- Born
- Birth nameJudd Asher Nelson
- Height5′ 10″ (1.78 m)
- Judd Asher Nelson was born on November 28, 1959 in Portland, Maine to attorney Leonard Nelson and his wife, Merle Nelson (attorney and state assemblywoman). Judd attended St. Paul's preparatory school in Concord, New Hampshire before majoring in philosophy at the prestigious Haverford College in Haverford, Pennsylvania. The acting bug bit when he went to watch a friend's audition and was obliged to audition in order to stay. He won the role.
After graduation, Judd headed for New York City and the Stella Adler Conservatory where he was believable in the role as the street-smart Eddie Keaton in the comedy Making the Grade (1984). Judd's next film role was as the stodgy ROTC cadet, Phil Hicks, in the ensemble comedy Fandango (1985). Important and diverse roles in the brat-pack films The Breakfast Club (1985) and St. Elmo's Fire (1985) quickly followed. With his privileged upbringing, Judd could have brought the right degree of preppy-smarmyness, (ala James Spader), to any number of vapid roles, but his intense stare and dark smoldering looks gave him a hint of danger which added to his credibility in films like Billionaire Boys Club (1987), From the Hip (1987) and New Jack City (1991).
While Judd's career has been peppered with under-promoted films and poorly-written television appearances, critics have not been overly kind to this misunderstood actor.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Kelley Ward kward@elpn.com
- ParentsMerle NelsonLeonard Nelson
- Was one of the nine original members of the 1980s "brat pack", along with Andrew McCarthy, Anthony Michael Hall, Demi Moore, Rob Lowe, Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez and Ally Sheedy.
- He is from an Ashkenazi Jewish family (from Russia, Poland, Romania and Lithuania).
- Was once engaged to Shannen Doherty.
- His two most notable film roles were both released in 1985 and were polar opposite characters from each other. In The Breakfast Club he played a burnout stoner high school kid who many doubt (including himself) has much of a future and in St. Elmo's Fire he played an overachieving, yuppie college graduate with future political aspirations.
- Attended the prestigious Haverford College in Haverford, Pennsylvania.
- I think that there's room for everyone. I don't think that if one person succeeds then another must fail. That's lunacy. I'm not sure what the reasons are for my philosophy, maybe it's the fact that if there are ten people doing the same job, we all know how we feel and what our high points and low points are.
- My Brat Pack buddies and I didn't exactly handle celebrity very well. Success at an early age is far more difficult to handle than failure.
- As a kid, I had a crush on Sophia Loren and Raquel Welch.
- Remember to be as smart as you are. With failure, you just try again.
- I find it very difficult to relax. I find it increasingly difficult to find outlets for my frustration.
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