Davis was born in Perth and had a Catholic upbringing. She was educated at Loreto Convent and graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in 1977. She has been married to actor and fellow NIDA graduate Colin Friels since 1984. They have two children, Jack and Charlotte.

First coming to prominence for her role as Sybylla Melvyn in the coming-of-age saga My Brilliant Career (1979), for which she won BAFTA Awards for Best Actress and Best Newcomer, she also played the lead in such Australian New Wave classics as Winter of Our Dreams (1981) (as the waif-like heroin addict) and Heatwave (1982) (as the radical tenant organizer). Her first foray into international film came in 1981 when she played the younger version of Ingrid Bergman's Golda Meir in the television docudrama A Woman Called Golda.

Much of her recent work has been on television, where she has scooped up an impressive collection of Emmy Award nominations. She won her first Emmy for portraying the woman who gently coaxes rigid militarywoman Glenn Close out of the closet in Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story and she picked up subsequent nominations for her repressed Australian outback mother in The Echo of Thunder (1998), her portrayal of Lillian Hellman in Dash and Lilly (1999), her frigid society matron in A Cooler Climate (1999) and her interpretation of Nancy Reagan in the controversial biopic The Reagans (2003). She earned a second Emmy, among many other awards, for her portrayal of Judy Garland in the 2001 television biopic Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows. In July 2006, she received her ninth Emmy nomination for her performance in the TV film A Little Thing Called Murder. In early 2007 she will appear opposite Sam Waterston in an episode of ABC's anthology series Masters of Science Fiction, directed by Mark Rydell.

• High Rolling (1977) (as Lyn)
• My Brilliant Career (1979) (as Sybylla Melvyn)
• Hoodwink (1981) (as Sarah)
• Winter of Our Dreams (1981) (as Lou)
• Who Dares Wins (\"The Final Option\" in U.S.) (1982) (as Frankie Leith)
• Heatwave (1983) (as Kate Dean)
• A Passage to India (1984) (as Adela Quested)
• Kangaroo (1986) (as Harriet Somers)
• High Tide (1987) (as Lilli)
• Georgia (1988) (as Nina Bailley/Georgia White)
• Alice (1990) (as Vicki)
• Barton Fink (1991) (as Audrey Taylor)
• Impromptu (1991) (as George Sand)
• Where Angels Fear to Tread (1991) (as Harriet Harriton)
• Naked Lunch (1991) (as Joan Lee/Joan Frost)
• On My Own (1992) (as The Mother)
• Husbands and Wives (1992) (as Sally)
• Dark Blood (uncompleted, 1993) (as Buffy)
• The Ref (1994) (as Caroline Chausser)
• The New Age (1994) (as Katherine Witner)
• Children of the Revolution (1996) (as Joan Fraser)
• Deconstructing Harry (1997) (as Lucy)
• Absolute Power (1997) (as Gloria Russell)
• Blood and Wine (1997) (as Suzanne Gates)
• Celebrity (1998) (as Robin Simon)
• The Man Who Sued God (2001) (as Anna Redmond)
• Gaudi Afternoon (2002) (as Cassandra Reilly)
• Swimming Upstream (2003) (as Dora Fingleton)
• The Break-Up (2006) (as Marilyn Dean)
• Marie-Antoinette (2006) (as Comtesse de Noailles)

• Water Under the Bridge (1980, Australian Broadcasting Corporation) (as Carrie Mazzini)
• The Merry Wives of Windsor (1983, PBS) (as Mistress Ford)
• A Woman Called Golda (1982, Syndicated) (as Golda Myerson/Meir)
• Rocket to the Moon (1986, PBS) (as Cleo Singer)
• One Against the Wind (1991, ABC) (as Mary Lindell)
• Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story (1995, NBC) (as Dianne)
• Echo of Thunder (1998, CBS) (as Gladwyn Ritchie)
• Dash and Lilly (1999, A&E) (as Lillian Hellman)
• A Cooler Climate (1999, Showtime) (as Paula Tanner)
• Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows (2001, ABC) (as Judy Garland)
• The Reagans (2003, Showtime) (as Nancy Reagan)
• Coast to Coast (2004, Showtime) (as Maxine Pierce)
• A Little Thing Called Murder (2006, Lifetime) (as Sante Kimes)
• Masters of Science Fiction: "A Clean Escape" (2007, ABC) (as Dr. Deanna Evans)
• Starter Wife (2007, USA) (as Joan McAllister)

• Wikipedia: Judy Davis