How Greg Mathis Created His Own Path as a TV Judge
variety.comWhitney Friedlander It’s fitting that “Judge Mathis” star Greg Mathis will be getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on May 4 because his life reads like a Hollywood story.Born in Detroit and raised by a single mother in a housing project and in other areas, Mathis’ young adult life included time with the Errol Flynn’s street gang and incarceration in the Wayne County Jail as a juvenile.He credits a cousin for turning his life around by helping him get into college.
He eventually got a law degree, became a district court judge and active in politics, even serving as the Michigan head of Jesse Jackson’s 1988 U.S.
presidential campaign.But since 1999, he’s presided over a different kind of courtroom: the one for his eponymous syndicated, Daytime Emmy-winning program.
Mathis explains that he took the TV job on the condition that he could tell his story at the top of each episode.And his judging style, which is peppered with dad jokes as much as it is catchphrases (“Start with you!;” “You’re talking contemptuous!”), is opinionated with no patience for nonsense.
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