Roof was born on November 24, 1976 at a U.S. Air Force hospital at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, to Jean and Michael Roof, Sr. He had two brothers, Derek and Donny, and two sisters, Megan and Kim. Roof attended Reese AFB Elementary, Lubbock, Texas, then Frenship Intermediate and Frenship Jr. High, in Wolfforth, Texas, just outside Lubbock. While in eighth grade the Roof family moved to Yokota Air Base, Japan.
In 2000, he had a central part in the WB Network Sketch comedy TV series Hype, but it was canceled after its first season. After Hype, Roof moved to Hollywood, California to pursue a film career.
In 2006, Roof was given his own Spike Channel reality TV show, Raising the Roofs. The program, which ran for six episodes, followed the misadventures of his self-described "Florida cracker" dad, Michael, Sr., and his uncle, while they visited Roof at his home in Hollywood.
In the early morning of June 9, 2009, Roof's wife contacted police and reported him missing. Several hours later, his body was found hanged from a tree in a wooded area near a Snellville, Georgia, elementary school parking lot. Roof reportedly suffered from bipolar disorder, and had been despondent about family finances. He is buried in Dunnellon Memorial Gardens, Dunnellon, Florida.
