Amy Brenneman earned a B.A. in Comparative Religion at Harvard University. She studied for a year in Kathmandu, Nepal where she focused on sacred Buddhist dance and indigenous ritual.

She's a founding member of the Cornerstone Theater Company, which specialized in site-specific original theater pieces centered on themes of social justice. Cornerstone credits include 'Juliet' in Romeo & Juliet, 'Natasha' in Three Sisters and 'Clytemnestra' in The Oresteia.

Other theater credits include CSC Repertory, Yale Rep, Lincoln Center, LA Theater Works, The American Repertory Theater and the world and West Coast premieres of Rapture Blister Burn at Playwrights Horizons in New York and The Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles.

Television acting credits include Judging Amy, which she created and executive produced. It was based on the work of her mother, the Honorable Frederica Brenneman. Amy received three Emmy Award nominations, three Golden Globe nominations, a Producer's Guild Nomination, People's Choice Award and a SAG nomination for her work on the show. Her other TV credits include NYPD Blue, Frasier, Private Practice and Reign. Amy currently stars in The Leftovers on HBO.

Amy has appeared in many feature films. Her large body of film includes Words and Pictures, The Face of Love, Mother and Child, Downloading Nancy, The Jane Austen Book Club, 88 Minutes, Nine Lives, Casper, Heat, Nevada, Daylight, Friends and Neighbors, Fear, Bye-Bye Love and Things You Can Tell Just By Looking at Her.

Amy's original work includes the play Mouth Wide Open and spoken word pieces she has performed at Spark, Tasty Words, Word Theater and other venues. Amy produced and directed the documentary The Way the World Should Be about the CHIME Institute.

Political and activist work includes longtime advocacy for The Feminist Majority, NARAL Pro-Choice America, The Brady Center for Handgun Control and creating "CHIME-apalooza," and annual fundraiser for the CHIME Institute. Amy has traveled on behalf of CARE's program for mothers and infants in Ayacucho, Peru.

Amy has taught acting and playwriting all over the country, including Chime Charter School, The Yard and most recently collaborated with her husband Brad Silberling at the Martha's Vineyard Film Festival. She and Brad have taught graduate students in a class entitled "The Art of Collaboration" at UCLA.

She and Brad have two children, Charlotte and Bodhi.