Judge Amy Confesses to Loving Too Much, Not Being Pretty Enough and Stripping Down for NYPD

E!- May 10, 2002

Revealed with Jules Asner

The verdict on Amy Brenneman?

The Emmy-nominated Judging Amy star says she's living a dream come true.

The Harvard-educated daughter of a lawyer (her dad) and a judge (her mom, the inspiration for Brenneman's TV show) spent the first part of her acting career on the road, traveling around the Southwest in an old Renault and doing theater.

Today, she's a Hollywood hyphenate--the creator, executive producer and lead actor in CBS' legal-eagle series Judging Amy, which is just concluding its third season. She's also a wife (married to director Brad Silberling) and a mother (her daughter Charlotte was born 2001).

Brenneman, who made a big impression with audiences during NYPD Blue's first big season back in 1993, recently sat down with Revealed host Jules Asner to talk about her life--or, rather, her lives.

Here's just a small sampling on what Amy Brenneman Revealed to Jules:

On the moment she knew she was hooked on acting:
When I was 11, I was in the chorus of The Music Man [in a local youth theater in her native Connecticut]. I was in it for all of five minutes. But afterwards, I remember crying into my father's shirt in the hallway. And I remember thinking, what is this? What is this [emotion coming from]? And I never stopped acting after that.

On the big break...in a tampon commercial:
I didn't know anything. I did not know anything. I showed up to do this [Tampax] commercial in Brooklyn. It was, like, on the beach. And this guy came up and asked for $900. I said, "What the hell are you talking about?" And he said, "You know, you have to join the [Screen Actors Guild] union." I was, like, "What union?" I had to call up my boyfriend and say, "You need to give me $1,000, 'cause they won't let me on the set unless I [get it]."

On why you never saw her on a daytime soap:
I wasn't pretty enough for soaps. That was the big thing in New York: You had to be drop-dead gorgeous. And I'm not drop-dead gorgeous.

On getting nekkid on NYPD Blue:
When I auditioned, I was sitting in the room with [producers] Stephen Bochco and Greg Hoblit, who directed the pilot, and, I'm thinking, these guys are nerds. These are not sleazy guys. But they were just [sitting there] with their little, like, Hush Puppies, and I was [thinking], This is not a sleazy operation. So, I kind of was excited. I just like things that are new and revolutionary, and I thought, well, let's go for it...We used to get naked on stage, and, I mean, I just never thought about it that much. Again, if I got a sleazy vibe off somebody, I wouldn't go there, but I didn't from these guys. The weirdest thing in my memory is that they didn't know how much they could get away [with]. So, the first love scene that we shot was with me and [ex-NYPD Blue star] David Caruso. And we shot a lot of footage. We shot, like, two days' worth. I remember being in that bed.

On being a mom:
I'm lovesick. I mean, my heart--when I'm separated from [my daughter] for, like, an hour, I go out of my mind. It's really kind of weird. I actually think I might go back to therapy to look at some of these issues, because when she was first born, and I thought, well, it's the hormones, or, it's great to fall in love with your kid, obviously. I knew that was good. But I thought, oh, it'll settle down. And it seems to be growing, so I'm not sure. Just, I just love her more and more.

On being confused with...Judge Judy?!
It was during the first year, and I was in the store, and somebody's like, "Oh, [you're on] Judging Amy?" And I said, "Yeah, that's right." And then this woman goes back, "You're on TV." I said, "Yeah." She said, "When are you on TV?" I said, "We're on Tuesdays." She said, "Oh, you're on every day at 5." And then I realized [she thought I was Judge Judy]. I said, "I'm a made-up judge. It's a made-up show." But she thought I was one of those, every-day-at-five, I-was-gonna-dispense-justice TV judges.


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