Amy Brenneman is leading the renaissance of prime-time drama with the breakout hit “Judging Amy.”
As Judge Amy Gray, a single mom who returns to her hometown, Hartford, Brenneman is winning raves for her on-screen chemistry with co-star Tyne Daly, who plays Amy’s opinionated mother.
TV viewers with good memories might recall Brenneman from her role as troubled cop Janet Licalsi on “NYPD Blue” – the same series “Judging Amy” was supposed to compete against when “Blue” returns to its regular night next month.
But this week something happened. With the success of “Judging Amy” – the season’s most-watched new drama – rival ABC is sitting up and taking notice and wondering if it should duck a direct confrontation with Brenneman and her red-hot show.
Is there a book or movie that changed your life? “Charlotte’s Web” was the first novel I read from to cover to cover – it really opened me up to that whole experience. “Ordinary People” blew my mind in high school. It was the first movie that felt so real and I just couldn’t shake it for weeks afterwards. Who are your heroes? My mother, my high school drama teacher, Anna Devere Smith and Georgia O’Keefe. What was the worst day of your life? When I was in college (Harvard University) I had to write my thesis, which was the scariest thing in the world for me. A week before my thesis was due, I was hyperventilating and it was snowing. It was in Cambridge, Massachussetts, the battery in my car had died, and I had the flu and I had to stay up all night and write this thesis. The world was very bleak indeed. What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this? I would be studying comparative religion and going around the world learning about sacred dance and ritual. –