Judith Light

 ( Official Website ) 

Light returned to television with the recurring role of Judge Elizabeth Donnelly in the NBC legal crime drama in 2002. She appeared in 25 episodes of the series from 2002 to 2010. In 2004 she starred in another short-lived CBS sitcom, The Stones. In 2006, Light joined the cast of the ABC comedy-drama series Ugly Betty as Claire Meade, the mother of Alexis Meade and Daniel Meade. She was a recurring guest-star during the first season and was promoted to series regular as of the second. Light appeared in the show until the series finale in 2010. She was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series in 2007, and for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series in 2008, for her performance in show.

Light appeared in a number of films in the 2000s. She co-starred opposite Chris Messina and Jennifer Westfeldt in the 2006 romantic comedy film Ira & Abby. In 2007, Light starred as a radical Christian woman in the independent film Save Me. Light's character, Gayle, runs a Christian ministry known as Genesis House, which works to help gay men recover from their 'affliction.' She is challenged by the arrival of Mark, an ill gay man who reminds Gayle of her dead, homosexual son, and the movie chronicles the challenges of the two as they learn to accept each other as they are.

in New York City]]Light appeared on Broadway as Faye in the 2013 play, The Assembled Parties, and won her second Tony Award for Featured Actress in a Play for her performance.Gans, Andrew. "Nominations Announced for 67th Annual Tony Awards; 'Kinky Boots' Earns 13 Nominations" playbill.com, April 30, 2013 In the same year, she joined the cast of TNT's continuation of the television series Dallas, in the role of Judith Brown Ryland, villainous mother of Harris Ryland (despite being only three years older than Mitch Pileggi who plays her TV son). "Judith Light Heads to Dallas" tvguide.com "Dallas Spoilers: Debuts, Deceptions and Deaths" tvfanatic.com She received positive reviews for her recurring role in Dallas, with Entertainment Weekly naming her the "scene-stealer" of the series.

In 2014, she was cast opposite Jeffrey Tambor in the critically acclaimed Amazon Studios dark comedy-drama series, Transparent created by Jill Soloway. She plays Shelly Pfefferman, ex-wife of the transgender character played by Tambor. The pilot episode debuted on February 6, 2014, and later episodes premiered on September 26, 2014. Light received Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film nominations for her performance.

Light appeared opposite Patricia Clarkson in the 2014 Romantic comedy, Last Weekend, and as the mother of Melanie Lynskey's character in a comedy-drama film, We'll Never Have Paris, the same year. She returned to Broadway in 2015 as Madame Raquin in Helen Edmundson's adaptation of Thérèse Raquin, starring opposite Keira Knightley and Matt Ryan. In 2017, Light was featured in the American Theatre Wing's Working in the Theatre series on solo performance.IMDB, "Working in the Theatre: Solo Performance, August 24th, 2017.

Light received critical acclaim for her portrayal of Marilyn Miglin in 2018's , a miniseries on FX, culminating in a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie. In 2019, Light guest-starred in the Netflix series, The Politician. Together with Bette Midler, she joined the main cast of the series for the second season, which premiered in June 2020. She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on September 12, 2019.

In 2021, Light played Rosa Stevens in the biographical musical drama film Tick, Tick... Boom! directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda. She later starred in the comedy-thriller The Menu. She also was cast in the comedy-drama Down Low, and comedy-drama The Young Wife starring Kiersey Clemons. On television, Light played Courteney Cox's mother in the Starz horror comedy series Shining Vale, and Blanche Knopf in the HBO Max series Julia, both having premiered in 2022.

Through her role in Transparent as the ex-wife of a transgender person, Light raises these issues to a broad audience. She reported "It's something that we really haven't talked about before in pop culture, we haven't talked about transgender issues, we haven't talked about mature people's sexuality."

In an interview with the magazine Out, Light stated:

“It was the LGBTQ community that inspired me to be the kind of person I wanted to be. I wanted to be authentic and courageous, and for so long I wasn't. When I began doing a lot of advocacy work in the early '80s for HIV and AIDS, I saw the community and the way the community was operating against all odds, against a world and a culture and country that gave them nothing and denigrated them. ... I looked at this community and said, 'This is breathtaking. This is the kind of world and people I want to be around. These are the kind of people I want to be working with."

In addition to LGBTQ and AIDS activism, she has spoken publicly to encourage vaccination against the flu as a way to protect vulnerable populations.