Judd Asher Nelson (born
November 28, 1959) is an American
actor. He is best known for his roles as John
Bender in
The Breakfast
Club, Alec Newbary in
St. Elmo's Fire and Jack
Richmond in
Suddenly
Susan.
Biography
Early life
Nelson was
born in Portland,
Maine
, the son of Merle (née Royte), a court mediator and
former member of the Maine state
legislature, and Leonard Nelson, a corporate lawyer who 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 part way through his sophomore
year. He subsequently moved to Manhattan where he studied
acting with
Stella Adler.
Career
Nelson was one of the 1980s "
Brat
Pack", starring in such films as
Joel Schumacher's
St. Elmo's Fire and
John Hughes' The Breakfast Club (which was his
most popular role as rebel "John Bender"), as well as providing the
voice of
Hot Rod/
Rodimus Prime in
Transformers: The Movie. He
also starred in a film titled
Making the Grade and co-starred
alongside a young
Kevin Costner in the
road-trip movie
Fandango.
Following his starring role in
The Breakfast Club,
Nelson's career failed to take off in a big way, as several of his
films performed poorly at the box office, including
Blue City (co-starring
Breakfast
Club alumna
Ally Sheedy) and
From the Hip, both of
which garnered him
Razzie
nominations. His career lost momentum for a time, and in the 1990s
he appeared in
Flinch (1994)
co-Starring Gina Gershon. He was also in urban-themed dramas such
as
New Jack City and
Light It Up. However, in
1996 he received a starring role on the
NBC
television sitcom
Suddenly Susan, which saw enormous
success for a four-season run. Nelson made a cameo appearance in
the 2001 film,
Jay
and Silent Bob Strike Back; the film's writer and
director,
Kevin Smith, had been a long
time fan of Nelson and the "Brat Pack" movies. Throughout the late
1990s and 2000s, Nelson mostly appeared in television roles such as
NBC's Las Vegas (one of which was the popular TV
series Moonlighting, in an episode entitled "Camille") and
lower-budget films, although he also acted on stage.
Nelson also appeared in the television show
CSI: Crime Scene
Investigation as a friend of a murder victim and
Eleventh
Hour on November 20, 2008 as a psychologist researching
soldiers returning from Iraq who suffer from Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder (PTSD). He plays the host in
The Real Fear
Factor, a spoof on
Fear
Factor, in
National Lampoon's TV: The
Movie. In December '08 Nelson was reported to be cast in
the upcoming sequel
The Boondock Saints II:
All Saints Day.
Most recently, Nelson is reprised his role of Rodimus Prime from
the 1986 Transformers movie for the newest Transformers television
series:
Transformers
Animated.
Filmography
References
External links
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