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Amy Brenneman
Ultimate TV - September 7, 1999
By David Martindale
"Judging Amy"
Amy Brenneman is one tough cookie. Star and co-producer of "Judging Amy," the brainy, Harvard-educated
actress has no illusions about Hollywood. It is, she says, "a business in which actors are asked to be
completely vulnerable in a totally unsafe environment."
So she's pleased, in a wary kind of way, that her show made it to CBS' primetime schedule. "I don't know if
it's that I'm a realist or a pessimist," says the former star of "NYPD Blue." "But every step of
the way, I just never thought it would go. I thought, `Well, we'll pitch the show and see what happens.' And because
I was happy with my movie career, I thought, `Whatever happens happens.' I just wasn't desperate about it. Maybe
that's a little lesson in life, to let go a little bit." In "Judging Amy," Brenneman plays Amy Gray,
a single mother who leaves New York to become a juvenile court judge in Hartford, Conn. The premise was inspired by
Brenneman's mother.
"My mom is a Superior Court judge," explains Brenneman. "Most of her career, she has done juvenile
matters, delinquency and neglect. She had a birthday a couple of years ago and I spent two or three days in the
Hartford court interviewing people, a lot of whom I knew from growing up, social workers and probation officers and
attorneys general.
"I was really struck by the atmosphere in that building and how these different professions sort of bump up
against each other in the pursuit of something that I think is really interesting and important, which is the
benefit of these kids. And I know enough about TV to know you need an inexaustible flow of stories. And I'd grown up
all my life with my mother and her friends telling these war stories and I thought, `I think there's a show
here.'"
Brenneman's mother, Frederica, is a technical adviser on the show. If Mom had her way, Brenneman notes, the show
would be "like a `Law & Order' for juvenile justice."
"But I want it to be part work and part personal," she says. "Because there are two fascinating sides
to my mother. When on the bench, she's refined, very smart, very soothing. But when she takes off her robe, she's
just Mom."
Brenneman, 35, was born in New London, Conn., to an environmental lawyer father and one of the first female
graduates of Harvard. "I didn't know any professional actors and, in my family, you just had to go to
college," she says. "So I did that and I formed a theater company with people I met at college. But it
really wasn't until I was in my mid-20s when I left that company that I had to make the decision to pursue this
professionally on my own."
Her first role as a TV series regular was as Blanche on "Middle Ages," a short-lived 1992 drama on CBS.
The next year she hit big on "NYPD Blue" as Officer Janice Licalsi, lusty love interest to David Caruso's
Detective John Kelly. Brenneman was nominated for two Emmys for her portrayal of a "psycho chick that caused
havoc" by murdering mob boss Angelo Marino. "I never felt like it was just the girlfriend role," she
says, "because I had this weird, dark power."
After "NYPD Blue," Brenneman filmed "Heat" (1995), "Casper" (1995, directed by husband
Brad Silberling), "Daylight" (1996) and "Your Friends & Neighbors" (1998). Forthcoming
movies include "The Suburbans," a music business satire, and "Things You Can Tell Just By Looking at
Her," which co-stars Glenn Close, Holly Hunter, Callista Flockhart and Cameron Diaz.
Brenneman displayed an unexpected knack for comedy last season with a recurring role on "Frasier," playing
Kelsey Grammer's girlfriend. It was such a pleasant and rewarding experience, in fact, she was briefly tempted to
forget "Judging Amy" and develop a sitcom instead.
"Scheduling-wise, you can't beat a sitcom," she says. "On this show, I definitely tend to have
friends with me on the set. Otherwise I'd never get to see them. But I think if you have any interest in filmmaking,
an hour show is what you want to do.
"You're not really making a film doing a half-hour. You're videotaping a wonderful stage performance, which is
fine. There's definitely an art to that. But I have little filmmaker roots in me. This is what I love to do."
After previewing on Sunday, September 19, "Judging Amy" airs at 10 p.m. (ET) Tuesdays on CBS.
Copyright © 1999 Ultimate TV. All rights reserved.
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