Judy Greer Biography

Acting wasn't always the plan for Judy Greer. After spending almost 10 years training in classical Russian ballet, she decided to make the switch to show business and enrolled in Chicago's Theater School at DePaul University. Just days after graduating, Greer landed a role in the feature film Kissing a Fool (1998). The part was small but it marked the beginning of Greer's new career. She flew to Los Angeles for the film and never looked back. The following year she starred as a wallflower-turned-babe in Jawbreaker, a dark comedy about a group of high school girls who accidentally murder their best friend and then try to cover it up.

Judy continued to land roles in several films, although most of them were supporting as opposed to the lead, like playing the main character's best friend or co-worker. Still, it gave her the opportunity to work alongside many big names in the industry, like George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg in Three Kings (1999), Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt in What Women Want (2000) and Jennifer Lopez and Matthew McConaughey in The Wedding Planner (2001). Over the next few years, she continued to appear in popular films.

Some of her more memorable titles include 13 Going on 30 (2004), Elizabethtown (2004) and 27 Dresses (2008). Along with her many films, Greer was also able to add television to her growing body of work. She had a recurring role in Arrested Development (2003 - 2005), Love Monkey (2006), Miss Guided (2008) and Mad Love (2011).

In 2011, Judy was cast in Alexander Payne's The Descendants, alongside George Clooney. She again had a supporting role but this time it earned her a Satellite Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. She was also part of the Screen Actors Guild nomination in the category of Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. The film also received nominations in similar categories from the Gotham Awards, the Central Ohio Film Critics Association and the Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards.

She also landed a recurring role on the sitcom Two and a Half Men, playing Ashton Kutcher's soon-to-be ex-wife. In 2015, she appeared in Tomorrowland (2015), as well as the big-budget action adventures Ant-Man (2015) and Jurassic World (2015) with Chris Pratt.

Judy played supporting roles in the 2017 films Wilson (2017) and War for the Planet of the Apes (2017), both with Woody Harrelson, the drama Lemon (2017) with Michael Cera and The 15:17 to Paris (2018), directed by Clint Eastwood. Most recently, she returned to theaters in the superhero flick Ant-Man and The Wasp(2018) and again in the horror film Halloween(2018) where she played alongside Jamie Lee Curtis as her daughter, Karen.

Since then she's been incredibly busy, both on the small and big screens. She played a lead role on the Showtime TV series Kidding (2018-2020) alongside Jim Carrey, provided the voice for the title role on the animated series Let's Go Luna! (2018-2020) and played supporting roles in Where'd You Go Bernadette (2019), Playing with Fire (2019), Uncle Frank (2020) and Valley Girl (2020).

Judy is married to Dean Johnsen, executive producer for the HBO talk show Real Time with Bill Maher. They reportedly met on a blind date in 2010 and tied the knot in December 2011. She is stepmother to his two children from a previous marriage.