Portrait of Judith Light

Birthday profile

Judith Light

Judith Light, American actress

Born
February 9, 1949
Age in 2026
77
Zodiac sign
Aquarius
Birth year
1949

About Judith Light

Judith Ellen Light (born February 9, 1949) is an American actress. She made her professional stage debut in 1970, before making her Broadway debut in the 1975 revival of A Doll's House. Her breakthrough role was in the ABC daytime soap opera One Life to Live from 1977 to 1983, where she played the role of Karen Wolek; for this role, she won two consecutive Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 1980 and 1981. In 2024, Light won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for Poker Face. Light starred as Angela Bower in the long-running ABC sitcom Who's the Boss? from 1984 to 1992. Light played the recurring role of Elizabeth Donnelly in the NBC legal crime drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2002–2010) and also played Claire Meade in the ABC comedy-drama Ugly Betty (2006–2010), for which she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in 2007. From 2013 to 2014, she played the role of villainous Judith Brown Ryland in the TNT drama series Dallas. In 2014, she began starring as Shelly Pfefferman in the critically acclaimed Amazon Studios dark comedy-drama series Transparent, for which she received several Golden Globe, Primetime Emmy, and Critics' Choice Award nominations. She again received Primetime Emmy and Critics' Choice Award nominations for playing Marilyn Miglin in The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story in 2018. In 2019, she was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Light received her first nomination for a Tony Award in 2011, for her performance in the original Broadway play Lombardi. In 2012 and 2013, she won two consecutive Tony Awards for Best Featured Actress in a Play, for her performances in Other Desert Cities and The Assembled Parties.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Judith Light timeline

  1. She made her professional stage debut in 1970, before making her Broadway debut in the 1975 revival of A Doll's House.
  2. Light received her first nomination for a Tony Award in 2011, for her performance in the original Broadway play Lombardi.
  3. In 2012 and 2013, she won two consecutive Tony Awards for Best Featured Actress in a Play, for her performances in Other Desert Cities and The Assembled Parties.
  4. In 2019, she was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
  5. In 2024, Light won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for Poker Face.

The world when Judith Light was born

Judith Light was born in 1949. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1949

  • #1 song"Riders in the Sky" – Vaughn Monroe
  • Top movieAll the King's Men
  • Top TV showTexaco Star Theater
  • Best-selling bookThe Egyptian - Mika Waltari

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentJoe Louis retires from boxing as undefeated heavyweight champion
  • Top headlineNATO established
  • Technology milestoneFirst stored-program computer runs its first program
  • Defining fadSilly Putty
  • Notable inventionSilly Putty
  • World population2.52 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderHarry S. Truman
  • Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
  • Also wonMinneapolis Lakers (BAA)
  • U.S. population149.2M

1949 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Judith Light's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19492026
Gas$0.27$3.45/gal
Average home$8,400$435,000
Average income$5,000$67,500
Minimum wage$0.40$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.46$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population149.2M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, IMDb. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.