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Amy Brenneman
People - October 13, 1999
By MAGGIE MARRON
Amy Brenneman made her mark shaking up TV censors and religious groups alike by baring all during her steamy love
scenes with David Caruso on NYPD Blue.Is this what Harvard University expects from its grads? Well, yes, when the
grad in question has also shown off impressive acting talents, and even founded her own theater troupe.
Brenneman may seem as if she's got it all, but she never lets her accomplishments go to her head. "When I was
18 I had this experience where I thought everything is for a purpose. It was incredibly grounding," she told
Interview in 1998. "Then six months later I had another experience that made me feel the opposite, that there
was nothing higher. That we eat, we sleep, we procreate. We want to fulfill our own desires, and that's it. I
remember asking my boyfriend at the time, 'Which is it?' And it's something I still ponder."
Perhaps it's not surprising that the roles Brenneman is most famous for are law-oriented. The youngest of three
children -- and the only girl -- Brenneman is the daughter of a superior court judge and an attorney. She has had a
passion for acting since age 11 when she was "all legs and frizzy hair" (as she told PEOPLE in 1995), but
she was determined to finish her education before she embarked on her dramatic career. After graduation, she spent
eight months in Paris, then a year in Nepal getting in touch with her spiritual side. When she returned to the
States, she helped found the Cornerstone Theatre Company, and toured with them for six years.
Her career took off in 1992 when she landed a role in the acclaimed but short-lived series Middle Ages.From there
she took on a recurring role on Frasier, then landed the opportunity of a lifetime: joining the cast of a gritty new
ABC drama that promised to get into the real lives of New York's finest, from the interrogation room to the bedroom.
Little did Brenneman know when she signed to play Officer Janice Licalsi on NYPD Bluethat she was about to make
television history. "On my second day of work, I had to kill two people," she remembered to Cosmopolitan
in 1995. "And on the third day, I [with co-star David Caruso] got naked." Audiences went wild as it was
the first time a love scene was so graphically depicted on network television.
But despite her Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actress, Brenneman was written out of the show early in the
second season, apparently because her character wasn't considered "television material." Undaunted, she
jumped to the big screen, playing opposite Robert De Niro in Heat(1995). Brenneman was prepared for the worst,
knowing De Niro only from his films, but she was pleasantly surprised. "Bob is completely different than I
expected," she told PEOPLE in 1998. "He's easy and warm, and he's really goofy. One night on the set he
got the giggles. I mean, he was gone. He just couldn't keep it together. It was so far from the superintense Martin
Scorsese guy I expected."
Around the same time, Brenneman's personal life also took a new turn when she fell head over heels in love with
Casperdirector Brad Silberling. She and Silberling had met a couple of years earlier when he directed her on NYPD
Blue,but it was during the children's film that the sparks started to fly. Brenneman had already come to terms with
her interest in the young director by the time her father visited the Casperset and remarked, "That Brad seems
like a nice guy." She handled this the way any self-respecting daughter would: "I rejected [Brad] awhile
longer," she giggled to Cosmopolitan.
More film roles followed, allowing Brenneman to experiment with different genres: action films, with Daylight,and
thrillers, with No Fear.But the performance that really stood out was her portrayal of an isolated, adulterous
housewife in Neil LaBute's 1998 drama Your Friends and Neighbors."This movie got to me in a huge way, and it's
not like I'm an overly sensitive person," she told Interview in 1998. "Right up until I met the guy I
married, my own relationships were pretty much a horror show, for various reasons. So it was a chance to express
that stuff."
In 1999, Brenneman made a TV comeback, this time moving from supporting role to star -- and producer. In Judging
Amy, Brenneman plays Judge Amy Gray, a newly single mother who leaves her high-profile law career behind to become a
judge in her hometown. And the show hits close to Brenneman's real home -- it's based on her mother's own story.
How has the multi-talented Brenneman managed to keep herself so grounded? In 1995, she told Cosmopolitan: "I'm
happier now than I ever thought I'd be at this age. I guess I didn't realize that if you keep going, things get
better. You get to be who you are a little more each day." And that couldn't be truer for her today.
Copyright © 1999 Time Inc. All rights reserved.
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