Meredith Louise Vieira (born December 30, 1953) is an journalist, television personality, and game show host. She currently co-hosts NBC's Today as well as continuing to host Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in syndication and a contributing anchor for Dateline NBC. She previously co-hosted ABC's daytime talk show The View (from 1997 to 2006). She also hosted Intimate Portrait, a series on Lifetime Television.
Biography
Early years
Meredith Vieira was born in East Providence, Rhode Island to Mary Louisa Elsie Rosa Silveira Vieira (1914–2004) and Dr. Edwin Vieira (1904–1987), both first generation Portuguese-Americans. All four of Vieira’s grandparents came from the Azores, three from Faial Island, one of the nine islands in the archipelago. They all left for a better life in New England in the late 19th and early 20th centuries – settling around Providence, RI. She is the youngest of four children, with three older brothers.[1] Vieira attended the Lincoln School, a Quaker all-girls school in Providence. She graduated magna cum laude with a degree in English from Tufts University and began her career in 1975 as a news announcer for WORC radio in Worcester, Massachusetts. She began a career in television working as a local reporter and anchor at WJAR-TV Providence, eventually making her way into the newsroom at WCBS-TV in New York City where she was an investigative reporter from 1979 to 1982.
Career
Vieira first gained national recognition as a CBS reporter based in their Chicago bureau from 1982 to 1984. She later became a correspondent for nationwide news-magazine shows including West 57th (1985–89) and 60 Minutes (1989–91). Her final assignment at CBS was as co-anchor of the CBS Morning News (1992–93). She moved to ABC initially as a correspondent for the news-magazine show Turning Point (1993–97). Following the cancellation of Turning Point, Vieira realized:
“...I was a reporter who didn't want to report because it required a tremendous amount of travel, nobody was too interested in having me work for them. I had to reinvent myself..."
The View
Vieira served as the moderator and co-host of ABC's The View from its debut in 1997 through the spring of 2006. As moderator, she introduced "Hot Topics," guided conversations, and broke to commercials. She began each live episode saying "Hello! And welcome to The View!" Vieira was widely regarded as liberal and outspoken on most topics, including controversial ones such as politics and her sex life. Vieira's final appearance on The View was June 9, 2006. Her co-hosts gave her a roast to commemorate her final appearance.
In August 2006, Vieira told Time that she hasn't watched The View since she left the show, except the episode when Star Jones announced she was leaving. She said it was "very sad" what's happened to it: "I'm proud of the work we did there, but it's not a good time in the history of the show... It's hard to watch. It sort of became a joke."[2] On August 29, 2006, Vieira told the New York Post that she didn't mean that The View was a joke. She said the interview was taken out of context. "I felt that the media was turning [The View] into a joke, not that the show was a joke," she says. Time added a clarification to its website, saying "[Vieira] assures Time that in no way were her comments meant to be insensitive or derogatory..."[3]
In 1999, Vieira began hosting Lifetime's Intimate Portrait, which chronicles the lives of women in art, entertainment, politics, business, science, journalism, and sports.
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
Vieira has hosted the American syndicated version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire since 2002—a continuation of the primetime show hosted by Regis Philbin. The daytime quiz show is syndicated by Buena Vista Television, a division of ABC. In 2005, Vieira won a Daytime Emmy Award as Outstanding Game Show Host for her role on Millionaire. Vieira was a celebrity contestant on the Regis Philbin-hosted version of Millionaire before she hosted the syndicated version.
Today
The day after Katie Couric announced on April 5, 2006, that she would be stepping down as co-anchor of Today, Vieira accepted an offer to succeed Couric beginning September 13, 2006. She would also become contributing anchor for Dateline NBC. [4][5] The following day, Vieira announced on The View that she would be leaving the show.
It was stated that she would continue her hosting duties of Millionaire for the 2006–07 and 2007–08 season, should the show be renewed. As part of her contract with Millionaire, Vieira agreed not to appear on any competing television networks during hours that would conflict with the airing of the game show. In effect, Vieira is forbidden from appearing on-camera for the third or fourth hours of Today until her contract with Millionaire expires. On June 25, 2008, Meredith appeared on the third hour for a few minutes for the first time in her career at Today for "Today throws a wedding". On Today on December 11, 2006, Vieira commented that she had recently been absent in order to finish her Who Wants to Be a Millionaire job for the season. She made the announcement by saying "Now I've just got one job" to her co-host Matt Lauer.
This restriction has appeared to have been further relaxed as Vieira has appeared for the entire third hour of Today for the duration of the Beijing Olympics.
Other appearances
- Vieira "hosts" a spoof of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, called Who Wants to Be King of the Jungle? on the second disc of the Special Edition DVD of The Lion King 1 1/2. Timon the Meerkat serves as the contestant; Pumbaa as an audience member and the "Phone an Animal" lifeline.
- Vieira is a former spokesperson for Bayer, serving as an on-air personality in their commercials.
- In 2000, she hosted the Academy Awards preshow for ABC[6]
- Vieira had a brief stint in the Broadway show Thoroughly Modern Millie in 2002, appearing in various scenes.
- Vieira had a cameo as the host of a proposed game show in the 2004 version of The Stepford Wives.
- Vieira also hosts a series of featurettes that are included on the first season DVDs of the ABC television show Desperate Housewives. Vieira interviews cast members and the show's creators in California. Vieira was required to sign a secrecy agreement in order to allow her access to script secrets.
- Vieira made her first guest appearance on The View since leaving the show on Monday, Oct. 8th, 2007.
- Vieira had a guest appearance in the NBC sitcom 30 Rock in the episode "Greenzo" in 2007.
- Vieira made a cameo role as a news reporter in Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.
Personal life
Vieira married Emmy-award winning CBS News journalist Richard M. Cohen on June 14, 1986.[7][8] They reside with their three children in Westchester County, New York. Cohen has had multiple sclerosis since he was 25 years old, and has had two bouts of colon cancer, one in 1999 and one a year later.[9]
Balancing family and career
Vieira joined 60 Minutes in 1989 following the birth of her first child. Don Hewitt, executive producer of 60 Minutes, allowed her to work part-time for two seasons so she could care for her child. After that, she would work full-time. But after two years, she became pregnant again and asked to continue the part-time arrangement. Hewitt declined her request, deciding instead to hire someone who would work full-time. Her departure from the show garnered headlines, as a national debate started to take place about whether women could balance both family and career. She turned down opportunities to co-host The Early Show on CBS, and ABC's Good Morning America when her children were young.
Vieira discusses her family and career decisions in the book Divided Lives: The Public and Private Struggles of Three American Women by Elsa Walsh.[10]
Career timeline
References
External links
