Anderson Cooper Bio - Anderson Cooper Biography

Anderson Cooper: Biography

Beginning September 2003, Anderson Cooper began hosting Anderson Cooper 360�, an unconventional, wide-ranging news program airing on CNN/U.S. weekdays from 7-8 pm (ET). Cooper, who joined CNN in December 2001, served as CNN's weekend anchor before moving to the 7 p.m. hour in March 2003 following the war in Iraq.

Since joining CNN, Cooper has anchored major breaking news stories, including the network's overnight coverage of the war in Iraq, as news of the military conflict was unfolding live during the day in Baghdad. Cooper also anchored much of CNN's live coverage of the D.C.-area sniper story and the coverage of the Space Shuttle Columbia explosion.

Because of Cooper's background as a war correspondent for Channel One News, he was sent to Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to report on the U.S. military conflict and to Qatar where he reported on the testing of CENTCOM's new mobile headquarters.

Most recently, as a weekday anchor, Cooper was the only Western journalist to interview Liberian president Moses Blah on the day he took office.

Before joining CNN, Cooper was an ABC News correspondent and host of the network's reality program, The Mole. Cooper anchored ABC's live, interactive, overnight news and interview program, World News Now as well as providing reports for World News Tonight, 20/20 and 20/20 Downtown. Previously, he was a New York-based correspondent for ABC News, reporting primarily for World News Saturday/Sunday.

Cooper joined ABC from Channel One News, where he served as a reporter and producer. During that time, he was a chief international correspondent, reporting and producing stories from Bosnia, Iran, Israel, Russia, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa and Vietnam. He also reported national stories that were broadcast over the Channel One News school television network and seen in more than 12,000 classrooms nationwide.

Cooper has won several awards for his work, including an Emmy Award for his contribution to ABC's coverage of Princess Diana's funeral; a Silver Plaque from the Chicago International Film Festival for his report from Sarajevo on the Bosnian civil war; a Bronze Telly for his coverage of famine in Somalia; a Bronze Award from the National Educational Film and Video Festival for a report on political Islam; and a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding TV Journalism for his 20/20 Downtown report on gay high school athlete Corey Johnson.

Cooper graduated from Yale University in 1989 with a bachelor of arts degree in political science. He also studied Vietnamese at the University of Hanoi. Cooper is based in New York City.

Anderson refuses to talk about his sexuality in interviews, as he does not want to become the news, he just wants to report it.(edit)
Anderson's height is 5' 10" (1.78 m).(edit)
Anderson was one of People Magazine's Sexiest Men Alive, 2006. He is found in the "Hooray for Gray!" section.(edit)
He has written a book called
Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival.(edit)
Arguably some of his best work Cooper did was the groundbreaking coverage on Hurricane Katrina.(edit)
He is often the main character used in the opening sketch of Saturday Night Live.(edit)
He doesn't like to drink hot beverages. (edit)
He was once a child model for the Ford Modeling Agency. (edit)
Anderson admits that he will not watch tapes of his own broadcasts because he finds them "incredibly boring". (edit)
Anderson left news reporting for a while to host the ABC reality show The Mole. (edit)
In 1995, at 28, he signed a contract with ABC News, making him the network's youngest correspondent.(edit)
In 1994, he went to Rwanda to cover the genocide for Channel One. (edit)
He used to wait tables at the popular restaurant "Mortimer's" in New York City.(edit)
After graduating from the Dalton School, he decided to go driving through South Africa. While there, he contracted malaria and had to be hospitalized. (edit)
His older brother Carter committed suicide in 1988.(edit)
Anderson writes a monthly column for Details magazine. (edit)
He has a dog named Ozzie. (edit)
Anderson was once an anchor for ABC's overnight news show World News Now in the late 1990's.(edit)
Anderson studied Vietnamese at the University of Hanoi after graduating from Yale.(edit)
He graduated from Yale University in 1989 with a B.A. in Political Science. (edit)
Anderson went to and graduated high school from The Dalton School in Manhattan in New York City.(edit)
His mother is the prominent socialite/writer/designer Gloria Vanderbilt and his father was author Wyatt Cooper, who died when Anderson was just 10 years old.(edit)
Anderson is best known as the host of the very popular reality show The Mole for the first two seasons. Since then, he became an anchor on CNN and got his own show.(edit)
Anderson worked at many other tv networks before joining CNN.(edit)

(during a panel discussion during final Democratic primaries of 2008, Anderson attempted to get some inside information from super delegate, Donna Brazile, about the possibility of Obama asking Clinton to be his running mate)
Anderson: I'm looking for something he hasn't told anyone else - just you.
Donna Brazile: (cocks her head and smiles) Anderson, you're not my boo.
(everyone laughs)
Anderson: I wanna be your boo. (pauses) I don't really even know what that means.(edit)
Anderson Cooper: I suppose if you've never bitten your nails, there isn't any way to explain the habit. It's not enjoyable, really, but there is a certain satisfaction - pride in a job well done.(edit)
Anderson: Anyone who says they're not afraid at the time of a hurricane is either a fool or a liar, or a little bit of both.(edit)
Anderson: There's a value to bearing witness to what hundreds of thousands of people are going through. I see nothing wrong with a reporter going through it with them. I've never pretended to grab onto something. The audience knows when something's real and when it's not.(edit)
Anderson: I suppose if you've never bitten your nails, there isn't any way to explain the habit. It's not enjoyable, really, but there is a certain satisfaction - pride in a job well done.(edit)