Editing Ashley Judd (section)

== Early life ==

[[File:Ashley Judd - 2014.jpg|thumb|right|Judd in 2014]]
Judd was born Ashley Tyler Ciminella,<ref name=judds/> in 1968 in [[Granada Hills, Los Angeles]]. Her parents are [[Naomi Judd]], who later became a [[country music]] singer and motivational speaker, and Michael Charles Ciminella, a marketing analyst for the [[horse racing]] industry.<ref>[http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=LH&s_site=kentucky&p_multi=LH&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB741024EF9652F&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM MICHAEL CIMINELLA, 83, JUDD GRANDFATHER, DIES] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025015221/http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=LH&s_site=kentucky&p_multi=LH&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB741024EF9652F&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |date=October 25, 2012 }}, Lexington Herald-Leader (KY) – May 9, 1997</ref><ref name=Newsvine>{{cite web |url= http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2011/04/04/6408786-ashley-judd-details-bitter-and-sweet-in-memoir |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120602072336/http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2011/04/04/6408786-ashley-judd-details-bitter-and-sweet-in-memoir |archive-date= June 2, 2012 |title=Ashley Judd details 'bitter and sweet' in memoir |publisher=Newsvine |date=April 4, 2011 |access-date=May 19, 2012}}</ref> Ashley's elder half-sister, [[Wynonna Judd]], is also a country music singer.

Ashley's paternal grandfather was of [[Sicilians|Sicilian]] (Italian) descent, and her paternal grandmother <!-- name? -->was a descendant of Mayflower pilgrim [[William Brewster (pilgrim)|William Brewster]].<ref>[http://entertainment.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474979203540Ashley Judd's Ancestors are found on ''Who Do You Think You Are?''|Entertainment.gather.com] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203013253/http://entertainment.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474979203540Ashley |date=December 3, 2013 }} (November 9, 2010). Retrieved on April 11, 2011.</ref>

When Judd was born, her mother was a homemaker. Judd's parents divorced in 1972 when she was four. The following year, Judd's mother Naomi returned with Ashley to [[Kentucky]], where Judd lived for most of her childhood.<ref>[http://www.askmen.com/celebs/women/actress/7_ashley_judd.html Actress of the Week] ''AskMen.com'' (2006)</ref> Judd has stated that even if she professionally uses her mother's maiden name, her legal surname is still the Ciminella of her father, as "I loved both my last names and the branches of the family they represented", and the one time she tried to legally change it the judge refused it.<ref>{{cite book |last=Judd |first=Ashley with Maryanne Vollers |date=2011 |title=All That Is Bitter & Sweet: A Memoir |publisher=Ballantine Books |isbn=978-0-345-52361-7|page=191|url=https://www.google.com.br/books/edition/All_That_Is_Bitter_and_Sweet/BATd_O0z-r0C}}</ref>

Judd attended 13 schools before college, including the [[Sayre School]] ([[Lexington, Kentucky]]), [[Paul G. Blazer High School]] ([[Ashland, Kentucky]]), and [[Franklin High School (Tennessee)|Franklin High School]] in Tennessee. She briefly tried modeling in Japan during a school break. At the [[University of Kentucky]], she majored in French and minored in anthropology, art history, theater, and [[women's studies]]. She joined the sorority [[Kappa Kappa Gamma]]. Judd spent a semester studying in France as part of her major. She graduated from the University of Kentucky Honors Program and was nominated to [[Phi Beta Kappa]].<ref>Newman, Judith. "We are Family", ''Ladies' Home Journal'' (March 1998, pp. 152–55, 213–14)</ref>

After college Judd moved to Hollywood, where she studied with acting teacher Robert Carnegie at [[Playhouse West]]. During this time, she worked as a hostess at [[The Ivy (Los Angeles)|The Ivy]] restaurant and lived in a [[Malibu, California|Malibu]] rental house. Around that time, she returned East to [[Williamson County, Tennessee]], where she lived near her mother and sister.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www2.nationalreview.com/pdf/20130225_judd.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www2.nationalreview.com/pdf/20130225_judd.pdf |archive-date=October 9, 2022 |url-status=live |title=Ashley Judd voting record shows not a property owner in Williamson County |publisher=nationalreview.com |access-date=April 21, 2013}}{{dead link|date=March 2015}}</ref>