Mike Judge

Early life

Michael Craig Judge was born on October 17, 1962, in Guayaquil, Ecuador, the middle of three children. His mother was a librarian and his father an archaeologist working in agricultural development. Raised from age three in Albuquerque, New Mexico, he worked briefly on a chicken farm. He attended St. Pius X High School and earned a Bachelor of Science in physics from the University of California, San Diego, in 1985.

Career

After graduating in 1985, Judge held brief jobs in physics and engineering but grew bored with science. In 1987 he moved to Silicon Valley to work at Parallax Graphics, a startup video card company, but quit after less than three months, disliking the culture. He then became a bass player with a touring blues band, playing for two years with Anson Funderburgh and later with Doyle Bramhall, while taking graduate math classes at the University of Texas at Dallas.

In 1989, after seeing animation cels in a theater, he bought a Bolex 16 mm film camera and made animated shorts at home. His short Office Space was acquired by Comedy Central in 1991 after a Dallas animation festival, and he dropped out of school. In 1992 he developed Frog Baseball, featuring Beavis and Butt-Head, for MTV's Liquid Television, leading to the Beavis and Butt-Head series. Judge voiced both title characters and most supporting roles, and wrote and directed most episodes.

The show, set in Highland, Texas, follows two dim-witted, sex-obsessed teenage delinquents and drew both positive and negative public reaction.

Personal life

Judge married Francesca Morocco in 1989; they divorced in 2009 and have two daughters. The family lives in Austin, Texas, and Santa Monica, California, having previously resided in Malibu. He is a fan of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Judge avoids discussing his own political leanings, though some reviewers have described his work as bordering on libertarianism or populism. He has denied having political messages in his shows. In 2016, Etan Cohen reported that he and Judge would produce Idiocracy-themed advertisements mocking Donald Trump's campaign if permitted by 20th Century Fox, but Business Insider later stated the ads would have mocked all candidates and would not go forward.