Cristina Perez (born October 27, 1968) is an American actress, television personality, writer and TV

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

Biography

Perez was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

to parents of

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

n descent, and raised in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. She received two BAs at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

and her JD at Whittier Law School. Perez is best known for presiding over cases in the shows '' La Corte del Pueblo'' (1999–2000) and '' La Corte de Familia'' (2000–2005) on the

Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Comcast. It provides content ...

network. In September 2006, Perez's book ''Living by Los Dichos: Advice from a Mother to a Daughter'' was published by

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

. In March 2010, Perez's second book ''It's All about the Woman Who Wears It: 10 Laws for Being Smart, Successful and Sexy Too'' (published by

Penguin Books Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...

) was released. She is married to Christopher Gonzalez.

Television

Perez hosted the syndicated American arbitration-based reality

court show A court show (also known as a judge show, legal/courtroom program, courtroom series, or judicial show) is a broadcast programming genre comprising legal dramas and reality legal programming. Court shows present content mainly in the form of legal ...

, ''Cristina's Court'', from 2006 to 2009. It was filmed at KRIV, the FOX

owned-and-operated station In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an network af ...

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

. This made Perez one of four Hispanic judges that presided over an English-language American TV judge show, along with Maria Lopez ('' Judge Maria Lopez''),

Alex Ferrer Alejandro Enrique Ferrer (born October 18, 1960), known professionally as Judge Alex, is an American television personality, lawyer, and retired judge who presided as the arbitrator on the eponymous '' Judge Alex''. Early life and education Fe ...

('' Judge Alex''), and Marilyn Milian (''

The People's Court ''The People's Court'' is an American Court show#Arbitration-based reality court show, arbitration-based reality court show, featuring an arbitrator handling small claims court, small claims disputes in a simulation, simulated courtroom set. W ...

''). The show was executive produced by Peter Brennan and directed by Arthur Bergel. Perez is the first Hispanic judge to cross over from Spanish-language to English-language television. Her ancestry is Colombian, rather than Mexican or Cuban, as had been thought by some of her viewers. ''Cristina's Court'' won the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Legal/Courtroom Program in 2008, 2009, and 2010. The 3 wins was a record until it was tied by

Judge Judy ''Judge Judy'' is an American arbitration-based reality court show presided over by former Manhattan Family Court Judge Judith Sheindlin. The show featured Sheindlin as she adjudicated real-life small-claims disputes within a simulated court ...

in 2017. Perez participated in a weekly radio segment called "Sex In the News" on the Playboy Radio, which is broadcast on

Sirius Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. Its name is derived from the Greek word (Latin script: ), meaning 'glowing' or 'scorching'. The star is designated Canis Majoris, Latinized to Alpha Canis Majoris, and abbr ...

satellite radio. According to the Syndicated Network Television Association, Cristina ranked as one of the most trustworthy and influential syndicated hosts on television, ranking second behind

Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954) is an American television presenter, talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show' ...

among adults 18 to 34 years old.Syndicated Network Television Association
/ref> Perez returned to the court show genre with '' Justice for All with Judge Cristina Perez'' which has been airing since 2012. The program is produced by Entertainment Studios which produces two other court shows, '' America's Court with Judge Ross'' and '' We the People With Gloria Allred'', all of which have real cases that are re-enacted with actors and scripts. ''Justice for All'' airs in both English and Spanish.

References

External links

Official website for Cristina Perez

Official MySpace page for Judge Cristina Perez

Official Twitter page for Judge Cristina Perez
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perez, Cristina 1968 births Living people Lawyers from Los Angeles University of California, Los Angeles alumni Whittier Law School alumni Television judges American women judges American people of Colombian descent 21st-century American women Colombian actresses Colombian actors