'' event at The Paley Center in April 2012 Starting in 1991, Judd appeared as
Ensign Robin Lefler, a
Starfleet officer, in two episodes of
Star Trek: The Next Generation, "
Darmok" and "
The Game". From 1991 to 1994, she had a recurring role as Reed, the daughter of Alex (
Swoosie Kurtz), on the NBC drama
Sisters. She made her feature film debut with a small role in 1992's
Kuffs. In 1993, she was cast in her first starring role playing the title character in
Victor Nuñez's
Ruby in Paradise. The latter film won the
Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize. Believing that this role would shape the rest of her career, Judd was extremely nervous before the audition, nearly getting into a car accident en route. "From the first three sentences, I knew it was written for me", she told the
San Jose Mercury News. She received positive reviews in her role as Ruby Lee Gissing, a young woman trying to make a new life for herself. Nuñez told biographer James L. Dickerson that Judd created the resonance of this character: "The resonance, those moments, was not contrived. It was just a matter of creating the scene and trusting that it was worth telling."
Oliver Stone, who had seen Judd in Nuñez's film, cast her in
Natural Born Killers (1994), but her scenes were cut from the version of the film released theatrically. The following year, she gained critical acclaim for her role as
Harvey Keitel's estranged daughter in
Wayne Wang's
Smoke and as
Val Kilmer's wife in
Michael Mann's
Heat. That same year she played the role of Callie in
Philip Ridley's dark adult fairy tale
The Passion of Darkly Noon. In 1996, she co-starred with
Mira Sorvino as
Marilyn Monroe in
Norma Jean and Marilyn, where she recreated the photo shoot for the centerfold for the first issue of
Playboy. The same year she had a supporting role in the thriller film
A Time to Kill. It received positive reviews and was a major box office success. By the end of the 1990s, Judd had achieved considerable success as a leading actress, having lead roles in additional thrillers that performed well at the box office, including
Kiss the Girls (1997) and
Double Jeopardy (1999). In the early 2000s she starred in
Where the Heart Is (2000),
Someone Like You (2001), and
High Crimes (2002). These were moderate box office successes. In 2002, Judd starred in
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, which performed well, and acted in the critically acclaimed film
Frida. Judd played the role of Maggie the Cat in the 2003 Broadway revival of
Tennessee Williams's
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. In 2004 she received praise and a
Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress, for her performance in
De-Lovely, opposite
Kevin Kline, who played
Cole Porter. She also starred in
Twisted (2004). This was widely panned. In 2010, Judd was
Janet Tamaro's original choice for the role of Detective Jane Rizzoli in the TV series
Rizzoli & Isles but she declined.
Angie Harmon took the role. In 2011, she co-starred in the family film
Dolphin Tale and its 2014 sequel,
Dolphin Tale 2. Also in 2011, Judd co-starred with
Patrick Dempsey in the film
Flypaper. In 2012, she starred as Rebecca Winstone on the
ABC series
Missing. In 2013, Judd played
First Lady Margaret Asher in the action thriller
Olympus Has Fallen. In 2014, she appeared as
Natalie Prior in
Divergent, which she reprised in the 2015 sequel
The Divergent Series: Insurgent and the 2016 penultimate film of the series
The Divergent Series: Allegiant. In 2014, Judd was the narrator of the documentary film about Turkish preacher
Fethullah Gülen,
Love Is a Verb, directed by Terry Spencer Hesser. The following year she became the first woman to narrate the opening for the telecast of the
Kentucky Derby.
Sponsorships Starting in 2004, Judd was the advertising "face" of American Beauty, an
Estée Lauder cosmetic brand sold at
Kohl's department stores, and of
H. Stern jewelers. In June 2007,
Goody's Family Clothing launched three fashion clothing lines with Judd in the fall to be called "AJ", "Love Ashley", and "Ashley Judd". In 2008 they added an "Ashley Judd Plus" line. == Personal life ==