Tammy Blanchard

When actress Tammy Blanchard landed the lead role of the young Judy Garland in the popular 2001 ABC miniseries "Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows," it seemed almost pre-ordained. One of the first roles the Bayonne, New Jersey native had ever played with Dorothy in a grade school production of "The Wizard of Oz," a part she would repeat in junior high school. Feeling an affinity with the character and the actress who so memorably inhabited the role in the 1939 feature, Blanchard delivered a fascinating and memorable turn as the youthful incarnation of Garland. Earning rapturous reviews from even the most jaded of critics, the young actress received an Emmy nomination for her efforts.

Not bad for someone whose only professional credit had been a three-year stint (1997-2000) as a troubled teenager on the long-running CBS daytime serial "Guiding Light." Her character of Drew Jacobs endured the usual soap fare, from discovering she was adopted to engaging in a love affair to searching for her birth parents. With her thick "Joisey" accent, Blanchard enjoyed good press and fan support. Since her Emmy-winning, star-making turn as Garland, she landed a co-starring role in "Stealing Harvard" (2002), a comedy about a man who turns to crime to finance his niece's college education.