Mike Judge, American animator, director, screenwriter, producer and actor
Michael Craig Judge (born October 17, 1962) is an American actor, animator, writer, producer, director and musician. He is the creator of the animated television series Beavis and Butt-Head (1993–1997, 2011, 2021–present), and a co-creator of the television series King of the Hill (1997–2010), The Goode Family (2009), Silicon Valley (2014–2019), and Mike Judge Presents: Tales from the Tour Bus (2017–2018). He also wrote and directed the films Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996), Office Space (1999), Idiocracy (2006), and Extract (2009).
Judge was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and raised in the U.S. state of New Mexico. He graduated from the University of California, San Diego, where he studied physics. After losing interest in a career in science, Judge began to focus on animation and creating short films. One of these (Frog Baseball) was developed into the successful MTV series Beavis and Butt-Head, which eventually spawned a 1996 feature film, as well as the spin-off series Daria (with which Judge had no involvement).
In 1995, Judge and former The Simpsons writer Greg Daniels developed King of the Hill, which debuted on Fox in 1997 and quickly became popular with both critics and audiences. Running for 13 seasons, it became one of the longest-running American animated series. During the run of the show, Judge took some time off to write and direct Office Space, Idiocracy, and Extract. As King of the Hill was coming to an end, Judge created his third show, ABC's The Goode Family, which received mixed reviews and was cancelled after 13 episodes. After a four-year hiatus, he created his fourth show, the live-action Silicon Valley for HBO, which has received critical acclaim since its premiere. In 2017, Judge's fourth animated series, the music-themed Tales from the Tour Bus, premiered on Cinemax, to critical and audience acclaim.
Judge has won a Primetime Emmy Award and two Annie Awards for King of the Hill and two Critics' Choice Television Awards and Satellite Awards for Silicon Valley.