Julie Suzanne Chen (born January 6, 1970) is an American television personality, news anchor, journalist, and producer for CBS.[1] She has 14 years of newscasting experience. She is best known for co-anchoring CBS's The Early Show, alongside Harry Smith and Maggie Rodriguez. She has been the host of the U.S. version of Big Brother since its debut in July 2000.
Personal life
Chen was born in Queens, New York. Chen's mother grew up in Rangoon, Burma, where Chen's grandfather was a leading industrialist. Her father was born in China and was one of the top leaders in the Kuomintang government of Chiang Kai-shek. Consequently, her family moved everywhere in China, eventually fleeing to Taiwan.
Chen attended Junior High School 194 in Queens, where she was voted "Most Intelligent" and "Most Likely to Succeed." She graduated from high school in 1987 from St. Francis Prep after having missed the cutoff scores for specialized high school entrance exams for schools like the Bronx High School of Science, the school her older sisters attended. She attended the University of Southern California and graduated in 1991 with a major in broadcast journalism and in English.
In December 2004, she married Leslie Moonves, president and CEO of CBS Television. Chen is the stepmother of Adam, Michael and Sara.
Chen announced in April 2009 that she was pregnant with her first child with husband Leslie Moonves, president and CEO of CBS Television on The Early Show with her due date in October 2009. She revealed she wouldn't be taking medical leave and would continue to present Big Brother during her pregnancy.[2] On September 24, 2009, she gave birth to a boy named Charlie.[3]
Career
One of her earlier jobs came in June 1989, at CBS Morning News--the series which she would anchor a decade later—where she answered phones and copied faxes for distribution. The following year, while still in school, she worked for ABC NewsOne for one season as a desk assistant. She was subsequently promoted to work as a producer for the next three years. The following year, she traveled to Dayton, Ohio to work as a newsanchor for WDTN-TV, from 1995 to 1997.
From 1999 to 2002, Chen was the anchor of both early-morning shows, CBS Morning News & The Early Show, alongside Bryant Gumbel and Jane Clayson. Since 2002, she has been a co-host for The Early Show on CBS. Before CBS News she was a reporter and weekend anchor at WCBS-TV in New York City.
Since 2000, she has also been the host of the American version of Big Brother. During the first season (2000), Chen was widely criticized in the media for her heavily scripted, wooden delivery in her interaction with the studio audience and in the interviews on the live programs, earning her the nickname "Chenbot." She has indicated in two separate interviews,[4][5] that she takes no personal offense to the term, adding that it may derive from her "precise on-air style" which comes from "a desire to be objective."
She again acknowledged the nickname while discussing mugs made in her likeness when she proudly proclaimed, "I am the Chenbot!" in a segment[6] on the CBS Early Show.
External links
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