Petri Hawkins Profile

Petri Hawkins is an American Emmy-Award-Winning Actor/Court Show Bailiff/Television Personality/Writer/Former New York State Court Officer. He is best known for his sidekick role as Bailiff Byrd for the entire 25 seasons series of Nielsen’s top-rated courtroom television show Judge Judy.

Petri Hawkins Age

Hawkins was born on November 29, 1957, in Brooklyn, New York, United States as Petri Adonis Byrd. He is therefore 65 years old as of 2022.

Petri Hawkins Height

He stands at an approximate height of 6 feet 2 inches.

Petri Hawkins Family

Hawkins was born in the neighborhood of Graytown Road in Jacksonville, North Carolina to his loving and caring parents. He was raised as the youngest child of five siblings. He, however, manages to keep more information regarding his family away from the limelight. We will update this information once more information is available to the public.

Petri Hawkins Wife

Hawkins was previously married to his wife Felicia and in the year 1989, the duo separated. In the same year, Felicia moved with their children to California. Later on, the duo tried getting back together on track when they participated in cross-country relationship counseling for about five months. Later on, in 1990, he moved to San Mateo, California in order to reunite with his family and reconcile with his wife. He, however, manages to keep more information regarding their relationship away from the limelight. He is now married to Makita Bond. The duo have two cats named Ollie and Chachi.

Petri Hawkins Byrd Wife’s Cancer

During the 25th and final season of Judge Judy, his personal life was revolving around attending to Bond as she had suffered a cancerous brain tumor in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. In that season, she was involved in chemotherapy. Back in the month of April 2021, after Bond’s surgery, about 95% of the tumor was successfully removed. In the October 2021 report on Bonding with Byrd, she is continuing with chemotherapy.

Petri Hawkins Salary/How much does Petri Hawkins make?

Hawkins earns an annual salary of about $ 1 Million from serving as a Bailiff on the Judge Judy Show.

Petri Hawkins’s Net Worth

Hawkins has a net worth of about $3.5 Million which he has earned through his successful career as an Actor/Court Show Bailiff/Television Personality/Writer/Former New York State Court Officer.

Petri Hawkins Education

After graduating from Eastern District High School in Brooklyn, Byrd attended Hostos Community College in The Bronx. In 1986 he was transferred to the family court division in Manhattan while also attending John Jay College of Criminal Justice. In 1989, Byrd obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from John Jay College.

Petri Hawkins Career

Hawkins is best known as Byrd for his sidekick role as Bailiff Byrd for the entire 25 seasons series of Nielsen’s top-rated courtroom television show Judge Judy. Since his stint on Judge Judy, he is television’s longest court show bailiff in history. From the month of October 2018, he and his wife have hosted their Facebook/Youtube talk show-like series entitled “Bonding with Byrd.” Their program airs every Tuesday.

Back in the month of April 2022, it was announced that he will make a return to the court show genre. This is resuming his televised bailiff duties in the upcoming panel-based spin-off cour room series, Tribunal. The series is created by Judy Sheindlin and her personal production team and will feature a 3-judge panel.

Judge Judy Petri Hawkins Byrd

Back in the year 1995, he 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. This is in addition to her then-upcoming television court show project to be filmed in Los Angeles. Hawkins also wrote Sheindlin a congratulatory letter informing her that if she ever needed a bailiff, his uniform was still fitting.

Later on, after Sheindlin was feeling a lack of chemistry between her and the test actor who was performing as bailiff in her pilot episode, she gave a phone call to Byrd. Then, she offered him the role of a bailiff in her courtroom series which he gladly accepted.

Petri added Hawkins to his name after joining the Judge Judy program as a salute to his late mother, this is since Hawkins was her maiden name. In the program, he was referred to as “Byrd,” by Sheindlin or less frequently “Officer Byrd.” He also ended up performing as Judge Judy’s program bailiff for its entire series run of about 25 seasons between 1996 and 2021. This made him the longest-serving television court show bailiff in history.

Judge Judy also remained the number 1 Nielsen-rated court show for its entire series run. Asides from this, the court show scored highest in daytime and syndication ratings for much of its first run. It also won 3 Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Legal/Courtroom Program.

Petri Hawkins Byrd Singing

Hawkins sang the song, “What a Wonderful World” during the Veteran’s Day Concert at Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, California. The show was featured on eWebLive.tv and on the olofobeph446 youtube channel which had about 167,575 views as of 16th January 2023. Asides from this, he was learning how to play the bass clarinet over the quarantine period of COVID-19.

Petri Hawkins Byrd movies and tv shows

Asides from his career as a bailiff, he has appeared in a number of television shows and movies. This includes appearing in the film, A Deeper Love in the year 2007. Later on in the year 20099, he appeared in the movie, American Skin.

This is in addition to appearing on the Tom Hennessy Show, and Reesie’s Pieces. Later on, he appeared in the show, Playing Mona Lisa in the year 2000. He also appeared in the show, Judge Judy: Second to None and Under the Palm Tree. This is in addition to appearing on How I Met My Father in 2017.  Back in the year 2002, he appeared in the movie, Redemption of the Ghost. Asides from this, he appeared in the movie, In the Eyes of a Killer and A Polished Soul.

Petri Hawkins Byrd House

Together with his wife, Makita, they did a show titled, House Hunting on the series Bonding with Byrd. As they do the house hunting, Makita enjoys and envisions her new space whereas Byrd is completely over it from the start.

What is Petri Hawkins Byrd Doing Now

Hawkins is going on to join the “Tribunal,” show which will be aired on Amazon Freevee. This is a court show with three different judges in the show. Petri asked viewers to look for the series sometime in the fall. The show was created by Judge Judy Sheindlin who is also the executive producer of the court program. This is according to a press release from Amazon.

The judges of the “Tribunal Show” will include Judge Tanya Acker, a former judge pro tem in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Adam Levy, former Putnam County, New York District Attorney, and Judge Patricia DiMango, a former New York State Supreme Court justice. Adam Levy happens to be Sheindlin’s son according to the press release. Lisa Arrindell and Byrd happen to be the co-chairs of the 2022 National Black Theatre Festival which runs through August 6th in Winston-Salem.

Are Judge Judy and Petri Hawkins Friends

The duo are great friends and have been working together for the longest time.