Judith Light
| Judith Light | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Judith Ellen Licht February 9, 1949 Trenton, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1960's–present |
| Spouse(s) | Robert Desiderio (1985–present) |
| Website | |
| www.judithlight.com | |
Judith Ellen Light (born February 9, 1949) is an American actress. Her television roles include Karen Wolek on the soap opera One Life to Live, Angela Bower on the sitcom Who's the Boss?, Claire Meade on ABC's series Ugly Betty and Elizabeth "Liz" Donnelly on Law & Order Special Victims Unit. She won a Tony Award in 2012 for her performance on Broadway as Silda in the play Other Desert Cities.
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Early life [edit]
Light was born in Trenton, New Jersey,[1] the daughter of Pearl Sue (née Hollander), a model, and Sidney Licht, an accountant. Light graduated from high school in 1966 at St. Mary's Hall-Doane Academy, now Doane Academy, in Burlington, New Jersey. She graduated from Carnegie-Mellon University with a degree in drama. She recalled the university as "rigorous" and "amazing".[2] Afterwards, she started out on stage, making her professional debut in Richard III at the California Shakespeare Festival in 1970, before moving to Broadway to star in A Doll's House in 1975. She also starred in the 1976 Broadway play Herzl. Light also acted for such theatre companies as the Milwaukee Repertory Theater and the Seattle Repertory Theatre.[3] In the late 1970s, Light went through a real crisis after a period of not landing any parts.[2] Broke, she almost quit acting, because she felt that she was not contributing to the theater.[2]
Career [edit]
In this period, Light was called by her agent to audition for an understudy role in the ABC soap opera One Life to Live. Never wanting to be attached to a soap opera or a sitcom, she initially rejected the idea, until she was told that she would have a daily salary of US$350.[2] At the audition, she realized that "the format reaches a lot of people", and that she could thereby "make a difference" and "make money" at the same time.[2] Instead of landing an understudy role, she was recast in the role of Karen Wolek, a role that had previously been portrayed by actresses Kathryn Breech and Julia Duffy. This role was quite lucrative for Light and spawned one of the show's most-remembered storylines; Light's character became a prostitute after she became bored with her life as a housewife. On trial, Karen saved her friend Viki Lord Riley (Erika Slezak) from being convicted of killing Karen's pimp, Marco Dane (Gerald Anthony) by admitting to the entire town, including her faithful husband, Dr. Larry Wolek (Michael Storm), that she had been a prostitute. In 1980, this won Light her first Daytime Emmy Award for "Lead Actress in a Daytime Drama Series"; the scene in which she confessed her guilt in court is held in such high esteem that it is used in acting classes to the current day. Light recalled:
"I was scared before those courtroom scenes. I was afraid to put myself out that much. With the agony of pulling it out piece by piece and having the prosecutor stick the knife in her gut, I couldn't help but let everything spew out of her."[4]
Light won another Emmy in the role in 1981. She appeared in an episode of St. Elsewhere in its first season, called "Dog Day Hospital", in which she played a housewife who became pregnant for the 9th time even though her husband claimed he had a vasectomy. In an effort to punish the doctor who botched the job she took an operating room hostage though it was later revealed that her husband had not had the procedure.
After this success on daytime, she landed the role of assertive advertising executive Angela Bower on the ABC sitcom Who's the Boss. Co-starring Tony Danza, who played her housekeeper (and eventual lover), the show ran for eight seasons from 1984 to 1992. TV Guide has Who's the Boss? ranked as the 109th best sitcom of all time.
Light spent most of the 1990s starring in made-for-TV and feature films such as Men Don't Tell and 1997's Too Close to Home, which co-starred Rick Schroder. She also starred on the sitcom Phenom, which ran for only one season (1993–1994) before being canceled.
In 2000 she received critical acclaim when she starred on stage as Dr. Vivian Bearing in Wit, Margaret Edson's Pulitzer Prize-winning play about an academic dying from ovarian cancer.
From 2002 to 2010, she had a recurring role on NBC's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as Judge Elizabeth Donnelly, who served as a Bureau Chief ADA in the Manhattan District Attorney's office before being appointed to the bench in Season 7.
From 2006 until 2010, she starred as Claire Meade on ABC's Ugly Betty. The role earned her an Emmy nomination.
Light appeared in a May 2006 episode of Family Guy ("Untitled Griffin Family History") wherein she voiced a cartoon version of herself obsessed with former co-star Tony Danza and making out with a constructed dummy of Tony in her house. She also recently appeared in an episode of the NBC sitcom Twenty Good Years.
In 2007 Light starred as a radical Christian woman in Save Me an independent film. Light's character, Gayle, runs a Christian ministry known as Genesis House, which works to help gay men recover from their 'affliction.' She is challenged by the arrival of Mark, an ill gay man who reminds Gayle of her dead, gay son, and the movie chronicles the challenges of the two as they learn to accept each other as they are.
In 2010-2011 she appeared on Broadway in the play Lombardi and received a nomination for the Tony Award, Featured Actress in a Play.[5] She appeared in the play Other Desert Cities on Broadway in 2011 and won the Tony Award for Featured Actress in a Play for her role as Silda.[6]In 2013, she appears on Broadway in the play The Assembled Parties and has been nominated for the Tony Award, Featured Actress in a Play.[7]
In 2013 she was cast as Judith Ryland for the second season of the TNT revival of the television show Dallas.[8][9]
Personal life [edit]
Family [edit]
Light is Jewish.[10] She has been married to television actor Robert Desiderio since 1985,[11] when they met while co-starring on One Life to Live. They have no children. She speaks French fluently.
Robert and Judith reside in California
Activism [edit]
Light is a gay rights activist and helped former Who's the Boss? co-star Danny Pintauro in coming out. She has done work for many LGBT charities. She sits on the board of the Matthew Shepard Foundation and spoke at the 1993 March on Washington. In 1998, she had a library named after her at the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center.
She is also a prominent AIDS activist and played Ryan White's mother in the 1989 TV movie on his life The Ryan White Story. Also, she sits on the board of Point Foundation, a LGBT organization that provides financial support, mentoring, leadership training and hope to meritorious students who are or feel marginalized due to sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.
On April 1, 2010, Judith Light joined Cyndi Lauper in the launch of her Give a Damn campaign to bring a wider awareness of discrimination of the GLBT community as part of her True Colors Fund. The campaign is to bring straight people to stand up with the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered community and stop the discrimination. Other names included in the campaign are Whoopi Goldberg, Jason Mraz, Elton John, Cynthia Nixon, Kim Kardashian, Clay Aiken, Sharon Osbourne, Kelly Osbourne and Jesse Tyler Ferguson.
Filmography [edit]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | Kojak | Laetitia Palmerance | 1 episode |
| 1977-83 | One Life to Live | Karen Wolek | Daytime soap opera |
| 1983 | Intimate Agony | Marsha | TV movie a.k.a. Doctor in Paradise |
| St. Elsewhere | Barbara Lonnicker | 1 episode | |
| Family Ties | Stacey Hughes | 1 episode | |
| 1984 | The Mississippi | 1 episode | |
| Remington Steele | Clarissa Custer | 1 episode | |
| You Are the Jury | Elizabeth Harding | 1 episode | |
| 1986 | Charmed Lives | Angela Bower | 1 episode |
| 1987 | Stamp of a Killer | Cathy Proctor | TV movie a.k.a. Dangerous Affection |
| 1989 | The Ryan White Story | Jeanne White | TV movie |
| My Boyfriend's Back | Vickie Vine | TV movie | |
| 1990 | In Defense of a Married Man | Laura Simmons | TV movie |
| 1991 | Wife, Mother, Murderer | Marie Hilley/Robbi/Teri | TV movie a.k.a. Wife, Mother, Murderer: The Marie Hilley Story |
| 1984-92 | Who's the Boss? | Angela Bower | 196 episodes Nominated — TV Land Award |
| 1993 | Men Don't Tell | Laura MacAffrey | TV movie |
| 1993-94 | Phenom | Dianne Doolan | 22 episodes |
| 1994 | Betrayal of Trust | Barbara Noël | TV movie a.k.a. Under the Influence |
| Against Their Will: Women in Prison | Alice Needham | TV movie a.k.a. Caged Seduction: The Shocking True Story |
|
| 1995 | Lady Killer | Janice Mitchell | TV movie |
| 1996 | A Husband, a Wife and a Lover | Lisa McKeever | TV movie a.k.a. A Strange Affair |
| Murder at My Door | Irene McNair | TV movie | |
| A Step Toward Tomorrow | Anna Lerner | ||
| 1996-97 | Duckman | Ursula Bacon 'Honey' Chicken (voice) | 3 episodes |
| 1997 | Too Close to Home | Diana Donahue | TV movie |
| Cow and Chicken | Nurse (voice) | 1 episode | |
| 1998 | The Simple Life | Sara Campbell | 7 episodes |
| Carriers | Maj. Carmen Travis | TV movie | |
| 2000 | Joseph: King of Dreams | Zuleika | voice |
| 2002 | Spin City | Christine | 1 episode |
| 2004 | The Stones | Barbara Stone | 9 episodes |
| 2006 | Ira and Abby | Arlene Black | |
| A Broken Sole | Hilary | ||
| Twenty Good Years | Gina | 3 episodes | |
| 2007 | Save Me | Gayle | |
| 2006-10 | Ugly Betty | Claire Meade | 72 episodes |
| 2002–2010 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Elizabeth Donnelly | 25 episodes |
| 2011 | Nurse Jackie | Maureen Cooper | 1 episode |
| 2012 | The Exes | Marjorie | 2 episodes |
| 2012 | Scrooge & Marley | Narrator | |
| 2013 | Last Weekend | Veronika Goss | |
| 2013-present | Dallas | Judith Ryland |
Awards and nominations [edit]
| Year | Award | Category | Film or series | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Soapy Awards | Outstanding Actress | One Life to Live | Won |
| 1980 | Daytime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series | Won | |
| Soapy Awards | Outstanding Actress | Won | ||
| 1981 | Daytime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series | Won | |
| 1998 | GLAAD Media Awards | Vision Award | Won | |
| 2007 | TV Land Awards | Favorite Working Mom | Who's the Boss? | Nominated |
| Prism Awards | Best Performance in a Comedy Series | Ugly Betty | Won | |
| Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series | Nominated | ||
| 2008 | TV Land Awards | Mad Ad Man or Woman of the Year | Who's the Boss? | Nominated |
| Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | Ugly Betty | Nominated | |
| 2011 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play | Lombardi | Nominated |
| Tony Awards | Best Featured Actress in a Play | Nominated | ||
| 2012 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play | Other Desert Cities | Won |
| Tony Awards | Best Featured Actress in a Play | Won | ||
| 2013[12] | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play | The Assembled Parties | Won |
| Tony Awards[13] | Best Featured Actress in a Play | Pending |
References [edit]
- ^ "New York Times". The New York Times.
- ^ a b c d e "Big Think Interview With Judith Light". BigThink.com. May 10, 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-10.
- ^ "TV Guide".
- ^ "Judith portrays ex-hooker sensitively" by Steven H. Scheuer, Boca Raton News, September 28, 1979. p. 10
- ^ "2011 Tony Nominations Announced! THE BOOK OF MORMON Leads With 14!". Broadwayworld.com. 2011-05-03. Retrieved 2011-12-29.
- ^ Jones, Kenneth. "'Once', 'Clybourne Park', 'Porgy and Bess', Audra McDonald, 'Salesman' Win Tony Awards" Playbill.com, June 10, 2012
- ^ Gans, Andrew. "Nominations Announced for 67th Annual Tony Awards; 'Kinky Boots' Earns 13 Nominations" playbill.com, April 30, 2013
- ^ "Judith Light Heads to Dallas" tvguide.com
- ^ "Dallas Spoilers: Debuts, Deceptions and Deaths" tvfanatic.com
- ^ Goldstein, Gary (September 19, 2008). "Los Angeles Times". The Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Gerry Waggett (2008). The One Life to Live 40th Anniversary Trivia Book: A Fun, Fact-Filled, Everything-You-Want-to-Know-Guide to Your Favorite Soap!. Hyperion. p. 146. ISBN 978-1-4013-2309-7.
- ^ "Tom Hanks, Bette Midler and Steve Martin among 2013 Drama Desk Nominations". Retrieved 2013-04-30.
- ^ "Tony Award Nominations 2013: Best Musical, Best Play And More Contenders Announced For The 67th Annual Show". Retrieved 2013-04-30.
External links [edit]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Judith Light |
- Official website
- Judith Light at the Internet Movie Database
- Judith Light at the Internet Broadway Database
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- 1949 births
- 20th-century American actresses
- 21st-century American actresses
- Living people
- Actresses from California
- Actresses from New Jersey
- American film actresses
- American Jews
- American soap opera actresses
- American stage actresses
- American television actresses
- Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series winners
- Drama Desk Award winners
- Carnegie Mellon University alumni
- Jewish American actresses
- LGBT rights activists from the United States
- People from the Greater Los Angeles Area
- People from Trenton, New Jersey
- Tony Award winners
