Judith LightBirth Place: Trenton, New Jersey, USA Date of Birth: February 9, 1949 Heritage: American Contact Judith Light | 
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One Life to Live Background: “Acting is no near translation or abstraction from life. It is life itself.” Judith Light An American versatile actress who has successfully undertaken daytime series, prime time sitcoms and series and the New York stage, Judith Light was launched to prominence as Karen Wolek, a reformed prostitute, on the ABC long running soap opera “One Life to Live” (1977-1983). Delivering an outstanding acting performance, she won two Daytime Emmy Awards and two Soapy Awards. The tall blonde actress made a flourishing transformation to primetime shows with the hit sitcom “Who's the Boss” (1984-1992), in which she memorably starred as working single mother Angela Bower. Her follow-up shows “Phenom” (ABC, 1993-1994), “The Simple Life” (CBS, 1998) and “The Stones” (CBS, 2004), however, proved to have short lives. In the meantime, Light focused her attention on making television films. More recently, Light revitalized her TV career with her Emmy nominated role of the alcoholic mother Claire Meade on the popular sitcom “Ugly Betty” (2006-present). Formerly a recurring performer, she was boosted to a cast regular in the 2007-2008 season. The role also brought Light a Prism Award. Light also has a recurring role as Bureau Chief Elizabeth Donnelly on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (2002-2007). On stage, Light is recognized for portraying Dr. Vivian Bearing in Margaret Edson's Pulitzer Prize winning play “WIT” (1999-2000). Her other stage credits include “A Doll's House” (1975), “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “As You like It” and “Sorrows & Rejoicings” (2002). Apart from acting, Light is a strong supporter of Gay rights. She has participated in numerous charities and in 1993 spoke at the March on Washington. She also helped her ex “Who's the Boss” co-star Danny Pintauro come out of the closet and became the first heterosexual to sit on the board of directors of the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Services Center. To honor her, in 1998 the center named its library after her. Light is also a renowned AIDS activist and has volunteered for such organizations as Heart Strings, Project Angel Food and The NAMES Project. Light has been married to TV actor Robert Desiderio since 1985.
Childhood and Family: An only child, Judith Ellen Licht, who would later be famous as Judith Light, was born on February 9, 1949, in Trenton, New Jersey. Her father, Benjamin “Benny” Licht, owned a furniture store in Trenton. She attended St. Mary's Hall in Burlington, New Jersey, and spent a summer at a program studying acting at Carnegie-Mellon University between her junior and senior years of high school. This exposure led to the decision of enrolling in the prestigious institution from which Judith received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1971. On January 1, 1985, Judith married New York born television actor Robert Desiderio (born on September 9, 1951). She met her husband when they were both working on the soap opera “One Life to Live.” Judith's nickname is Sugar Lips.
Career: Developing a love for the performing arts at a Pennsylvania summer camp, Judith Light toured a summer with the USO in a production of “Guys and Dolls,” where she portrayed Adelaide, while still a student at Carnegie-Mellon. She made her professional stage debut in “Richard III” at the California Shakespeare Festival in 1970 and spent the next five years with Milwaukee and Seattle repertory companies before debuting on Broadway in 1975 with a supporting role in a revival of Henrik Ibsen's “A Doll's House,” opposite Liv Ullmann. A series of Broadway and off-Broadway productions followed after the performance, including roles in “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “As You like It.” In 1977, Light took her first crack at the small screen with a guest role as Laetitia 'Tish' Palmerance on an episode of “Kojak.” However, it was her next TV assignment that gave the newcomer real recognition when she was cast as Karen Wolek in the ABC soap opera “One Life to Live,” a role that had been previously played by actresses Kathryn Breech and Julia Duffy. During her stint on the show from 1977 to 1983, she picked up two Daytime Emmys for Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series (1980 and 1981) and two Soapys for Outstanding Actress (1979 and 1980). The success subsequently launched Light as one of the queens of TV soap operas. After leaving the daytime drama, Light entered primetime TV with a costarring role opposite Anthony Geary in the TV film “Intimate Agony” (1983), which was followed by guest spots on several primetime series, including “St. Elsewhere” (1983), “Family Ties” (1983) and “Remington Steel” (1984). Her next big breakthrough arrived when Light landed the female lead on the ABC sitcom “Who's the Boss,” which ran from 1984 to 1992. On the hit sitcom, which was once hailed as one of TV Guide's “Best Sitcom of All Time,” she portrayed Angela Bower, an advertising executive and single mother of one who hired former baseball player and single father Tony Micelli (played by Tony Danza) as her housekeeper. While starring on the series, Light also teamed up with John Aylward and Joseph Hacker in the NBC thriller “Stamp of a Killer” (1987), starred as the mother of a young AIDS victim in ABC's “The Ryan White Story” (1989) and was cast as a singer named Vickie Vine on NBC's “My Boyfriend's Back” (1989), opposite Jill Eikenberry and Sandy Duncan. She then played a defense lawyer in “In Defense of a Married Man” (1990), alongside Michael Ontkean, and starred in the ABC drama “Wife, Mother, Murderer” (1991), which was based on a true story of an Alabama woman who poisoned her husband and tried to kill her daughter so she could marry again. After “Who's the Boss” came to an end, Light attempted to return to series television with “Phenom” (1993-1994), in which she starred as the mother of a tennis prodigy, but the sitcom only lasted one season. She next costarred with Peter Strauss in the CBS movie “Men Don't Tell” (1993), a popular drama dealing with the issue of husband abuse, joined forces with Judd Hirsch for the compelling fact based drama “Betrayal of Trust” (1994), portrayed Alice Needham on ABC's “Against Their Will: Women In Prison” (1994, with Stacey Keach) and starred with Jack Wagner and Tracey Gold in “The Lady Killer” (1995), a thriller for CBS. Other TV film credits include “A Husband, A Wife, and A Lover” (CBS, 1996), “Murder At My Door” (Fox, 1996), “A Step Toward Tomorrow” (CBS, 1996), “Too Close to Home” (CBS, 1997) and “Carriers” (CBS, 1999). Light next appeared in 1998's “The Simple Life.” Despite having a good supporting cast, the show failed to attract audiences and was cancelled. The following year saw her revisit the stage in the Margaret Edson Pulitzer winning off-Broadway production “Wit,” where she received good reviews for her performance as a cancer stricken teacher. She later recreated the role for the national tour and in 2002 took on a costarring role in Athol Fugard's off-Broadway staging of “Sorrows & Rejoicings.” Still in 2002, Light began her recurring role on the popular NBC drama series “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” playing Bureau Chief Elizabeth Donnelly, and appeared in an episode of 'Spin City.” Two years later, she appeared in CBS' “The Stones,” where she starred as Barbara Stone, but the series was soon axed by the network. In October 2006, Light scored a recurring role as Claire Meade, Daniel and Alexis Meade's alcoholic mother, on the ABC series “Ugly Betty.” Thanks to her impressive acting, she was promoted as a cast regular in the 2007-2008 seasons. She nabbed her first Emmy nomination in the category of Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series and a Prism for Performance in a Comedy Series (both 2007). Light also appeared in an episode of the NBC sitcom “Twenty Good Years” (2006) and in a movie titled “Ira and Abby” (2006), which won a Film Discovery Jury Award for Best Feature at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival. She next acted in a short movie called “The Shoemaker” (2006), opposite Danny Aiello. In 2007, Light acted with Chad Allen and Robert Gant in the dramatic film “Save Me,” in which her husband Robert Desiderio wrote the screenplay, and appeared as a customer in “A Broken Sole,” which was directed by Anthony Marsellis.
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