U.S. District Judge Gray Miller did his best to follow his father’s advice on careers he should not pursue. So he set off on a professional quest that took him around the world on a ship, through the mean streets of Houston in a police patrol car, and in front of a television camera for a children’s show before he ultimately wound up on the federal bench.

Miller grew up in Houston, where his father Ray Miller was the television news director for KPRC.