Petri Hawkins-Byrd (born Petri Adonis Byrd; November 29, 1957 in Brooklyn, New York), better 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. 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, Byrd is television's longest court show bailiff in history. Since October 2018, 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 for every Tuesday. It was announced in April 2022 that Byrd will return to the court show genre, resuming his televised bailiff duties in the upcoming panel-based spin-off courtroom series, Tribunal. The series is created by Judy Sheindlin and her personal production team and will feature a 3-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, Byrd's father thought he was so entertaining and amusing as a child that he and his friends frequently called Byrd up from prison just so they could hear him imitate celebrities. Growing up, Byrd admired and imitated such celebrities as Flip Wilson, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Ed Sullivan, Bill Cosby and others. Meanwhile, Byrd's stay-at-home mother held their family together. 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, 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, Byrd attended Hostos Community College in The Bronx. Although drawn to the idea of acting, Byrd 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