Judith Light Biography

MARITAL STATUS
Professions Actress , Executive Producer , Producer
Birth name Judith Ellen Licht
American nationality
Birth February 9, 1949 (Trenton, New Jersey, United States)

BIOGRAPHY
An only child, Judith Light showed a great interest in theater and a desire to become an actress very early on. Encouraged by her parents, she attended Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania to take drama classes. In 1971, at the age of 22, she graduated. She then played in several plays, such as A Doll’s House (on Broadway) in 1975 and Measure for Measure the following year.

At the same time, Judith multiplies the castings and finds her first role in the famous detective series Kojak , hosted by Telly Savalas . She then appears in numerous episodes of series and television films, before finding a solid character in Madame est servie . From 1984 to 1992, she played Angela Bower, a pugnacious divorced businesswoman whose arrival of handyman Tony Micelli ( Tony Danza ) disrupts her daily life.

Building on this success, Judith Light remained in the field of sitcoms with Madame et sa fille (1993), in which she played a mother raising her daughter alone, wanting to become a professional tennis player. The program lasts one season. Still in the 90’s, she made a series of TV films ( The Silences of a Man , Another Way of Loving , A Step Toward Tomorrow , etc.). She also gives voice in Joseph, the King of Dreams .

During the 2000s, Judith Light appeared in an episode of Spin City , played the heroine of The Stones and played Judge Elizabeth Donnelly in Special Unit New York . But above all, the actress slips into the skin of Claire Meade, mother of Daniel and Alexis and former wife of Bradford, in Ugly Betty , from 2006 to 2010. A performance which allowed her to obtain the Prism Award for best interpretation in a comedy series.

At the same time, Judith Light (also involved in the LGBT cause since its beginnings) produced the film Save Me , centered on a homosexual drug addict who finds himself in a clinic. She is also seen playing a recurring character in Dallas , that of Judith Ryland, the mother of Harris ( Mitch Pileggi ). From 2014 to 2019, the actress played Shelly Pfefferman, the ex-wife of Maura ( Jeffrey Tambor ), in the Amazon series Transparent .

Still very active on the small side, Judith finds notable roles in Manhunt , . In the latter, which traces the assassination of stylist Gianni Versace, the Trenton native plays an American businesswoman specializing in cosmetics. We then see her, to a greater or lesser extent, in Shining Vale , Julia , American Horror Stories and Poker Face .

If Judith Light is above all a series actress, she finds supporting roles in films little known in France, such as the romantic comedy We’ll Never Have Paris , the dramatic comedies Last Weekend and Ms. White Light , the comedy Before You Know It and the biopic Tick, Tick…Boom! . Also continuing her theatrical career, she appeared (among others) in the play Thérèse Raquin , for which she played the title role.

Laurent Schenck