Book: Biography

Mike Judge was born October 17th, 1962 in Guayaquil, Ecuador. He lived there until the age of 7. He then moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico. He graduated from The University of California, in San Diego with a Bachelor of Science in Physics. He originally worked as a programmer for F-18 Fighter Jets. He then moved to Silicon Valley in 1987 to work on a small video card company.

                                        

He quit after three months and focused on his music, playing bass in a blues band. In 1989, he saw a series of animation cells on display in a movie theater, which inspired him to purchase a camera and create his own original shorts. His first completed works was Milton which would later become his inspiration for the film Office Space. He then created a short film called Frog Baseball that was featured on a show called Liquid Television that aired on MTV. This lead to the inspiration and creation of one of his most popular works: Beavis and Butthead. The show was about two rock n’ roll loving teenagers who got into adventures due to their own stupidity.  

In 1997, he went on to create the animated sitcom for Fox Network, called King of the Hill. Inspired by people he knew while living in Texas, the show is about a propane salesman and his family living in a small Texas town and his friends. He voiced two of the main characters on the show. Many aspects of the show try to capture a naturalistic and mundane tone, from the stories to the animation style. Characters, while not 100% realistic, are portrayed in a realistic and believable composition.  

Alongside the show, he focused on his film efforts, lending his voice acting talent in a cameo of the movie South Park, Bigger, Longer, and Uncut. He then wrote and directed the live action comedy film Office Space, following the theme of naturalism, it tries to give a realistic but humorous view on the mundane actions of having an office job.  In 2006, he continued his live action comedy films with Idiocracy which is a political commentary about the growing amount of stupidity in the United States.

After the cancellation of his show King of the Hill, he focused on making cameo appearances in the form of voice acting in other Fox programs such as Family Guy, the Simpsons, and The Cleveland Show. He also lends his writing talents to shows such as Silicon Valley.

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Bozzola, Lucia. "Mike Judge". All Movie Guide via The New York Times. Retrieved October 24, 2011.

Brown, Chip (March 26, 1996). "He's the Father of Beavis and Butt-head, Huh, Huh". Associated Press via the Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-11-08.

Eric Goldman. "Interview: Mike Judge Reaches the Top of the Hill".