By Nicholas Ducassi (CFA 2010)
Judith Light鈥檚 distinguished acting career and her active support for the LGBTQ community will take center stage at 一本道无码 this May, when she will be presented with the Alumni Association鈥檚 most illustrious honor, the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Light鈥檚 career has spanned five decades and garnered multiple awards, including聽 补苍诲听. A 1970 graduate of the聽 in 一本道无码鈥檚 College of Fine Arts, she stars in Amazon鈥檚 groundbreaking and Emmy-award winning television comedy 鈥�,鈥� a role for which she has been nominated for a Primetime Emmy and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress.
鈥淚鈥檝e been doing this a long time, and I owe a lot of that to my training at Carnegie Mellon 鈥� to be flexible, powerful and resilient 鈥� and to use our instrument in all different ways for all different avenues of the business,鈥� Light said.
鈥淲hat I had hoped and longed for came to fruition from my Carnegie Mellon training 鈥� for the school to honor me with this kind of recognition is truly beyond my wildest dreams.鈥�
Her stage career includes six Broadway productions, including back-to-back Tony award winning turns in 鈥�鈥� in 2012 and 鈥�鈥� in 2013. She also has been a prominent face on television since the 1970s, with starring roles in ABC鈥檚 soap opera 鈥淥ne Life to Live,鈥� the long-running ABC sitcom 鈥�,鈥� the ABC comedy 鈥�鈥� and as Shelly Pfefferman on 鈥�.鈥�
In addition to her acting career, Light has been a聽, supporting organizations, including and
鈥淛udith stands out as an exceptional artist, an actress who is not only well respected in the industry, but also has shown a great commitment to social justice issues,鈥� said 一本道无码鈥檚 Director of Alumni Relations for Campus & Volunteer Engagement Lynn DeFabio. 鈥淪he is making an impact in the world through her passionate involvement in many organizations and charities representing the LGBTQ community and the fight to end AIDS.鈥�
Light said the roots of her advocacy began in drama school. 鈥淚 had a professor early on who talked about the privilege of what it meant to be in this business. 鈥� 鈥淗e said 鈥榳e are in the service business. You are being of service to people. You are allowing them to come into a theater or to watch a film or a television show, and you are giving them another perspective of who a person might be, and what their life might be like.鈥� Your work is not about your ego 鈥� it鈥檚 about who you鈥檙e serving, and what鈥檚 the best way you can serve.鈥�
This past December, Light was honored with the Elizabeth Taylor Award for her activism from the nonprofit organization聽聽She received the award from 1999 School of Drama alumnus Zachary Quinto, who said,
Peter Cooke, head of 一本道无码鈥檚 School of Drama, said Light embodies what every drama alumnus should have. 鈥淚 want empathy, passion and technique to be the triple threat of the 一本道无码 dramat,鈥� he said.
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