Biography

Judith Light

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Overview

Born
February 9, 1949 · Trenton, New Jersey, USA
Height
5′ 7″ (1.70 m)

Mini bio

Tony Award and Emmy Award winner Judith Light made her professional stage debut in 1970 and made her Broadway debut in the 1975 revival of A Doll's House starring Liv Ullmann and Sam Waterston. She made her television breakthrough in the daytime soap opera One Life to Live (1968). She assumed the role of Karen Woleck (originated by Kathryn Breech (1976-77), and for a brief period, replaced by Julia Duffy (1977)). Light's extensive theater experience added multidimensional facets to the character, and the performance earned the actress two consecutive Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. Light departed from her character in 1983 - to star in ABC's new prime-time sitcom Who's the Boss? (1984) - the role of Karen Woleck was not recast, instead, she departs for an off-screen life in Canada, coinciding with Light's departure from the series. After Light's success on daytime, she landed the leading role of assertive advertising executive Angela Bower on the ABC sitcom Who's the Boss? (1984). The actress co-starred with Tony Danza, who played her housekeeper (and eventual lover). Also featured were Alyssa Milano, Danny Pintauro and Katherine Helmond. The series ran for eight seasons and had constant success. Light also lent her craft to the short lived sitcoms Phenom (1993) and The Simple Life (2003), and several made-for-TV productions, including the biographical drama The Ryan White Story (1989) (in which she portrayed Jeanne White, the mother of HIV/AIDS positive teenager Ryan White); the actress also portrayed Alabama murderer Audrey Marie Hilley in Wife, Mother, Murderer (1991).

In 1999, Light returned to her theater roots for the off-Broadway production of Pulitzer Prize-winning play Wit (2001); the actress received rave reviews as a college professor battling ovarian cancer-and reprised the role for the national tour. Light returned to television in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999); the actress assumed the recurring role of Judge Elizabeth Connelly, making her first appearance during the third season episode Guilt (2002), which was broadcast on March 29, 2009. The character appeared in 25 more episodes of the series, making her last appearance in season 12 episode Behave (2010). Light also appeared in the ABC comedy-drama Ugly Betty (2006), in which Light's performance as the recurring Claire Meade resulted in a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. In 2014, she began starring as Shelly Pfefferman in the critically acclaimed Amazon Studios dark comedy-drama series Transparent (2014), for which she received Golden Globe, Primetime Emmy, and Critics' Choice Television Award nominations.
- IMDb mini biography by: Anthony Ronald Vario

Family

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Trademarks

Her blue deep-set eyes

Trivia

One of her performances on One Life to Live (1968) - "Karen Wolek on the Stand" - was so powerful and is remembered so vividly that, to this day, it is used as a model in acting classes through the nation. Additionally, it was recently honored as being one of TV Guide's "100 Most Memorable Moments on Television".
Born and raised in Trenton, New Jersey, her parents nurtured her interest in acting through her childhood and supported her decision to study in a summer program at Carnegie-Mellon University between her junior and senior years of high school. This experience prompted her to enroll in that institution where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.
Shaved her head completely to star as Vivian Bearing (a literary academic dying of ovarian cancer) in the off-Broadway show "Wit" (1999).
For her outstanding performance in the off-Broadway tour of "Wit", Judith received the Helen Hayes Award in Washington, D.C., as well as the Elliot Norton Award in Boston.
Judith Light met her husband Robert Desiderio when they were both on the soap opera One Life to Live (1968).