Before she was a box-office leading lady, Ashley Judd got her very first professional acting job in about the strangest way possible, and she still finds the story hilarious.
Ashley Judd’s path to playing Ensign Robin Lefler on “Star Trek: The Next Generation” was not straight or expected, the actress said in a new Instagram video.
In the Right Place at the Right Time
Judd, now widely known for films like “A Time to Kill” and “Double Jeopardy,” made her television debut in 1991 with two guest appearances on “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” Of course, she is more widely known for her roles in “Sisters” and “Norma Jean and Marilyn.” Judd played Ensign Robin Lefler in the classic “The Next Generation” episodes “Darmok” and “The Game.” According to Judd’s retelling, she never formally auditioned for the part. At the time, she didn’t even know it existed.
“I was really young in Hollywood,” she recalls. “I went to a little bungalow to audition or read or meet on something. The gal I had met had said, ‘Gosh, you are really right for something over at Star Trek: The Next Generation. Could you just go over there right now?'”
Surprised but excited, Judd remembers calling her agent Michelle Bowen and asked if it was all right if she went over, not wanting to upset the formal process. Judd recalls Bowen encouraging her to be spontaneous and go through with it.
By her account, she had walked onto the Paramount lot that day to read for an entirely different project. Partway through, she noticed the people running the audition start murmuring to each other. Instead of being a positive sign that they were going to offer her the role she was there to audition for, they cast her in “The Next Generation” on the spot.
From there, they sent her straight to the wardrobe department to start costume fittings before she even had a proper script or time to process what had happened. “It was then that I learned that there are no bras in space!” Judd said.
Judd, as well as all the other actors on “The Next Generation,” had custom undergarments made so that they would not show through the jumpsuit uniforms. She said that she kept the custom-built bra from the show for her next roles.
“I showed up to many a costume fitting for many a movie with my very own custom built–and that is the term, we use ‘built’–bra.”
Judd’s Star Trek Career: Short but Memorable
Judd’s Star Trek run was brief but memorable. She appeared in “Darmok,” which is widely regarded as one of the best episodes of “The Next Generation.” She then returned a few episodes later in “The Game” as the same character who had become Wesley Crusher’s (Wil Wheaton) love interest. That episode marked Judd’s first-ever on-screen kiss.
The producers liked her and her character enough to consider bringing Lefler back in later episodes, including one involving Wesley Crusher’s Starfleet Academy storyline. However, Judd’s film career was accelerating too quickly to make it work. By 1992, she’d landed her film debut in “Kuffs,” and by 1993 she was headlining “Ruby in Paradise.” The latter project won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance.
Rumors additionally circulated years later that she may return as Wesley Crusher’s wife in “Star Trek: Nemesis” in 2002, though that reunion never made it to the screen.
