Maury Apatow is a celebrity parent who is popular for being the father of American comedian, producer, director, and screenwriter Judd Apatow. Maury’s son is best known for his work in drama and comedy films and is the founder of Apatow Productions. Through his studio, Judd has produced and directed the movie The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Funny People, This Is 40, Trainwreck, The King of Staten Island, and The Bubble. He has also produced and developed television series through Apatow Productions. Get to know Maury Apatow and his children in this biographical post.
Maury Apatow Bio
Maury Apatow was born on 29 March 1937 in New York City. He is the son of Leon Apatow and Belle Zegansky, and his family is Jewish, though non-religious. Maury wed Tami Apatow (Tamara Shad) on 5 April 1964 in New York City and had three children together: Robert Apatow, Judd Apatow, and Mia Apatow. They divorced in 1979.
Maury is a real-estate developer, while his wife ran the Mainstream Records music label that her father established. After their divorce, Maury lived with Judd, Tami with Mia, and Robert went to live with his maternal grandparents.
Maury Apatow Children
Maury played a huge role in shaping Judd Apatow’s future as a comedian. While Judd was in high school, he would drive him to Chuckles and Governor’s Comedy Club in the middle of the night to see him live his dream. Judd got his comic start washing dishes at the Long Island East Side Comedy Club. He attended Syosset High School, where he played jazz and hosted a radio program called Comedy Club which he created to meet and learn from the comedians he looked up to. Judd interviewed comedy stars, including Howard Stern, Harold Ramis, Steve Allen, and John Candy.
At 17, in his senior year of high school, Judd began performing stand-up comedy. After graduating from high school in 1985, Judd moved to Los Angeles and enrolled in the screenwriting program at the University of Southern California. There, he hosted several on-campus Comedy Night events featuring headliners like Kevin Nealon of Saturday Night Live.
In 1992, Judd appeared on HBO’s 15th Annual Young Comedians Special. He then co-created and executive-produced Fox’s The Ben Stiller Show, which was canceled in 1993. He then joined HBO’s The Larry Sanders Show in 1993 as a writer and consulting producer. In 1998, he was a co-executive producer and director of one episode of the show’s final season. The show earned him six Emmy nominations.
Judd had his major production break in the 2000s when he produced films like Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and its sequel Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, Superbad, Walk Hard, Year One, Funny People, Get Him to the Greek and Wanderlust. He has also produced and developed numerous television shows, including Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared, Funny or Die Presents, Girls, Love, and Crashing.
Since 1985, Judd has received 11 Primetime Emmy Awards nominations, five Writers Guild of America Awards, two for Producers Guild of America Awards, one for Grammys, and one for the Golden Globe.
Wrapping Up
Of Maury’s three children, Judd is the only one in the entertainment industry, while the other two remain away from the spotlight.
