Petri Hawkins-Byrd
Petri Hawkins-Byrd, also known as Bailiff Byrd or simply Byrd, is an American court show bailiff, television personality, social media personality, actor, voice actor, writer, and former New York State Court Officer.
Hawkins-Byrd is best known for his sidekick role as Bailiff Byrd for the entire series run – totaling 25 seasons – of Nielsen top-rated courtroom television program Judge Judy. From his stint on Judge Judy, he is television's longest court show bailiff in history. Since October 2018, Hawkins-Byrd along with his wife, Makita Bond, have hosted their Facebook/YouTube talk show-like series entitled "Bonding with Byrd", with a new installment released every Tuesday.
It was announced in April 2022 that Hawkins-Byrd would return to the court show genre, resuming his televised bailiff duties in the then upcoming panel-based spin-off courtroom series Tribunal Justice. The series is created by Judy Sheindlin and her personal production team and features a three-judge panel.
Youth, early adulthood and career beginnings
Petri Adonis Byrd was born on November 29, 1957, in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. Taking to comedy and impressions from an early age, Hawkins-Byrd's father thought he was so entertaining and amusing as a child that he and his friends frequently called him up from prison just so they could hear him imitate celebrities. Growing up, he admired and imitated such celebrities as Flip Wilson, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Ed Sullivan, Bill Cosby and others. Meanwhile, his stay-at-home mother held their family together. Hawkins-Byrd has described his mother as a strict disciplinarian who was insistent about her children achieving their education and treating people with respect. Of his childhood, Hawkins-Byrd has stated, "My escapes were going to school, reading, television and movies—anything that would take me out of the world I was in and put me in a world that could be."After graduating from Eastern District High School in Brooklyn, he attended Hostos Community College in The Bronx. Although drawn to the idea of acting, he had also taken an interest in law while growing up. His interest in law emanated from his awareness of active Jim Crow laws and the civil rights movement during his youth, desiring to revolutionize racially discriminatory practices. With that, he started work as a court officer for the Brooklyn circuit of the New York City court system in the early 1980s. In 1986 he was transferred to the family court division in Manhattan while also attending John Jay College of Criminal Justice. It was in this capacity that he met Judge Judy Sheindlin, who was the Supervising Family Court Judge for Manhattan. From 1986 through 1989, he worked in the Manhattan family court system as a courtroom officer on a rotating basis for varying judges, Sheindlin among many others. Recounting the times he was assigned to function as Sheindlin's bailiff in the Manhattan family court system, he commented, "I was never bored in her courtroom. Her get-to-the-point style didn't always sit well with the litigants, and there were times she was definitely glad to have me around."
In 1989, Hawkins-Byrd obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from John Jay College of Criminal Justice. That same year, his personal life changed radically: he and his wife, Felicia, separated and she moved with the couple's children to California. The couple tried to get their marriage back on track by participating in cross-country relationship counseling for five months. A year later in 1990, he moved to San Mateo, California, to reunite with his family and reconcile with his wife. There, he accepted a job as a Special Deputy U.S. Marshall. In 1992, he made another career transition, becoming a student counselor at Monta Vista High School in Cupertino, California, remaining in this profession until 1996. As a side job during this time, Hawkins-Byrd also delivered pizzas.
Television career
''Judge Judy'' (1996–2021)
In 1995, Hawkins-Byrd read a news article in a Liz Smith column about Sheindlin's new book, Don't Pee on My Leg and Tell Me It's Raining, as well as her then upcoming television court show project to be filmed in Los Angeles. He subsequently wrote Sheindlin a congratulatory letter, stating: "If you ever need a bailiff, my uniform still fits." After Sheindlin was feeling lack of chemistry between her and the test actor who performed as bailiff in her pilot episode, she phoned Hawkins-Byrd to offer him the role as bailiff in her courtroom series, which he accepted.Byrd added "Hawkins" to his name when he joined the Judge Judy program as a salute to his late mother; Hawkins was her maiden name. In the program, Sheindlin referred to him simply as "Byrd," or less frequently "Officer Byrd." Hawkins-Byrd ended up performing as Judge Judy program bailiff for its entire series run of 25 seasons, making him the longest-serving television court show bailiff in history. Judge Judy remained the number 1 Nielsen-rated court show for its entire series run. In addition, the court show scored highest in daytime and syndication ratings for much of its first run, and won 3 Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Legal/Courtroom Program.
In the series, Hawkins-Byrd took the role of Sheindlin's typically apathetic and lightly surly courtroom bailiff, as one who did not hesitate to assume a menacing presence with litigants when Sheindlin needed extra reinforcement. His main role in the series constituted introducing the cases, delivering materials between the judge and the litigants, dismissing the parties, and escorting them out once the case was complete. Opening and closing out the proceedings, each Judge Judy case began with Hawkins-Byrd making the statement of "Order! All Rise!" and ended with him stating, "Parties are excused. You may step out.".
Limited in his speaking role, Hawkins-Byrd typically only commented when addressed by Sheindlin, supplying her with always curtly expressed nonchalance and lighthearted comments. He typically answered Sheindlin with simple, unadorned nonverbal expressions or exclamations. On numerous occasions over the course of the show's 25-year run, Byrd played a key role in the proceedings: he was frequently sought by Sheindlin to look up vehicle estimates from the Kelley Blue Book so that she could award the accurate judgment amount. He also contacted litigants' parole officers and performed drug tests. Hawkins-Byrd's menacingly stern interjections for brasher litigants typically allowed Sheindlin reinforcement—her extra measure of coercion for litigants whose behavior she had trouble controlling on her own. He was also tasked with controlling emotions that ran high among the parties and preventing potential altercations between the show's guests, typically by standing in-between them and the litigant podiums during the proceedings. Sheindlin frequently directed Hawkins-Byrd to expel litigants from the courtroom who acted in ways that she found inappropriate. He had been described by the Los Angeles Times as "the guard dog to the pit bull."
The court show was full of running gags involving Hawkins-Byrd. One of them involved his preoccupation with doing crossword puzzles during the proceedings. On occasion, he nonchalantly disagreed with Sheindlin when she bounced a question off of him for his agreement, often in relation to dressing down the parties. In another running gag, Sheindlin relied on his sophistication and academic knowledge, with Hawkins-Byrd interceding in areas with which she struggled: mathematics, new media, social media, current fads, etc. He also routinely delivered evidence to Sheindlin while having his head and eye contact directed away from her off to his sides, a trait observed publicly by Amy Poehler. A trademarked pet peeve of Hawkins-Byrd's was frequently having to block litigants from attempting to deliver evidence to Sheindlin themselves directly when they were unaware of the show's practice of handing evidence over to the bailiff. On the rare occasion, Sheindlin requested litigants to approach the bench, for example, to present evidence of bodily injuries or document clarifications.
Sheindlin often comically incorporated Hawkins-Byrd in the midst of her critiques and reprimands of the litigants, by sharing with the audience Officer Hawkins-Byrd's disapproving thoughts of the litigants without any communication of this from Hawkins-Byrd himself.
Of their on-screen relationship, Sheindlin had quipped, "We're like two old married people who have reached an accord. I can rely on him to be my protector. We don't have to exchange words—he knows what I'm thinking. People who watch us sense we have a history, and that is very important." Hawkins-Byrd described Sheindlin as "Blunt, witty, and sharp as a tack." Though when asked if he'd like to appear as a litigant on the program, he answered candidly, "Hell no. And I don't advise any of my friends to do so. Not if they want to maintain their love of the judicial system."
His duties and involvement were significantly reduced during the show's 25th and final season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While he still introduced and closed out the cases, he no longer delivered evidence back and forth between Sheindlin and the parties and rarely communicated back and forth with Sheindlin. This was due to Sheindlin adjudicating the proceedings remotely from New York, while Hawkins-Byrd and the litigants still reported to the Los Angeles studio set.
Other entertainment media appearances
Hawkins-Byrd was also on the long running UPN show The Parkers. He portrayed a motorcycle Police Officer.Hawkins-Byrd has participated in several movies and TV shows, including Tom Hennessy, Soul Lake, Under the Palm Tree, American Skin, Sheen Talk, Inspirit, and Reesie's Pieces. By the same token, his other projects include Curb Your Enthusiasm, A Deeper Love, Playing Mona Lisa, In the Eyes of a Killer, Saviour of None. He also played a judge role in the independent film End of the Law, which was shot in Sacramento, California, and premiered at the Crest Theatre on October 3, 2003.
In August 2018, Hawkins-Byrd appeared in an episode of medical advice talk show The Doctors, as a guest in the program to address concerns with his health as it relates to a spike in his glycated hemoglobin levels. In December 2019, he returned to disclose improvements in relation to diabetes and his overall health.
On August 5, 2021 Hawkins-Byrd performed in his first post-Judge Judy role as a guest on The Bold and the Beautiful. In the episode, Hawkins-Byrd plays a marriage officiant at the wedding of Steffy and Finn.
Amid Byrd's much publicized exclusion from Sheindlin's spin-off series Judy Justice and the strong fan response received, he was reportedly approached by producers to present a program of his own that would see him as the mediator in some form. Hawkins-Byrd communicated an interest in the idea of acting as a television mediator.
Hawkins-Byrd landed a guest voice acting role in the Disney+ series The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder which premiered in 2022.
On April 28, 2022, it was announced that Hawkins-Byrd would hold the role of bailiff for a new court show produced by Sheindlin's team. The show, Tribunal Justice, premiered in 2023 and is presided over by former Hot Bench judges Tanya Acker and Patricia DiMango, along with Sheindlin's son, former district attorney Adam Levy.
Hawkins-Byrd has starred in several motion pictures, including Fear Pharm 2 and Amy's F*** It List.
In 2024, Hawkins-Byrd appeared in an acting role as American basketball executive Alvin Gentry in the FX on Hulu television sports drama miniseries Clipped.