Cristina Perez is a multi-faceted woman of the ages. She is a successful lawyer, television personality, radio host, entrepreneur/business owner, author, and national columnist. At the foundation of all of these roles, however, lies Cristina’s complete devotion to her family, friends, and loved ones. This kind of sane prioritizing may be perhaps rare, but for Cristina . . . well, it comes directly from her family roots.
The daughter of Colombian immigrants, Cristina was born in New York City, NY, U.S.A. She lived in all types of places: from one of the poorest neighborhoods of New York City, to the big city of Guadalajara, Mexico, to the border town of San Ysidro, CA to Hartford, Connecticut, and then to California, which she has now called home for over twenty years.
Growing up, Cristina was exposed to all walks of life, cultures, and differing problems facing each community. She watched her parents struggle with racism, finances, and adapting to the U.S. culture with a foreign language. Cristina learned to speak English around the age of 10 and today has mastered both languages. With her unique and well-rounded background, Cristina credits her family’s example and desire to remain close to her heritage and culture for all of her personal and professional achievements.
Today, she and her family are living out the American dream. With her parents’ examples to follow, it is easy then to understand her passion for community awareness, the practice of law and most of all, for reaching out to all types of people and from all cultures and guiding them toward their own dreams.
In the media world, Cristina’s claim to fame was her role as the enormously popular host of the Spanish language television program “La Corte de Familia” (Family Court) which aired nationally and internationally in fifteen countries on the Telemundo Television Network/NBC. The program appealed to viewers of all ages. The show, one of the highest rated Spanish language programs in the U.S., re-enacted the courtroom drama of family law related claims. Cristina was the first female Judge-Actress to air on a nationally syndicated Spanish network series.
Cristina made her television debut on the program “La Corte Del Pueblo” (People’s Court), which aired locally in Los Angeles on KHWY Channel 22. The show re-enacted general small claim matters and allowed, for the first time, cameras to enter the judicial arena and bring the drama of legal battles to the Spanish language viewer. The series was an enormous success and the producer decided to cast Cristina, once again, as the just Judge for “La Corte de Familia.”
Cristina utilized La Corte de Familia and La Corte del Pueblo as vehicles to raise the consciousness of the Latino community. The success of each show lied on the fact that each celebrated the strength of the Latino culture and the importance of family. It also reminded viewers, of all ages and ethnicity, not to forfeit their culture and the great lessons learned from our ancestors to make it in the United States. It is reliance on these lessons which she believes are key ingredients to be a success in life.
Cristina Perez is a lawyer who is as likely to hug the plaintiff as she is to pound her gavel. Today, she is a fine-tuned example of a successful Spanish to English market crossover. Currently, an English-speaking judge on Twentieth Television’s sophomore syndicated court show drama, “Cristina’s Court,” Cristina has demonstrated to her fans that not only is it possible to be truly bilingual and accepted by both cultures equally, as proved by her steadfast following, it is a proud way of life. Noted as the “healing judge” by colleagues and fans alike, Cristina maintains to rule the same way in English that she has always done in Spanish.
Armed with the life changing lessons learned from her immigrant parents, Cristina is a leader in the community and is committed to community awareness. Cristina has worked to make a difference in her community at every scale. She is an active member and leader of several community and legal organizations.
Cristina frequently lectures and speaks at seminars sponsored by public/community associations, law schools and professional organizations. She is also frequently featured on radio and television. Cristina serves as a weekly Attorney Co-Host on Radio UNIVISION in Los Angeles, California.
In 2005, Cristina was selected as a California’s “Woman of the Year” for her community activities and was named one of America’s top 10 “Latina Advocates,” for making the world a better place for women and Latino’s rights by the national magazine LATINO LEADERS (National Magazine of the Successful American Latino).
Academically, Cristina has a Juris Doctor degree from Whittier Law and two Bachelors of Arts degrees from UCLA.
Overall, Cristina has worked to make a difference in her community, unknowingly breaking through the stereotypes and misconceptions of what a Latina is or should be. Cristina is a powerful role model for young women in any community and particularly for Latinas. Not only has she excelled in two demanding fields, but she has utilized her skills to advocate for many who have no access to justice. On a daily basis, Cristina strives to be a powerful role model for all people.
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EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - PETER BRENNAN
Television news magazine pioneer Peter Brennan is creator and executive producer of the original A Current Affair.
During his career Brennan created and executive produced four first-run television shows that reached top ten status in ratings. He created A Current Affair in 1986. It immediately became a television sensation reaching a 10.00 national rating.
In 1990, he took over Paramount Television’s news magazine strip Hard Copy. Hard Copy’s ratings doubled within a year after Brennan joined the show. Brennan also created and executive produced the popular court show strips Judge Judy, the highest-rated court show in first-run syndication, as well as Judge Joe Brown.
Brennan created the morning news program Good Day New York for the Fox Television station WNYW. Deemed an immediate success, Fox began to franchise the Good Day format to its many stations throughout the United States. Today, a majority of the Fox owned-and operated stations feature their own localized Good Day morning news programs. Brennan began his TV career in the morning news genre with Good Morning Australia, the country’s first ever daily morning television show that has been on the air for nearly a quarter century.
He also created, wrote and produced the CBS reality movie An American Story: Bad Night in Cottageville, as well as The Extraordinary, a one-hour series that was distributed to more than 20 countries.
Brennan has written two novels, Sudden Death and Razorback, the latter of which was adapted into a motion picture by Warner Bros.
Genre: Reality
