Judd Nelson

Judd Asher Nelson (born November 28, 1959) is an American actor. He is best known for being a member of the "Brat Pack" in the mid-1980s; and for his roles as John Bender in The Breakfast Club, Alec Newbary in St. Elmo's Fire, and Jack Richmond in Suddenly Susan.

Early life
Nelson was born in Portland, Maine, the son of Jewish-American parents Merle (née Royte), a court mediator and former member of the Maine state legislature, and Leonard Nelson, a corporate lawyer who was the first Jewish president of the Portland Symphony Orchestra. He has two sisters, Eve and Julie. He went to school at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire and Waynflete School in Portland, Maine, and studied at Haverford College in Pennsylvania, leaving during his sophomore year. He subsequently moved to Manhattan to study acting with Stella Adler.

Career
Nelson was one of the 1980s "Brat Pack", starring in such films as Joel Schumacher's St. Elmo's Fire and John Hughes' The Breakfast Club (in which he played rebel John Bender), as well as providing the voice of Hot Rod/Rodimus in The Transformers: The Movie. He also starred in a film titled Making the Grade and co-starred alongside a young Kevin Costner in the road-trip movie Fandango. He also started work on a musical entitled Rob Hanley: Sutton Trust Warrior, but a lack of funding meant the project was ceased in preproduction.

Following his role in The Breakfast Club, Nelson's career failed to take off, as several of his films performed poorly at the box office, including Blue City (co-starring Breakfast Club alumna Ally Sheedy) and From the Hip, both of which garnered him Razzie nominations. His career lost momentum for a time, and in the 1990s he appeared in Flinch (1994) co-starring Gina Gershon. He was also in urban-themed dramas such as New Jack City and Light It Up. However, in 1996 he received a starring role on the NBC television sitcom Suddenly Susan, which saw success for a four-season run. Nelson made a cameo appearance in the 2001 film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back; the film's writer/director, Kevin Smith, had been a long-time fan of Nelson and the "Brat Pack" movies. Throughout the late 1990s and 2000s, Nelson mostly appeared in television roles such as NBC's Las Vegas and lower-budget films, although he also acted on stage.

Nelson also appeared in the television show CSI: Crime Scene Investigation as a friend of a murder victim and Eleventh Hour on November 20, 2008 as a psychologist researching soldiers returning from Iraq who suffer from Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He plays the host in The Real Fear Factor, a spoof on Fear Factor, in National Lampoon's TV: The Movie. In 2009, Nelson appeared in the sequel The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day.

More recently, he portrayed Father Charley Lock on Brookwood Sleazebags, a pilot he did for HBO. Nelson also reprised his role of Rodimus Prime from the 1986 Transformers movie for the newest Transformers television series, Transformers Animated.

Nelson appeared at the 2010 Academy Awards to pay tribute to late film director John Hughes along with other cast members of Hughes' films.