Judy Sheindlin life and biography

Judy Sheindlin, also known as Judge Judy, is an American lawyer, judge, television personality and author. She passed the New York Bar examination in 1965 and became a prosecutor in the family court system. In 1982, Mayor Ed Koch appointed her a judge, first in criminal court and later, in 1986, as Manhattan's supervising family court judge. She was featured on CBS's 60 Minutes in the 1990s as a result of her reputation as a tough judge.

Since retiring in 1996, Sheindlin has garnered much fame for presiding over her own syndicated courtroom show, Judge Judy. The show's ratings have consistently ranked highly.

Sheindlin was born Judith Shoshana Blum in Brooklyn, New York, to German Jewish parents Murray and Ethel Blum, she had a brother David, who currently works as a dentist like his/their father. She still speaks with a marked Brooklyn accent.

By 1982, Judy had worked her way into a position as prosecutor in New York City family court and quickly earned a reputation as a crusader for social justice -- with firm enough convictions and a vociferous enough attitude that she drew the attention of such national media outlets as 60 Minutes and The Los Angeles Times.

In 1993, Sheindlin's life changed forever; that was the year the long-serving television justice Joseph A. Wapner opted to retire from The People's Court. Upon receiving the news, Sheindlin reportedly phoned the office of the production studio and offered to take the job herself; three years later, she got her wish with the launch of Judge Judy, which connected with its audience in the wake of such events as the O.J. Simpson hearing (an event that helped revive American public interest in the judicial system). Sheindlin then single-handedly led a veritable boom in Court TV as her audience numbers -- and annual salary (estimated by one source as over 30 million dollars when her tenth season on the air rolled around) skyrocketed; she also drew a host of unofficial imitators, from Judge Joe Brown to Judge Mills Lane, none of whom managed to consistently top Judy's ratings or popularity. On the side, Sheindlin also authored several best-selling books, including Beauty Fades, Dumb Is Forever: The Making of a Happy Woman and Don't Pee on My Leg and Tell Me It's Raining. In 2007, Sheindlin hit another milestone, as episodes of her program debuted on home video in the fall of that year.

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