A native of L.A., Christopher Judge was born in 1967. He has one younger brother. Whilst he always wanted to be an actor (he started acting in Junior High), to begin with he was a successful athlete. Using his skills to the full, he got into the University of Oregon with a football scholarship. First of all he was in a pre-med curriculum, but he found out he couldn't do the maths. (Maths is scum!) Then he was a philosophy major for six months, then a psych major, before finally deciding on telecommunications and film with a psychology minor.
Success came in the athletic arena, where his real skill lay in baseball. His baseball coach wanted him to give up American Football, but (in his own words), "football players got all the chicks". Not that he was bad at American Football! He become an All-American three times and played in the Hula Bowl. All-American is the college version of the Most Valuable Player (or something like it). He was the best of the best in all the college teams, and to make it to the Hula Bowl (which is the college equivalent of the Super Bowl, which is where professional football ends up) is a great achievement indeed. (Doug Perry informs me that this is wrong - he says that the hula bowl is more of a exhibition game. I really have no idea..!) Chris played as a defensive safety.
His first step into entertainment came when he won a contest to host a morning radio show in Oregon. But he got started in acting in his senior year, when Fox hosted some regional contests. It was their first year as a network, and they needed programming. After winning, he hosted an "MTV talk show type thing", used it to get an agent, and things went from there. In 1989 he started studying at the Howard Fine Studio in Los Angeles. His first acting role was in the 1990 film Bird on a Wire and from there he starred in numerous films and TV shows before landing the role of our favourite Jaffa, Teal'c, in Stargate SG-1.
CJ married, and has three children: Christopher Jordan, Cameron Justin and Katrina Katherine (aged 10, 7, and 5 respectively in 2002). His children are an important part of his life. In his own words, "If you don't take care of your kids what hope is there for the future of anyone?" This explains why, although he's a busy guy, he's actively involved in the Boys and Girls Club of Canada.
During his Stargate hiatus periods he's usually very busy. He produced and starred in a short film called Hacks as well as recording a CD! The first single to be released from the CD is/was called We're Going to Take Our Clothes Off. Unfortunately it doesn't look like it's going to be released over here in the west...
He's also been in TV movies such as Peter DeLuise's Romantic Comedy 101, big screen blockbusters like Disney's Snow Dogs and he's had a go at writing episodes of Stargate SG-1 (The Warrior and The Changeling). He's also guest starred in lots of Sci-fi shows, including Andromeda and First Wave. As well as acting in the conventional sense, he's the voice of Simon Gray in Action Man and Magneto (boo!) in X-Men: Evolution.
During the middle of 2002 he set up a photography studio with his girlfriend Gianna. In his own words, "Photography is just something I've picked up again; I used to work for a number of modeling agencies in LA a few years back doing tests. My girlfriend and I have set up a studio and are working on it as a business (she is a makeup artist and model/actress). It's always good to have something to fall back on!".
He doesn't know if he wants to act for much longer. He wants to be able to eat! In the future he's considering doing more producing, but not directing. The problem with directing is there are too many spoilt actors out there! Whatever he does in the future, his motto remains, "You get what you give. Treat people well and they'll treat you well. Don't **** 'em." It's not a particularly catchy motto, but it has a great meaning...
Linda (Portage, Indiana USA)... for the "All-American" information!
Doug Perry... for putting me right on the whole "hula bowl" thing. ;)