Judy Baldwin

Judy Baldwin (November 12, 1973 – September 19, 2010) was an American commercial, music video and film director.

Life and career

Judith Camille Baldwin was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of an oral surgeon father and elementary school teacher mother. As a teenager she did extensive modeling work and appeared in a number of catalogs, print ads and magazines. She graduated from Howard University’s Film & Television program in 1995, then served as the University’s Film Series Coordinator for the next two years. She also then began directing music videos for several Washington, D.C. based artists and groups. Baldwin worked as a director for Avatar Studios in St. Louis for two years before being encouraged to move to Los Angeles by actor Kevin Kline, also a St. Louis native, who helped secure freelance work for Baldwin upon her arrival.

A meeting with directors the Hughes brothers led Baldwin to begin directing commercials. Her credits include spots for H&M, Old Navy, Folgers, Toyota, Revlon, Volkswagen, Gallo Wine, Allstate, Kay Jewelers and AT&T. Baldwin was a creative director behind and director of spots for AT&T’s 2009–2010 diversity campaign, geared toward African-Americans, which features commercials for all the company’s products, and for which she was nominated for a Directors Guild of America award, for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials.

Baldwin was part of Anonymous Content, a commercial, music video and feature film production company in Los Angeles, California. At the time of her death she was developing the feature film Image, written by Tony McIntosh, inspired by the Ingmar Bergman film Persona, which she was to direct and co-produce.

Death

Baldwin died on September 19, 2010 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, from injuries sustained in a car accident caused by a drunk driver in Los Angeles two days before.