Ashley Judd (born April 19, 1968) is an American actress. She is perhaps best-known for her leading roles in a series of late 1990s and early 2000s thriller films, including Kiss the Girls, Double Jeopardy and High Crimes. She has been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards.

Early life

Judd was born Ashley Tyler Ciminella in Granada Hills, California, the daughter of Naomi Judd, a well-known country music singer and motivational speaker, and Michael Ciminella, Jr., a marketing analyst for the horseracing industry.Ashley Judd Biography (1968-). USA WEEKEND Magazine Judd 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 did not 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.Actress of the Week AskMen.com (2006)

Judd's mother raised her as a Baptist, and she attended twelve schools before college, including the Sayre School> in Lexington, Kentucky and Franklin High School in Tennessee.Ashley Judd 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,Newman, Judith. “We are Family” Ladies’ Home Journal (March 1998, pages 152–155, 213–214) leaving the 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. On May 9, 2007, it was announced that Judd had completed her bachelor’s degree in French from the University of Kentucky. Blackford, Linda. Ashley Judd is finally a UK graduate Lexington Herald Leader (May 10, 2007) In a May 2007 appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Judd explained that she had completed her degree requirements in 1990, but had mistakenly thought she was one class short. She only needed to "sign a piece of paper" in order to graduate. DeGeneres then surprised Judd by presenting her with her diploma, which DeGeneres had acquired from the university.