Judd Nelson

Judd Nelson
Nelson in 2006
Born	Judd Asher Nelson (1959-11-28) November 28, 1959 (age 65) Portland, Maine, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1983–present
Notable work	The Breakfast Club St. Elmo's Fire
Relatives	Merle Nelson (mother)

Judd Asher Nelson (born November 28, 1959) is an American actor. After a lead role in the film Making the Grade (1984), Nelson had his breakout with a starring role in the coming-of-age teen film The Breakfast Club (1985), which caused him to be associated with a group of actors known as the "Brat Pack." ^{[1] [2]}

In the late 1980s, Nelson starred in the Brat Pack films St. Elmo's Fire (1985) and Blue City (1986), voiced Hot Rod / Rodimus Prime in the animated film The Transformers: The Movie (1986), and had lead roles in From the Hip (1987) and Relentless (1989). For his portrayal of Joe Hunt in the biographical television miniseries Billionaire Boys Club (1987), Nelson was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film.

In the 1990s, Nelson starred in the films New Jack City (1991), Airheads (1994), Steel (1997), and Light It Up (1999). He experienced a career resurgence with a main role as Jack Richmond on the NBC sitcom Suddenly Susan (1996–1999).

During the 2000s and 2010s, Nelson appeared in a string of television and direct-to-video films. He starred in the film The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day (2009) and portrayed Ryan Hunt, the father of Joe Hunt, in a starring role in Billionaire Boys Club (2018). Nelson reprised his voice role as Hot Rod / Rodimus Prime in the animated web series Transformers: Titans Return (2017–2018).

Early life

Nelson was born in Portland, Maine, the son of Merle Nelson ( née  Royte), a court mediator and former member of the Maine House of Representatives, and Leonard Nelson, a corporate lawyer. He grew up in a Conservative Jewish home although his family did not keep kosher. ^{[3] [4]} His father was the first Jewish president of the Portland Symphony Orchestra. ^{[5] [6] [7]} He has two sisters, Eve and Julie. ^{[1] [2]}

He went to school at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire and Waynflete School in Portland, Maine. While at St Paul's School, an Episcopalian school, he started embracing his Jewish identity after experiencing antisemitism. ^[8] He studied at Haverford College in Pennsylvania, leaving during his sophomore year. He subsequently moved to Manhattan to study acting with Stella Adler. ^{[1] [2]}

Career

1980s

Nelson began acting in the mid-1980s, starring in Making the Grade (1984), and in Fandango (1985) opposite Kevin Costner. It was his roles in John Hughes's The Breakfast Club (1985) and Joel Schumacher's St. Elmo's Fire (1985) that made Nelson a star. He was affiliated with the Brat Pack of young 1980s actors, along with Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Molly Ringwald, and Ally Sheedy. The St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion) music video – also directed by Schumacher – reached No. 1 in the US (1985). It was written by David Foster and John Parr and performed by John Parr. Nelson appears in the video. ^[2] He also appeared on a video for the Simple Minds' song "Don't You (Forget About Me)", from The Breakfast Club, in which members of the "Pack" feature prominently. ^[9] A subsequent article in New York magazine, which focused primarily on the success of these films, resulted in the term "Brat Pack" being coined. ^[10]

In 1986 Nelson provided the voice of Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime in The Transformers: The Movie and teamed up with Breakfast Club alumna Ally Sheedy for a third time in Blue City . He also provided narration for Bill Couturie's Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam , a critically acclaimed war documentary that featured a cast including Tom Berenger, Robert De Niro, Willem Dafoe, and Matt Dillon. Film critic Roger Ebert praised the documentary, and it maintains a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. ^{[11] [12]}

He starred opposite Burt Reynolds in the ABC Afterschool Special Shattered If Your Kid's On Drugs, which also featured Megan Follows and Dermot Mulroney. In 1987 he starred in the Bob Clark courtroom comedy From the Hip , which co-starred John Hurt and Elizabeth Perkins; he also provided a stand-out performance in Billionaire Boys Club , a courtroom thriller based on actual events; his performance earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor in a Mini-Series. ^[2] In late 1988 he played Konstantin in Chekhov's The Seagull directed by Charles Marowitz at the Los Angeles Theatre Center, earning praise, as did the entire production. ^[13]

Nelson closed the 1980s with the William Lustig thriller, Relentless (1989), in which he plays a Los Angeles serial killer hunted by two police officers (Robert Loggia and Leo Rossi); he provided a cameo in the Adam Rifkin road film Never on Tuesday (1989) along with Nicolas Cage, Cary Elwes, Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen; and appeared in Tommy Chong's Far Out Man (1989) with Rae Dawn Chong and C. Thomas Howell. ^{[14] [15]}

Key TV roles in the 1980s included Moonlighting (1986) – episode "Camille" – in which he played a police officer opposite Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis.

1990s

Nelson began the 1990s with a starring role opposite Max von Sydow in the World War II drama Hiroshima: Out of the Ashes (1990). The film focused on the horror of the Hiroshima bombing. It co-stars Mako Iwamatsu and Pat Morita. In the Fall of 1990 he appeared on stage in Chicago and New York in Jules Feiffer's Carnal Knowledge with Jon Cryer. ^[16] He then worked for a second time with Adam Rifkin, this time starring in The Dark Backward (1991) with Bill Paxton. This quirky comedy featured fellow actor Rob Lowe, as well as Lara Flynn Boyle, James Caan, and Wayne Newton. Nelson plays the worst comedian in stand-up comedy history.

In 1991, he had a starring role in the Mario Van Peebles-directed New Jack City , an urban gangster film with Wesley Snipes, Ice-T, Vanessa A. Williams, and Chris Rock. The film was a commercial success. ^[17] He then had a special guest appearance in the HBO TV series Tales from the Crypt – on the episode What's Cookin (1992) – with Christopher Reeve and Meat Loaf, followed by a starring role with Richard Jordan in the thriller Primary Motive (1992), and a similar role in Entangled (1993) opposite Pierce Brosnan, which was set in Paris.

In 1994 Nelson appeared with Brendan Fraser, Steve Buscemi, Chris Farley, and Adam Sandler in the comedy Airheads , with Gina Gershon in the psychological thriller Flinch, and with then partner Shannen Doherty in the thriller Blindfold: Acts of Obsession. Nelson wrote, produced, and starred in the thriller Every Breath in which he co-starred with Joanna Pacula. He headlined the Australian thriller, Blackwater Trail (1995), with Peter Phelps. He had a starring role on the NBC television sitcom Suddenly Susan (1996), which saw success for a four-season run. He had a starring role in the Shaquille O'Neal movie Steel (1997). The film also starred Annabeth Gish and Richard Roundtree (Steel was a commercial flop). ^{[2] [18]}

Nelson wrapped up the 1990s with another urban gangster thriller, Light It Up (1999), which featured an ensemble cast including R&B singer/actor Usher Raymond (in his first leading role), Rosario Dawson, Forest Whitaker, and Vanessa L. Williams. He played Alan Freed in the latter's life story, Mr. Rock 'N' Roll: The Alan Freed Story (1999) opposite Mädchen Amick and Paula Abdul. ^[2]

2000s to present day

In the 21st century, Nelson has appeared in such TV series as The Outer Limits (2000), CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2006), CSI: NY (2007), Las Vegas (2007), Eleventh Hour (2008) as a psychologist researching soldiers returning from Iraq who suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder, Psych (2010), and a recurring role in Two and a Half Men (2010) with Charlie Sheen.

Films include the psychological thriller Cabin by the Lake (2000), its sequel Return to Cabin by the Lake (2001), and a cameo appearance in the 2001 film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back ; the film's writer-director, Kevin Smith, had been a long-time fan of Nelson and the "Brat Pack" films. ^[19] In 2002 he co-starred with Lauren Holly in Santa Jr. and reprised his role as John Bender in an episode of Family Guy (2007). Later, Nelson reprised his role of Rodimus Prime in Transformers Animated (2009) and appeared in The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day (2009), the latter with Julie Benz, Billy Connolly, Sean Patrick Flanery, and Peter Fonda.

He portrayed Father Charley Lock on Brookwood Sleazebags (2010), a pilot he did for HBO. ^{[2] [20]} In 2012, Nelson played the role of Headmaster Nash in the live-action feature film Bad Kids Go to Hell , based on the graphic novel of the same name. The same year, Nelson co-wrote and starred in the short film The Spin Room: Super Tuesday. Nelson reprised his role as Rodimus in Transformers: Animated and voiced Ben 10,000, Eon, and Atomic-X in Ben 10: Omniverse .

In 2013, Nelson authored four books released on Kindle: The Power of Speech, Nine of Diamonds, The Gig, and Water Music. ^[21]

Nelson played a pivotal role in the final season of Nikita . ^[22]

Nelson played a lead role in the 2010 Hallmark movie, Cancel Christmas. He portrayed Chris Frost, who is also Santa Claus. ^[23]

In 2019, he starred in the suspense thriller, Dead Water.

In 2021, Nelson starred as Don Cody in the Lifetime film Girl in the Basement which was inspired by the Fritzl case. ^[24]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	Rock 'n' Roll Hotel	Rocker Johnny
1984	Making the Grade	Eddie Keaton
1985	The Breakfast Club	John Bender	Won – MTV Movie Silver Bucket of Excellence Award
	St. Elmo's Fire	Alec Newbury
	Fandango	Phil Hicks, Groover
1986	The Transformers: The Movie	Hot Rod / Rodimus Prime	Voice [25]
	Blue City	Billy Turner
1987	From the Hip	Robin 'Stormy' Weathers
1989	Relentless	Arthur 'Buck' Taylor
	Never on Tuesday	Motorcycle Cop	Uncredited
1990	Far Out Man	Himself	Cameo
1991	New Jack City	Nick Peretti
	The Dark Backward	Marty Malt
1992	Primary Motive	Andrew Blumenthal
1993	Conflict of Interest	Gideon
	Entangled	David
1994	Every Breath	Jimmy	Also Writer and Producer
	Hail Caesar	Prisoner One
	Airheads	Jimmie Wing
	Flinch	Harry Mirapolsky
	Caroline at Midnight	Phil Gallo
1995	Blackwater Trail	Matt
1996	For a Few Lousy Dollars	Hitman
1997	Steel	Nathaniel Burke
1999	Light It Up	Ken Knowles
2000	Endsville	Rufus the Buck-Toothed Sluggard
	Falcon Down	Harold Peters
2001	Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back	Sheriff
	Dark Asylum	Quitz
	The Cure for Boredom	Max
2002	Deceived	Jack Jones
2003	White Rush	Brian Nathanson
2005	Lethal Eviction	Shep
	The Lost Angel	Father Brian
2006	National Lampoon's TV: The Movie	Fear Factor Host/Judd
2007	Netherbeast Incorporated	Steven P.D. Landry
	Nevermore	Jonathon Usher
2008	The Caretaker	Ella's dad [26]
	The Day the Earth Stopped	Charlie
2009	Dirty Politics	Billy
	A Single Woman	Jewish reporter
	Little Hercules in 3-D	Kevin
	The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day	Concezio Yakavetta
2010	The Terror Experiment (Fight or Flight)	Agent Wilson
	Endure	Emory Lane
	Mayor Cupcake	Donald Maroni
2012	Bad Kids Go to Hell	Headmaster Nash
2013	Last Chance Holiday	Glenn Cartwell
	Down and Dangerous	Charles	Nominated – Maverick Movie Award
	Nurse 3D	Dr. Morris
2014	Bigfoot Wars	Dr. Smith
	Private Number	Sheriff Stance
	Road to the Open	Anger Management Therapist
2016	Stagecoach: The Texas Jack Story	Sid Dalton
2018	Billionaire Boys Club	Ryan Hunt
	1/1	Robert
2019	Dead Water	San McLean
	Santa Fake	Seb
	Electric Jesus	Pastor Wember
	Dauntless: The Battle of Midway	Admiral R.A. Spruance
2022	The Most Dangerous Game	Marcus Rainsford

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	Moonlighting	Policeman	Episode: "Camille"
1987	Billionaire Boys Club	Joe Hunt	2 episodes Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
1990	Hiroshima: Out of the Ashes	Pete Dunham	Television film
1992	Tales from the Crypt	Gaston	Episode: "What's Cookin'"
1994	Blindfold: Acts of Obsession	Dr. Jannings	Television film
1995	Circumstances Unknown	Paul Kinsey
1996–1999	Suddenly Susan	Jack Richmond	71 episodes
1999	Mr. Rock 'n' Roll: The Alan Freed Story	Alan Freed	Television film
2000	The Outer Limits	Harry Longworth	Episode: "Something About Harry"
	Cabin by the Lake	Stanley	Television film
	The Spiral Staircase	Phillip Warren
	The New Adventures of Spin and Marty: Suspect Behavior	Jack Hulka
2001	Strange Frequency	Martin Potter
	Return to Cabin by the Lake	Stanley
	Lost Voyage	Aaron Roberts
2002	Cybermutt	Alex
	Santa Jr.	Darryl Bedford
2005	Three Wise Guys	George
2006	Black Hole	Eric
	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Mick Sheridan	Episode: "Time of Your Death"
2007	Las Vegas	Ollie	Episode: "Fleeting Cheating Meeting"
	The Kidnapping	Glen	Television film
	CSI: NY	Cigarette Company Executive	Episode: "The Ride In"
	Family Guy	John Bender	Voice, episode: "Blue Harvest"
2008	Infected	Malcolm Burgess	Television film
2009	Phineas and Ferb	The Guru	Voice, episode: "Isabella and the Temple of Sap" [25]
	Transformers: Animated	Rodimus Prime	Voice, episode: "TransWarped Part 1" [25]
2010	Psych	Dr. Steven Reidman	Episode: "Death Is in the Air"
	Two and a Half Men	Chris McElroy	2 episodes
2011	Cancel Christmas	Santa / Chris Frost	Television film
2013–2014	Ben 10: Omniverse	Eon, Ben 10,000, Atomic-X	Voice, 5 episodes [25]
2013	Nikita	Ronald Peller	2 episodes
2015, 2019	Empire	Billy Beretti	5 episodes
2017	Transformers: Titans Return	Rodimus Prime / Hot Rod	Voice, main role [25]
	From Straight A's to XXX	Don	Television film
2018	Transformers: Power of the Primes	Rodimus Prime / Hot Rod / Rodimus Cron	Voice, recurring role [25]
2021	Girl in the Basement	Don Cody	Television film
2024	The Engagement Plan	Dash Donnelly	Television film

Music videos

Year	Title	Artist
1985	"St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)"	John Parr
2012	"Gotten"	Slash featuring Adam Levine

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	Sleeping Dogs	Henry Hitchcock	Mark Taper Forum
	Planet Fires	Sling and Bartender
	Orphans		Burt Reynolds Dinner Theatre, Jupiter, Florida
	Wrestlers
1988	The Seagull	Konstantin	The Los Angeles Theatre Center
	Temple	Paulie	American Jewish Theatre, New York City
1990	Carnal Knowledge	Jonathan Fuerst	Martin R. Kaufman Theatre, New York City
2001	The Cocktail Hour		The Cape Playhouse, Massachusetts
2003	He She Them		The Shubert Theatre

References

1. "Judd Nelson Biography". Biography . September 6, 2019. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
2. "Judd Nelson". IMDb . Retrieved February 23, 2021.
3. "Judd Nelson: The truth about my Brat Pack past… and social media's future".
4. Herzfeld, Laura (October 3, 2012). "Judd Nelson on religion in movies, 'Breakfast Club,' and his new film 'Just 45 Minutes from Broadway'". Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved July 9, 2015.
5. Peck, Abraham J.; Jean M. Peck (2007). Maine's Jewish Heritage. Arcadia Publishing. p. 108. ISBN   978-0-7385-4965-1.
6. Film Reference.com.
7. Bartlett, Will (January 9, 1996). "Lillian D. Royte Strong Believer in Public Service". Portland Press Herald . Retrieved March 27, 2008.
8. "Judd Nelson: The truth about my Brat Pack past… and social media's future".
9. "Simple Minds - Don't You (Forget About Me) Breakfast Club". YouTube .
10. Blum, David (June 10, 1985). "Hollywood's Brat Pack". New York.
11. Ebert, Roger (September 16, 1988). "Dear America: Letters Home From Vietnam". Chicago Sun-Times – via RogerEbert.com.
12. "Dear America: Letters Home From Vietnam". Rotten Tomatoes. November 15, 2005. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
13. Sullivan, Dan (October 10, 1988). "STAGE REVIEW: 'Seagull' Is a Flight of Caring, Knowing". Los Angeles Times .
14. "Never on Tuesday". IMDb. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
15. "Far Out Man". IMDb. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
16. Willis, John, ed. (February 1, 2000). Carnal Knowledge. Hal Leonard Corp. p. 61. ISBN   978-1-55783-126-2.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
17. "New Jack City (1991)". Box Office Mojo. May 21, 1991. Retrieved June 15, 2013.
18. "Steel". Rotten Tomatoes.
19. Spears, Steve (November 28, 2006). "That's Mr. Nelson to you". Tampa Bay Times .
20. "Judd Nelson & Peter Fonda Join The Cast Of 'Boondock Saints 2'". Geeks of Doom. December 5, 2008. Retrieved June 15, 2013.
21. "Judd Nelson". Goodreads . Retrieved February 23, 2021.
22. Masters, Megan (August 20, 2013). "Nikita Exclusive: Brat Packer Judd Nelson to Go Undercover for Major Final Season Arc". TVLine . Archived from the original on August 24, 2018. Retrieved August 31, 2013.
23. Crump, William D. (April 27, 2017). How the Movies Saved Christmas: 228 Rescues from Clausnappers, Sleigh Crashes, Lost Presents and Holiday Disasters. McFarland. ISBN   978-1-4766-6488-0.
24. Andreeva, Nellie (October 6, 2020). "Lifetime Greenlights 'Girl In The Basement' Movie Starring Stefanie Scott, Judd Nelson & Joely Fisher; Elisabeth Rohm Directs". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 23, 2021.
25. "Judd Nelson (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved November 28, 2023. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
26. "The Caretaker Takin' Care of the Killin' Teens Business". DreadCentral. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved January 8, 2010.

External links

• Judd Nelson at IMDb