Where Has Judd Nelson Been for the Past 25 Years?

If you watched Sunday night's 82^nd Annual Academy Awards presentation, you no doubt saw the tribute to late film maker, John Hughes. Hughes died unexpectedly last summer at the age of 59, leaving behind a memorable legacy of work as a movie writer, producer and director. One familiar face during Hughes' Oscar tribute? Actor Judd Nelson, who starred in several Hughes films like the Breakfast Club and St. Elmo's Fire in the 1980's. Seems like forever since we've seen Nelson, especially at an awards show.

But if you think Nelson went into hiding in recent years, think again. Although fans may have been surprised to see him during Sunday night's Hughes tribute (he appeared bearded and wearing glasses- it took a few seconds to register who he even was), Judd Nelson has been working steadily as an actor all along.

According to IMDB, Nelson got his start in the movie biz in the early 80's, in the film Making the Grade. A year later he nabbed the role of high school rebel, John Bender, in the Hughes classic film about teen angst, The Breakfast Club. A role in another Hughes' classic, St. Elmo's Fire, landed Nelson a coveted spot in the 80's acting clique, the Brat Pack (Nelson was in good company- actors Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Molly Ringwald and Demi Moore were all considered Brat Packers as well).

In the mid-1990's, Nelson transitioned to prime time, when he started in the Brooke Shields sitcom, Suddenly Susan, for three seasons. But after that, for some, it seemed as though Nelson disappeared from the acting frontier altogether.

Not so. In fact, Judd Nelson has been involved in an interesting- and steady- mix of projects over the years- everything from episodes of Las Vegas , Psych and C.S. I. to voice work in shows like Family Guy, Phineas and Ferb and Transformers: Animated. As for movies, Nelson currently has several projects in post production, including Here & Now, Mayor Cupcake, Fight or Flight and Buds.

So if you've been missing actor Judd Nelson, you won't have to look too far this year to find him. You may just have to search behind the beard and the specs to recognize him.

Sources:

82^nd Annual Academy Awards, ABC TV

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118006975.html?categoryId=13&cs=1

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000555/