Ashley Judd started her career in 1991 with a guest appearance on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Not long after, she became one of Hollywood’s top actresses, known for lead roles in Kiss the Girls, Double Jeopardy, and A Time to Kill. Her name often appeared alongside some of the biggest actors of the decade, and her performances drew large audiences to theaters.
As the early 2000s approached, she continued to act, but the bigger roles started to slow down. Judd’s film work includes Bug, Someone Like You, Olympus Has Fallen, and Insurgent. She also took on television roles in series like Missing and Berlin Station. While she stayed active in the industry, she stopped landing the kinds of lead roles that once defined her career.
Where is Ashley Judd now?
Ashley Judd now lives in Tennessee. She still acts, most recently in the 2024 thriller Lazareth, where she played a protective aunt in a world facing disaster. Outside of acting, she works as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), speaking out on women’s health and safety in different parts of the world.
In 2025, she appeared in The Judd Family: Truth Be Told, a docuseries about her late mother Naomi Judd and their family history. The show covers everything from their music success to struggles with mental health. Judd’s role in the series gives more context to her private life and her connection with her mother’s legacy.
Why was Ashley Judd blacklisted from Hollywood?
In 1997, Judd was invited to a meeting with producer Harvey Weinstein in a hotel. She later said that he made several inappropriate suggestions during that meeting, which she refused. After that, she began noticing changes in her career. Some roles she expected to get went to other actresses.
Years later, director Peter Jackson confirmed that Weinstein had advised him not to cast Judd in Lord of the Rings. That supported Judd’s claim that her rejection of Weinstein’s behavior led to her being pushed out of major projects. She later filed a lawsuit saying she lost career chances because of it.