes.

Was a sister of the sorority Kappa Kappa Gamma and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa at the University of Kentucky.

Known to be a avid fan of the University of Kentucky Wildcats basketball team, once not showering because she felt it would jinx them.

Dated Robert De Niro.

Dated Matthew McConaughey.

Her mother, Naomi Judd, has publicly objected to many of Ashley's movies because they contain either profanity, nudity, sex, or violence.

Was named after Ashland, Kentucky, and is an eighth-generation Kentuckian.

Is fluent in French.

Dated Michael Bolton.

Fractured her right ankle in 1993 when she was thrown from a horse's saddle in Franklin, Tennessee. She was hospitalized for two days.

Worked as a waitress at the trendy Ivy restaurant while studying the Sanford Meisner technique of acting at Playhouse West in Los Angeles.

Ranked #20 in FHM Magazine's 100 "Sexiest Women in the World." (2002)

Modeled her "This is What a Feminist Looks Like" t-shirt for the Ms. Foundation and Ms. Online (ms.magazine.com).

Was able to play both a teenager and a thirty year old in the role of Vivian 'Vivi' Walker. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002).

Is an enthusiast of the cockapoo breed of dog (cross-bred cocker spaniels and poodles). Has a dog named Buttermilk and a tabby named Buttercup.

Good friends with Salma Hayek and Joey Lauren Adams.

Worldwide Spokesperson for Youth AIDS International.

Entered a program at Shades of Hope Treatment Center in Buffalo Gap, Texas and stayed for 47 days in 2006.

Was among 4,000 students who graduated on May 6, 2007 from the University of Kentucky.

Avid practitioner of yoga, cooking and gardening.

Where Are They Now: Judd has been very active in humanitarian and political causes. She was appointed Global Ambassador for YouthAIDS, an education and prevention program that promotes AIDS prevention and treatment.

This year, she appeared in a one minute video advertisement for the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, in which she condemned Alaska governor Sarah Palin for supporting aerial wolf hunting.

Judd has also teamed up with the Sierra Club to help stop mountaintop removal coal mining. Through a personal letter, video and online ?take-action,? she asked the Obama Administration to help protect the mountains, streams and people of Appalachia.

Union College (Barbourville, KY) recently announced that Judd will deliver the address at the college?s 2009 commencement ceremony. She will also receive an Honorary Doctor in Humane Letters from the college for her ongoing commitments to education.

On the acting front, Judd recently starred in Helen, a film that delves into the reality of the illness of depression, which premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival in January.

Write To Ashley Judd:
Ashley Judd
c/o William Morris Agency
151 El Camino Dr,
Beverly Hills, CA 90212

Official Website: http://www.ashley-judd.com/

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