Harvey Robert Levin (born September 2, 1950) is an American television producer, legal analyst, celebrity reporter, and former lawyer. He is the founder of celebrity news website TMZ, and the former host of OBJECTified, which aired on the Fox News Channel. Early life and education Levin was born September 2, 1950, in Los Angeles County, California to a Jewish family. He attended high school at Grover Cleveland High School in Reseda, Los Angeles and graduated in 1968 with honors. Levin attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he graduated with a B.A. in political science in 1972. He later attended the University of Chicago Law School and graduated with a J.D. in 1975. Career Early law career and academia Levin was an active attorney in the state of California for two decades, from December 18, 1975, until January 1, 1996. In the mid-1970s, Levin taught law at the University of Miami School of Law under Soia Mentschikoff. He briefly practiced in Los Angeles before returning to teach at Whittier College School of Law. In 1978, the introduction and debate surrounding California Proposition 13 pushed Levin into the public eye, following his performances in a number of public debates. With his newfound fame, Levin began to contribute legal advice on a radio show, where he was nicknamed "Doctor Law", as well as to write columns for the Los Angeles Times. His columnist career with the Times spanned seven years. Transition to entertainment Levin covered legal issues for KNBC-TV in 1982. He subsequently joined KCBS-TV and spent a decade doing investigative reporting and legal analysis, most notably covering the O. J. Simpson murder case. In 1997 he was named co-executive producer and on-air legal anchor for The People's Court. He created Celebrity Justice, which ran from 2002 to 2005. Levin produced Beyond Twisted, which aired in 2009 for one season before being cancelled. He created Famous in 12 (2014), an experiment in exploiting a family for quick fame, but the show was cancelled after less than one season, with only five of the scheduled twelve episodes having aired. Since 2016, Levin has hosted the weekly prerecorded show OBJECTified on the Fox News Channel. TMZ In 2005, AOL and Telepictures Productions launched TMZ with Levin as the founder and managing editor. The website quickly rose to prominence when it broke the story of Mel Gibson's DUI arrest and subsequent antisemitic rant. It