There's no doubting Ashley Judd's talents as an actress but her career in Hollywood hasn't skyrocketed to the level of some of her peers. While Charlize Theron, Julia Roberts, and Nicole Kidman have firmly made it into the big time in Hollywood, Judd's career seems to have faltered somewhat.
While Judd hasn't been out of work, she hasn't been offered the big roles that her contemporaries have attained. She isn't the only actress to struggle in Hollywood either. Jessica Biel has faced setbacks too, and Meg Ryan and Katherine Heigl have also hit lows in their career after early successes.
So, why hasn't Ashley Judd achieved the career she deserved in Hollywood? Other actresses are earning a lot of recognition for their work, so why is she falling behind? Well, there's one very good reason why Judd has struggled to attain the roles that could have boosted her Hollywood career. Let's take a closer look.
From Star Trek To Movie Star: The Rising Career Of Ashley Judd
Ashley Judd's acting career began in 1991 when she took on the role of Ensign Robin Lefler in Star Trek: The Next Generation. It wasn't a very big part and she only featured in two episodes, but it was the break she needed to get herself noticed as an actress. A recurring role in the NBC series Sisters followed, and she then made her Hollywood debut in the 1992 Christian Slater misfire, Kuffs.
Bigger and better movie roles followed. She earned rave reviews when she took the lead role in 1993's Ruby in Paradise, and roles in such 90s box office successes as Heat, A Time to Kill, and Kiss the Girls propelled her career in Hollywood. In the early 2000s, she continued to make her mark as an actress. High Crimes, Divine Secrets Of The Ya-Ya Sisterhood, and Frida were all well received by audiences and movie critics.
But then her career seemed to take a downward turn. After a starring role in the dismal 2004 thriller Twisted, one of the worst movies you will ever find on Netflix, she continued to act in movies that made very little impact. Not many people will remember Come Early, Crossing Over, or Flypaper, three movies that are hardly well known today.
So, what went wrong for Ashley Judd? Well, as we alluded to earlier, there is a very good reason why the actress's career faltered.
The blame seems to lie at the feet of disgraced Hollywood movie mogul, Harvey Weinstein.
The Harvey Weinstein Effect
In 2015, Ashley Judd was one of the first actresses to speak publically about the sexual harassment she experienced in Hollywood. She talked about it in an interview with Variety, but at the time, she didn't name the accused. She said:
"I was sexually harassed by one of our industry’s most famous, admired-slash-reviled bosses. I was making “Kiss the Girls” at the time...It took years before I could evaluate that incident and realize that there was something incredibly wrong and illegal about it."
It was later revealed that the person she was talking about was Harvey Weinstein. This came after news broke out about his misconduct in 2017 when multiple actresses came forward to expose his horrendous misdeeds.
According to Judd, it was because she rebuffed Weinstein's sexual advances that her career took a bad turn. She then filed a lawsuit against him in late 2018, blaming him for torpedoing her career. She talked more about her case with Amy Robach on Good Morning America, and as quoted in USA Today, Judd said:
"I lost opportunity, I lost money, I lost status and prestige and power in my career as a direct result of having been sexually harassed and rebuffing the sexual harassment."
Her career problems began when she was nearly considered for a role in Peter Jackson's Lord Of The Rings trilogy, as it was because of Weinstein that she was turned down for the part. Weinstein had fed false information to Jackson about Judd, and told him that she was "a nightmare to work with and should be avoided at all costs." The actress was later removed from the casting list of LOTR, and this became the focus of the lawsuit when Judd sued Weinstein for sabotaging her career.
A role in Peter Jackson's award-winning fantasy trilogy would have catapulted Judd's career in Hollywood. Without the influence of Harvey Weinstein, she may have excelled in her unnamed role, and she may have had many more chances to boost her career. Unfortunately, thanks to the power and influence of Weinstein, she faced struggles to push forward in her career instead.
To this date, the lawsuit against Weinstein continues.
What's Next For Ashley Judd?
Judd has continued to work in Hollywood, with roles in such movies as Divergent (and its sequel), and A Dog's Way Home. She has earned some acclaim for her TV work too.
Currently in pre-production is Anita, a movie about former beauty queen and singer, Anita Bryant, who gained notoriety in the 1970s when she tried to repeal laws that prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
While Judd hasn't achieved the movie roles she always wanted, she should still be celebrated for the acting work she has attained, and for standing up to the man who tried to derail her career. Here's hoping her future in Hollywood improves as she fights to regain her reputation.
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