Celebrity Nooz: Amy Brenneman

Amy Brenneman (Actress) - Judging Amy

Updated: 4/28/20

Name: Amy Brenneman

Birth Name: Amy Frederica Brenneman

Born: June 22, 1964 in New London, Connecticut, USA

Nickname: Ames

Claim To Fame: Amy Brenneman is an American actress, writer, and producer, best known for creating and starring as Judge Amy Gray in the CBS drama series Judging Amy (1999-2005). For her performance, she was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards.

Family Life: In 1995, Brenneman married director Brad Silberling. They have two children, Charlotte Tucker and Bodhi Russell.

Info: Born to Frederica Joanne, the first female Senior Judge on the Superior Court of the State of Connecticut, and Russell Langdon Brenneman Jr., an environmental lawyer.

Has two older brothers. Matthew, a lawyer; and Andrew, an interactive software producer.

She participated in theatre as a teenager, both in school and with a local theater group.

Graduated from Glastonbury High School, Glastonbury, Connecticut, in 1982.

Graduated from Harvard University in 1986, majoring in comparative religion.

While at Harvard, she co-founded Cornerstone Theatre Company, with which she traveled for several years after graduation.

Pro-choice activist.

Brenneman is an Episcopalian.

Brenneman is also a strong supporter of more restrictive gun laws.

Trivia: Is one of the founding members of the Cornerstone Theater Company, Inc. in Los Angeles together with her husband Brad Silberling.

Brenneman began her career in the short-lived CBS series Middle Ages in 1992.

For her first major role as mob-connected uniformed officer Janice Licalsi on the ABC police drama series NYPD Blue, she was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 1994 and for Outstanding Guest Actress the following year.

Worked with siblings Tyne Daly on Judging Amy (1999) and Tyne's brother Tim Daly on Private Practice (2007).

In 1999, Brenneman became creator and executive producer of her own television series Judging Amy, in which she played the title character. The show's concept was based on the real-life experiences of her mother, Frederica Brenneman, as a superior court judge in the state of Connecticut. Frederica Brenneman was one of Harvard Law School's first female graduates and became a juvenile court judge in Connecticut when Amy was 3 years old.

In 2002, she was awarded the Women in Film Lucy Award in recognition of her excellence and innovation in her creative works that have enhanced the perception of women through the medium of television.

Brenneman was cast as Violet Turner in the Grey's Anatomy spin-off, Private Practice (2007-2013).

In February 2007, she was part of the all-star benefit reading of "The Gift of Peace" at UCLA's Freud Playhouse, featuring Ed Asner, Barbara Bain, George Coe, Wendie Malick, and James Pickens, Jr.; The play was an open appeal and fundraiser for passage of U.S. House Resolution 808, which sought to establish a Cabinet-level "Department of Peace" in the United States government, funded by a two percent diversion of The Pentagon's annual budget.

Was cast in HBO drama series The Leftovers (2014-2017) opposite Justin Theroux.

Where Are They Now: After a very busy 2019, Brenneman was filming the TV Movie The Old Man with stars Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow. No word if the filming was finished before the pandemic shut productions down.

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