Christopher Judge was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. He has one younger brother, Jeff Judge, also an actor. Christopher Judge harbored the desire to become an actor from an early age, and studied drama in high school. "The television set was my babysitter growing up. I can remember wanting to invoke the feelings that I was getting from television—I wanted to be the one who was the catalyst for those feelings in other people. Performing was something I've always known I was going to do." He always knew that sports would be a stepping stone to an acting career. Judge was an All-L.A. City football player at Carson High School and graduated from Carson in 1982. He played for Coach Gene Vollnogle.