• Faith: Christian
• Career: Actress
• Birthday:  March 19, 1968

Ashley Judd is an actress. She grew up in a family of performing artists, the daughter of country music singer Naomi Judd and the half-sister of country music singer Wynonna Judd. Her acting career has spanned over three decades, and she’s become heavily involved in political activism and global humanitarian efforts. Judd has starred in films that have been well-received and box office successes, including “Ruby in Paradise," “Heat," “Smoke," “Dolphin Tale," “Olympus Has Fallen," “Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood,” and “A Dog’s Way Home.”

She starred as Rebecca Winstone in the 2012 TV series “Missing,” for which she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Oustanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie. Judd was born in 1968 in Los Angeles. Her parents are Naomi Judd, who eventually became a country music singer and motivational speaker, and Michael Charles Ciminella. Her older half-sister, Wynonna Judd, is also a country music singer. When Judd was born, her mother was a homemaker, for Naomi didn’t achieve fame as a singer until the early 1980s. Her parents divorced in 1972 when she was four years old. The following year, Judd’s mother returned Ashley to Kentucky, where she lived for most of her childhood.

Judd attended 13 schools before college, including Sayre School, Paul G. Blazer High School, and Franklin High School. She briefly tried modeling in Japan during a school break. At the University of Kentucky, Judd majored in French and minored in anthropology, art history, theater, and women’s studies. After college, Judd moved to Hollywood, where she studied with acting teacher Robert Carnegie at Playhouse West. During this time, she worked as a hostess at The Ivy restaurant and lived in a Malibu rental house. Around that time, she returned to Tennessee, where she lived with her mother and sister. Starting in 1991, Judd appeared as Ensign Robin Lefler in two episodes of “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” From 1991 to 1994, she had a recurring role as Reed, the daughter of Alex, on the NBC drama “Sisters.”

Judd made her feature film debut in a small role in “Kuffs.” In 1993, she was cast in her first starring role, playing the title character in Victor Nunez’s “Ruby in Paradise,” which won the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize. Thinking this role would shape her career, Judd was nervous before the audition, nearly getting into a car accident en route. She told the San Jose Mercury News, “From the first three sentences, I knew it was written for me.” She received rave reviews in her role as Ruby Lee Gissing, a young woman trying to make a new life for herself.

What religion is Ashley Judd?

Ashley Judd identifies as a Christian. In 2015, she told Variety that a studio mogul sexually harassed her but didn’t name the person. In 2017, she named the person as Harvey Weinstein, co-founder of Miramax, and said the harassment happened during the filming of “Kiss the Girl.” In “She Said,” Judd, playing herself, decided to go on record about the abuse, saying she must tell the truth “as a woman and a Christian.”