Judd Asher Nelson is an American actor, screenwriter, and producer.
He is best known for his roles as John Bender in The Breakfast Club, Alec Newbary in St.
Elmo's Fire, Hot Rod and Rodimus Prime in The Transformers: The Movie and Jack Richmond
in Suddenly Susan.
Early life Nelson was born in Portland, Maine, the son
of Merle, a court mediator and former member of the Maine state legislature, and Leonard
Nelson, a corporate lawyer.
His family is Jewish, and his father was the first Jewish president of the Portland Symphony
Orchestra.
He has two sisters, Eve and Julie.
He went to school at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, and Waynflete School
in Portland, Maine, and studied at Haverford College in Pennsylvania, leaving during his
sophomore year.
He subsequently moved to Manhattan to study acting with Stella Adler.
Career 1980s
Nelson began acting in the mid-1980s, starring in Making the Grade and Fandango, the latter
in which he starred opposite a young Kevin Costner.
It was his roles in John Hughes's The Breakfast Club and Joel Schumacher's St. Elmo's Fire
- and his affiliation with the Brat Pack - that made Nelson a star.
The St. Elmo's Fire music video - also directed by Joel Schumacher - reached #1 in the USA
written by David Foster and John Parr and performed by John Parr; Nelson appears in
the video.
A subsequent article in New York magazine, which focused primarily on the success of
these films, resulted in the term "Brat Pack" being coined.
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.
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. 1987 saw him starring
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 Billionarie 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.
Nelson closed the 1980s with the William Lustig thriller, Relentless, in which he plays a
Los Angeles serial killer being hunted by two cops; he provided a cameo in the Adam
Rifkin road film Never on Tuesday along with Nicolas Cage, Cary Elwes, Emilio Estevez and
Charlie Sheen; and appeared in Tommy Chong's Far Out Man with Rae Dawn Chong and C. Thomas
Howell.
Key TV roles in the 1980s included Moonlighting - episode Camille - in which he played a police
officer opposite Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis
1990s Nelson began 1990s with a starring role opposite
Max von Sydow in the World War II drama Hiroshima: Out of the Ashes; the film focused on the
horror of the Hiroshima bombing; it co-stars Mako Iwamatsu and Pat Morita.
He then worked for a second time with Adam Rifkin, this time starring in The Dark Backward
with Bill Paxton; this quirky comedy also 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.
1991 would also see 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.
He then had a special guest appearance in the popular HBO TV series Tales from the Crypt
- on the episode What's Cookin - with Christopher Reeve and Meat Loaf, followed by a starring
role with Richard Jordan in the thriller Primary Motive, and a similar role in Entangled opposite
Pierce Brosnan, which was set in Paris.
In 1994 Nelson appeared with 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; he further wrote, produced, and
starred in the thriller Every Breath in which he co-starred with Joanna Pacula.
He headlined the Australian thriller, Blackwater Trail, with Peter Phelps before receiving
a starring role on the NBC television sitcom Suddenly Susan, which saw success for a four-season
run; this was followed by a starring role in the Shaquille O'Neil movie Steel; the film
also starred Annabeth Gish and Richard Roundtree.
Nelson wrapped up the 1990s with another urban gangster thriller, Light It Up, which featured
an ensemble cast including R&B singer/actor Usher Raymond, Rosario Dawson, Forest Whitaker,
and Vanessa L. Williams; he also played Alan Freed in the latter's life story, Mr. Rock
'N' Roll: The Alan Freed Story opposite Mädchen Amick and Paula Abdul.
2000s In the 21st century, Nelson has appeared in
such TV series as The Outer Limits, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: NY, Las Vegas, Eleventh
Hour as a psychologist researching soldiers returning from Iraq who suffer from Posttraumatic
stress disorder, Psych, and a recurring role in Two and a Half Men with Charlie Sheen.
Films have included the Psychological thriller Cabin by the Lake, its sequel Return to Cabin
by the Lake, 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.
In 2002 he co-starred with Lauren Holly in Santa, Jr. and reprised his role as John Bender
in an episode of Family Guy.
Later, Nelson reprised his role of Rodimus Prime in Transformers Animated and appeared
in The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, the latter with Julie Benz, Billy Connolly,
Sean Patrick Flanery, and Peter Fonda.
He portrayed Father Charley Lock on Brookwood Sleazebags, a pilot he did for HBO.
In 2012, Nelson played the role of Headmaster Nash in the live-action feature film Bad Kids
Go to Hell, based on the best-selling 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 and Eon in
Ben 10 Omniverse.
In 2013 Judd Nelson authored four books released on Kindle.
They include "The Power of Speech", "Nine of Diamonds", "The Gig" and "Water Music".
Judd Nelson will play a pivotal role in the final season of Nikita.
Popular culture Nelson is frequently mentioned in relation
to the 1980s due to the popularity of his early films The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo's
Fire.
Nelson appeared at the 2010 Academy Awards to pay tribute to the late John Hughes along
with other cast members of Hughes' films.
Filmography References
External links Judd Nelson at the Internet Movie Database
Judd Nelson at AllMovie