Ann Curry
Curry at the 2012 Time 100
Born	(1956-11-19) November 19, 1956 (age 55) Guam, United States
Alma mater	University of Oregon
Occupation	Television personality Television journalist
Years active	1978–present
Notable credit(s)	Today Show   (1997–present) Dateline NBC   (2005–2011) Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade  (2011–present)
Title	Correspondent/Anchor
Spouse	Brian Ross
Children	McKenzie William Walker
Website
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12536386/

Ann Curry (born November 19, 1956) is an American television news journalist, photojournalist,^[1] and co-anchor on NBC's morning television program Today. She is the former news anchor on Today, a role she began in March 1997, and was the host of Dateline NBC from 2005–2011.^[2]

Curry is a Board Member at the International Women's Media Foundation.^[3]

Biography[link]

Curry was born in Guam to Bob Curry, of Cherokee, French, German, Scottish and Irish descent from Pueblo, Colorado, and Hiroe Nagase, originally from Japan.^[4] Her American father, a career Navy man,^[5] met her mother during the U.S. occupation of Japan following the Second World War. The U.S. military initially did not allow the marriage, but her father returned to Japan two years later to marry Nagase.

Curry lived in Japan for several years as a child, attending the Ernest J. King School on the military base in Sasebo. Later she moved to Ashland, Oregon, where she graduated from Ashland High School. She graduated with a BA in Journalism from the University of Oregon in 1978.^[6]

Curry was raised Roman Catholic by her mother, who was a convert to the religion.

Curry is married to software executive, Brian Ross, whom she met in college. They have a daughter, McKenzie, and a son, William Walker Curry Ross. The family lives in the Gramercy Park neighborhood of New York City.

Professional career[link]

Curry began her broadcasting career in 1978 as an intern at then, NBC-affiliate, now CBS-affiliate KTVL in Medford, Oregon. There she rose to become the station's first female news reporter. In 1980, Curry moved to NBC-affiliate KGW^[7] in Portland, where she was a reporter and anchor.

Four years later, Curry moved to Los Angeles as a reporter for KCBS-TV and received two Emmy Awards while working as a reporter from 1984 to 1990.

In 1990, Curry joined NBC News, first as the NBC News Chicago correspondent then as the anchor of NBC News at Sunrise from 1991 to 1996. Curry also served as a substitute news anchor for Matt Lauer from 1994 to 1997 at Today. From 1997 to 2011, she served as news anchor at Today, being the show's second-longest serving news anchor, behind Frank Blair, who served in that capacity from 1953 to 1975. During this time, she also served as a substitute anchor for Today. In May 2005, Curry was named co-anchor of Dateline NBC with Stone Phillips; she remained as the primary anchor when Phillips left in June 2007 and has since moved off the show after replacing Meredith Viera on Today in 2011.

Curry has been known at NBC News for anchoring three of the four major broadcasts. She has read the news on The Today Show since March 11, 1997, she has anchored Dateline NBC. From 2005 to 2011, she was the primary substitute on NBC Nightly News. In 2007, after Lester Holt took over weekend editions (Holt had previously been the primary substitute but left that position to become weekend anchor, giving Curry the position), there have even been days when Curry has anchored all three broadcasts in one day. A segment on Today, Ann on the Run, follows Curry around a day where she must read the news on Today, tape Dateline, and fill in live for Brian Williams on Nightly News.

Curry covering the 2009 Commander in Chief's Ball, with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Michael Mullen

Curry is known for her international reporting of major stories, filing stories from places such as Baghdad, Sri Lanka, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Albania, and Darfur. Curry hosted NBC's primetime coverage and highlights of the Live Earth concerts on July 7, 2007 and also contributed with interviews for the special with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Al Gore. Curry reported from the USS Theodore Roosevelt during the invasion of Afghanistan in November 2001, and had an exclusive interview with General Tommy Franks. She reported from Baghdad in early 2003, and then from the USS Constellation as the war in Iraq began. Ann was also the first network news anchor to report from inside the Southeast Asian tsunami zone in late 2004.

On December 17, 2007, Curry bungee jumped off the world famous Transporter Bridge in Middlesbrough, England to raise money for charity. Her jump was shown live on the Today show at about 8:13 am. During a February 4, 2008 appearance as a guest on NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien, asked if she would ever bungee jump again, Curry said she would if O'Brien would jump with her.

Ann Curry replaced Meredith Vieira as co-host on June 9, 2011, with national correspondent Natalie Morales replacing Curry as news reader.

In 2011, Ann Curry appeared in the first PBS Kids Sprout "Kindness Counts" PSA.

Volunteerism[link]

• Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation^[8]
• Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation^[8]
• Americares^[8]
• Save the Children^[8]
• Médecins Sans Frontières^[8]
• Airline Ambassadors^[8]
• Buildon^[9]

Awards[link]

• Emmy Awards, presented for coverage of the 1987 Los Angeles earthquake; another presented for reporting on the explosion of a San Bernardino gas pipeline,^[10] and a third in 2007 for her reporting on NBC Nightly News about the Darfur crisis.^[11]
• Golden Mic (4), presented by Radio & Television News Association of Southern California (RTNA)
• Certificate of Excellence, Associated Press
• Gracie Award, presented by The Foundation of American Women in Radio and Television
• Excellence in Reporting, presented by the NAACP
• National Journalism Award, presented by the Asian American Journalists Association, 2003^{[citation needed]}
• Pioneer Award, presented by University of Oregon, 2003
• Hall of Achievement induction, University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication, 2002^[5][10]
• Sexiest Newscaster and "Hottest MILF Newscaster" as voted on by readers of Ask Men magazine ^[12]
• Common Wealth Award of Distinguished Service, presented by PNC Bank for outstanding achievements in mass communications, 2008
• Honorary Doctorate in Journalism from Southern Oregon University on 6/5/2010 after giving the commencement address
• Curry received an honorary degree from Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island on May 16, 2010.
• She received an honorary doctorate from the Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts on May 22, 2010.^[13] There she delivered the graduation keynote address. However, she gaffed as she cited several famous alumni, only one of which graduated from that college. The others graduated from the Wheaton College near Chicago. Curry apologized for the gaffe.^[14]

Funded scholarship[link]

• Ann Curry Scholarship for University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication Broadcasting Students, 2002^[5]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ann Curry

• Ann Curry on Twitter
• Ann Curry at the Internet Movie Database
• Bio on About.com

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (March 2010)

Matt Lauer
Lauer at the 2012 Time 100
Born	Matthew Todd Lauer (1957-12-30) December 30, 1957 (age 54) New York City
Education	Ohio University
Occupation	Television journalist
Years active	1979–present
Notable credit(s)	Today co-anchor (1997–present) Today news anchor (1994–1997)
Salary	$13,500,000 annually[1]
Spouse	Nancy Aspaugh (1982-1989; divorced) Annette Roque (1998-present)
Children	Three
Family	married with 3 children
Website
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3079110/

Matthew Todd "Matt" Lauer (born December 30, 1957)^[2] is an American television journalist best known as the host of NBC's The Today Show since 1997.^[2] He was previously a news anchor in New York City^[3] and a local talk-show host in Boston, Philadelphia, Providence and Richmond.^[3] He was also host of PM Magazine (or "Evening Magazine" 1980-1986)^[3] and worked for ESPN in the 1980s as a sideline reporter.^[3] In the early 1990s, Lauer hosted segments of HBO Entertainment News.

Early life[link]

He was born in New York City, the son of Marilyn Kolmer, a boutique owner, and Jay Robert Lauer, a bicycle-company executive.^[4] Lauer is of Romanian descent on his father's side, as seen on the Today Show's Finding Our Roots.^[5] His parents divorced during his youth, and his father died in 1997. Lauer had become co-host of The Today Show replacing longtime host Bryant Gumbel in early 1997, not long before his father's death.^[6] In 1999, both Lauer and his co-host Katie Couric initially resisted participation in Today's proposed series about their family roots. The series turned out to be a hit, and Lauer was moved by what he learned about his immigrant ancestors. "My dad was Jewish. My mom is not. So I was not raised anything. I do feel a desire now to find something spiritual. Getting married and wanting to have kids has something to do with that."^[6][7]

Career[link]

Lauer is a graduate of the School of Media Arts and Studies (formally the School of Telecommunications) of Ohio University. He attended Ivy Tech, but dropped out. In 1997, he received his undergraduate degree from Ohio University at the age of 39. He had dropped out of Ohio University's School of Telecommunications in the Spring of 1979.^[8] The university awarded him his remaining credits by counting his journalism experience as "independent study" towards his degree.^{[citation needed]} Lauer began his television career in 1979 as a producer of the 12 o'clock news for WOWK-TV in Huntington, West Virginia. By 1980, he had become an on-air reporter on the 6 and 11 o'clock newscasts. He then started to move around the country to further his career, hosting a number of weekly information and talk programs in Boston, Philadelphia, Providence and Richmond.^[3] He was also host of PM Magazine in Providence, RI and then in 1984 at WNEW-TV in New York City until the show's cancellation in 1986. In 1986 he co-hosted with Jill Rappaport WNYW-TV's Made In New York for its fifteen week run on the station. He also worked for ESPN in the 1980s. He worked on the show "Talk of the Town" during 1988.

Lauer was hired to host a three-hour live interview program, WWOR-TV's 9 Broadcast Plaza, from 1989–1991. In 1990, he was hired by the Kushner-Locke Company to host a pilot called "Day In Court," executive produced by veteran producer David Sams, who helped to launch the Oprah Winfrey Show into national syndication. The program was retitled, "Trial Watch," when it went to series, and ran on the NBC network for two seasons. Ironically, NBC chose to hire Rob Weller, as host, over Lauer when the program was picked up as a daily series. Lauer moved to WNBC-TV in 1992 where he became co-anchor, alongside Jane Hanson, of the early weekday news show Today in New York. After a year, he also filled the role of Live at Five co-anchor with Sue Simmons. He held that job until 1996.

NBC News[link]

Lauer with President Vladimir Putin prior to the 32nd G8 summit in Saint Petersburg in 2006.

Lauer's broad on-camera presence provided him with many opportunities with NBC's national news organization while working for WNBC in New York. Lauer filled in as the newsreader on The Today Show for Margaret Larson when needed from 1992 to 1993. This "audition" period allowed him to join The Today Show full-time in January 1994 as news anchor, while still co-anchoring Today in New York and Live at Five.

Lauer stepped in for Scott Simon, Mike Schneider and Jack Ford as the co-host of Weekend Today, and for Ann Curry as anchor of the former NBC News program NBC News at Sunrise from 1992 to 1997. He had also filled in for Tom Brokaw on NBC Nightly News. As the Today Show news anchor, he also pinch-hit for Bryant Gumbel on the Today Show before being named the official co-anchor on January 6, 1997, after Gumbel stepped down.^[9]

In addition to his duties on the Today Show, Lauer has also hosted programming on the Discovery Channel^[10] and MSNBC.

Career highlights[link]

Beginning in 1998, Lauer embarked on what has generally been an annual five-day, globe-spanning adventure called Where in the World is Matt Lauer? on the Today Show during TV sweeps. The segment was named after the PBS game show Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? from which it borrowed the theme song. This segment has sent Lauer to the far reaches of the Earth where he has reported on the importance of each location. In recent years, he has broadcast from locations including Bhutan, Easter Island, the Panama Canal, Iran, Hong Kong, Croatia, and the Great Wall of China.^[11] In 2009, NBC News announced the popular segment would not air in consideration of the stagnant, unstable U.S. economy.^[12]

On some occasions, interviews conducted by Lauer have escalated into tense exchanges. In a June 2005 interview, Tom Cruise started an argument with Lauer about psychiatry and postpartum depression and called Lauer "glib". In December 2008, three and a half years later, Cruise said that he regrets the exchange, and even playfully arm-wrestled Matt Lauer in the same studio where the confrontation took place.^[13]

Lauer on the set of the Today Show, May 2009

In a June 2006 interview with Ann Coulter, Coulter responded to Lauer's questioning her criticism of September 11, 2001, widows and said, "You're getting testy with me."^[14]

On December 30, 2009, during an on-set Birthday Party for him, Lauer introduced "Barney Miller" and "Fish" TV star Abe Vigoda who was standing behind the cameras. Lauer then warmly invited Abe to come over and sit on the couch where Lauer announced that Abe Vigoda was his favorite guest of all times on the "Today" show. The two then discussed Matt's Birthday and Abe's long career.

In November 2006, Lauer and his daughter Romy hosted the Sesame Street direct-to-DVD Sesame Beginnings: Exploring Together.

Lauer hosted The Greatest American on the Discovery Channel, which used Internet and telephone voting by viewers to select the winner. Lauer was critical of his own program since it tended to favor well-known figures over others who had less influence in pop culture.^{[citation needed]} Since 1998, he has co-hosted NBC's live coverage of Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Lauer guest-starred as himself on a live episode of Will & Grace in early 2006. (Former co-anchor Katie Couric had guest-starred as herself on an episode of the same NBC sitcom a few years earlier.)^[15][16]

On June 19, 2007, he interviewed Princes William and Harry.^[17]

Lauer served as the 2009 Class Day speaker at Harvard University's undergraduate commencement ceremonies on June 3, 2009.

Matt Lauer appears as himself in the Land of the Lost movie, appearing in the beginning when Rick Marshall (Will Ferrell) appears on his show and single-handedly ruins his career. Lauer appears again at the end of the film, when Rick shows up with his new book, Matt Lauer Can Suck It. Both scenes ended in violent physical confrontation between the two, with the staff trying to break them up. The first confrontation was caused by Marshall, who, after storming off, charges at Lauer, prompting him to defend himself with a fire extinguisher. The second occurred when Lauer attacked Marshall after he gloats how his new book's title was legally acceptable.

Lauer has also co-hosted the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games. He has broadcast with Bob Costas the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Summer and 2010 Winter Olympics, carrying what his former co-host Katie Couric had done since the 2000 Summer Olympics.

On the April 5, 2012 program, Lauer announced he had come to terms on a new contract with NBC News that will reportedly pay $25 million annually.^[18]

Career timeline[link]

• 1988: Talk of the Town host^[9]
• 1989–1991: 9 Broadcast Plaza host^[9]
• September 1992–September 1994: Today in New York co-anchor^[9]
• August 1993–September 1996: early evening newscast News Channel 4/Live at Five co-anchor^[9]
• June 13, 1994–January 3, 1997: Today news anchor^[9]
• January 6, 1997–present: Today co-anchor^[9]

Personal life[link]

Lauer was married from 1982 until 1989 to a television producer named Nancy Alspaugh. The marriage ended in divorce. From 1989 until 1996, he dated Kristen Gesswein, a television newscaster. They were briefly engaged.^[2] In 1998, he married Annette Roque, a Dutch model known as "Jade." During Roque's pregnancy with their third child in 2006, she and Lauer separated. Although Roque filed for divorce in Manhattan Supreme Court on September 13, 2006, the couple subsequently reconciled.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Matt Lauer

• MSNBC bio
• Matt Lauer at the Internet Movie Database
• Matt's Video Blog
• TV schedule for Talk of the Town
• Video of Talk of the Town
• Video and Transcript of George Bush interview