An eighth generation Eastern Kentuckian, Ashley Judd first proved her acting abilities in her debut feature film role as Ruby Lee Gissing in Victor Nunez's internationally acclaimed Ruby In Paradise. Having won major acting awards worldwide, Judd has demonstrated her range in a variety of genres and is a proven box-office draw.

Last fall, returning to her indie roots, Judd starred in the feature film Come Early Morning, written and directed by actress Joey Lauren Adams in her directorial debut. Judd played a "thirty-something" woman re-examining her wayward life in the town where she grew up and has been living in blame and denial. The film screened in competition at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and garnered substantial praise for Judd's honest and raw performance.  

Judd recently starred in William Friedkin's Bug as a lonely, paranoid, and traumatized recluse. This film, written by Tracy Letts and based on his play of the same name, won the International Press Award at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.

Judd is currently in production on Crossing Over for the Weinstein Company. This film, written and directed by Wayne Kramer, and also starring Harrison Ford, Ray Liotta, and Sean Penn, is a harrowing look at life amongst illegal immigrants and the immigration enforcement agents whose job it is to ensure that the U.S. borders remain secure.

In 2004, Judd delivered a heartfelt and emotional performance as socialite Linda Lee Porter in the MGM-produced Cole Porter bio-pic, De Lovely, for which she earned a Golden Globe nomination. The film chronicled their marriage, which inspired such famous Cole Porter tunes as Anything Goes. Judd also starred in Twisted for director Philip Kauffman and acted on Broadway for six months in the leading role of Maggie in Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

Judd's other film credits include the Julie Taymor-directed bio-pic. Frida Kahlo, Callie Khouri's adaptation of Rebecca Wells' best selling novel, The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood; High Crimes, which re-teamed her with Kiss the Girls co-star, Morgan Freeman; Someone Like You opposite Greg Kinnear and Hugh Jackman; Where the Heart Is, opposite Natalie Portman; Bruce Beresford's box-office success Double Jeopardy, opposite Tommy Lee Jones as well as Eye of the Beholder with Ewan McGregor. Judd also starred in Walt Disney Pictures' drama Simon Birch, based on the John Irving novel, A Prayer for Owen Meaney.

In 1997, Judd starred with Morgan Freeman in Paramount Pictures' box-office smash Kiss the Girls, as well as MGM's The Locusts, in which she co-starred opposite Vince Vaughn and Kate Capshaw. Judd was also seen in Michael Mann's Heat, for which she won critical acclaim opposite Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino and Val Kilmer. In the summer of 1996, she appeared in Joel Schumacher's A Time To Kill, opposite Samuel L. Jackson, Sandra Bullock and Matthew McConaughey, as well as in the black comedy Normal Life. Also in 1996, Judd received an Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe nomination for her portrayal of Norma Jean in HBO's Norma Jean & Marilyn.

Judd made her stage debut in the Naked Angels' production of Busted, directed by Timothy Hutton. She then went on to star as Madge on Broadway in William Inge's Pulitzer-prize winning play, Picnic at the Roundabout Theatre Company, while simultaneously filming an unforgettable supporting role in the Miramax film Smoke, portraying the daughter of Harvey Keitel and Stockard Channing.

A Phi Beta Kappa nominee and Honors Program student of the University of Kentucky with a major in French and four minors, Judd resides in Tennessee and Scotland with her husband, international racing star Dario Franchitti. They have eight beloved pets and enjoy a quiet, rural life.