Amy Judging Amy
Imagine your mother is a juvenile court judge, you grew up in Hartford, and you're a successful actress.
Why not build a show based on a judge who goes home to live with mom, in Hartford?
That's exactly what actress Amy Brenneman did in creating the new CBS show Judging Amy. CBS News This Morning Co-Anchor Mark McEwen reports.
The character Brenneman plays is named Amy, since so much of it loosely matches her own life. In fact she conceived and executive produces the show.
"I would watch my mother be very human and struggle with her decisions," says Brenneman, whose real-life father is a lawyer. "I hadn't seen any kind of stories reflecting that."
"The beautiful thing is to have some part in the storytelling creation," she says. "As an actor, that's often what you feel is a little disempowering."
"Coming from theater, that's the joy; you get to sit in the room and tell the story," she adds.
Brenneman graduated from Harvard University where she started a theater program while there. She's performed in movies ranging from Heat to Fear and now The Suburbans.
She is best known for her role in NYPD Blue, resulting in two Emmys nominations.
Judging Amy is shot in California, although Brenneman would like to bring the show to Hartford at some point for some exterior shots.
"It is mad; we haven't done any shooting there yet. That's my next fight," she adds.
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