Ashley Judd is an acclaimed actor, global feminist humanitarian, survivor leader, and New York Times bestselling author.
For more than two decades, Judd has persevered in advancing human dignity and freedom from violence, particularly for women, girls, and marginalized communities. Since 2004, she has collaborated with grassroots organizations, NGOs, multilateral institutions, and governments around the world, listening to those so often neglected, to promote healing, access to care, safety, equality, and justice.
Judd was named one of TIME's Persons of the Year for her role as a silence-breaker and change-maker in the #MeToo movement.
In 2010, she earned a Master's degree in Public Administration from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. Her paper, "Gender Violence: Law & Social Justice," received theDean's Scholar honor at Harvard Law School. She is a Senior Fellow at the Women& Public Policy Program at the Kennedy School, where she teaches a seminar, "Male Entitlement to Female Bodies, and Systems of Female Obligation."
Judd's devotion to liberation was shaped by relationships and interdisciplinary learning. As an undergraduate at the University ofKentucky, she was deeply influenced by a cohort of women scholars across anthropology, art history, theology, and gender studies who modeled rigorous inquiry, collaboration, and the lived experience that intellectual discipline,,gentleness, and profound caring can, and must, coexist.
She especially learned from Barbara, the Black cook at her all-white sorority house, whose friendship and leadership demonstrated the intertwined oppressions of race, class, sex, and gender. The many hours they spent together in the kitchen were formative, nurturing the moral courage by which she hopes to live and be.
A survivor of child and adult complex trauma and deprivation, Judd has been in recovery since 2006. In 2022, the AmericanFoundation for Suicide Prevention recognized her with its Life Saver honor.
21 Down, her new movie, is scheduled for release in 2026.
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