Judd was born in Granada Hills, California to Michael Ciminella, Jr., an Italian American marketing analyst for the horseracing industry, and Naomi Judd, a well-known country music singer; she has a half-sister, Wynonna Judd, who is also a country music singer. At the time of her birth, her mother was working as a nurse, and wouldn't become well-known as a singer along with her daughter Wynonna until the early 1980s. Judd's parents divorced in 1972, and in 1974, her mother took her back to her own native Kentucky, where Judd grew up in poverty. The family sometimes lived without running water, electricity, or a telephone.
Judd was raised in her mother's Baptist religion, and attended twelve schools before college. She briefly tried modeling in Japan during school breaks. An alumna of the sorority Kappa Kappa Gamma at the University of Kentucky, she majored in French and minored in anthropology, art history, theater, and women’s studies. She spent a semester studying in France as part of her major, a move that mirrored her role as Reed in the television series Sisters. She was in the UK Honors Program and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, but did not graduate with her class, leaving university early to drive cross-country in pursuit of an acting career in Hollywood, where she studied with well-respected acting teacher, Robert Carnegie, at Playhouse West. During this time, she worked as a waitress at "The Ivy" restaurant and lived in a Malibu, California house her sister bought her, which burned down during the great Malibu fires.
Career
Judd began acting on television, and appeared as Ensign Robin Lefler, a Starfleet officer, in two 1991 episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. From 1991 to 1994 she had a recurrent role as Reed, the daughter of Alex (Swoosie Kurtz), on the NBC drama Sisters. She made her feature film debut in 1992's Kuffs, and had the starring role in 1993's independent film, Ruby in Paradise, for which she received good reviews. She also had a role in the 1994 Oliver Stone film Natural Born Killers, but her scenes were cut from the version of the film released theatrically. She gained further critical acclaim for her role in 1995's Smoke and Heat. She also played the role of Callie in Philip Ridley's dark, adult fairy-tale The Passion of Darkly Noon.
By the end of the 1990s, Judd had managed to achieve significant fame and success as a leading actress, after leading roles in several thrillers that performed well at the box office, including Kiss the Girls in 1997 and 1999's Double Jeopardy. Several of her early 2000s films, including 2001's Someone Like You and 2002's High Crimes, received only moderate reviews and mixed box office, although she did receive positive notices for her performance in the 2004 biography of Cole Porter, De-Lovely, opposite Kevin Kline.
She is presently the magazine advertising "face" of American Beauty, an Estee Lauder cosmetic brand sold exclusively at Kohl's department stores, and H. Stern jewelers.
Personal life
Judd, as YouthAIDS Global Ambassador, speaks at an event in South Africa (January 2005)
During the 1990s, Judd dated baseball player Brady Anderson, singers Lyle Lovett and Michael Bolton, and actors Matthew McConaughey and Robert DeNiro. She became engaged to Scottish CART, later Indy Racing League driver, Dario Franchitti, in December 1999, and the two were married at Skibo Castle, near Dornoch, Scotland, on December 12, 2001. She and her husband divide their time between a home in Scotland and their farm in Tennessee.
When in Manhattan, she attends services at a charismatic Missionary Baptist Church. Judd regularly attends University of Kentucky basketball games, frequently sitting next to Donna Smith (wife of former UK Coach Tubby Smith), or in the student section. Last year, she was a guest columnist for a local Kentucky newspaper, writing about the NCAA Championships. She is frequently sought out for celebrity camera shots during televised games. At the request of her cousin, she posed for a poster wearing only a hockey jersey for fundraising purposes for their alma mater's hockey team. She is also an avid practitioner of yoga, cooking and gardening.
In February 2006, Judd entered a program at Shades of Hope Treatment Center in Buffalo Gap, Texas and stayed for 47 days. She was there because of personal issues, including depression and isolation.
Judd is active in humanitarian and political causes. She was appointed Global Ambassador for YouthAIDS, an international organization promoting AIDS prevention and treatment, and speaks and demonstrates at pro-choice events. On October 29, 2006, Judd appeared at a "Women for Ford" event for Democratic Tennessee Senate candidate Harold Ford Jr.
