Anderson Cooper is an anchor for CNN, and has covered many
major breaking news stories, including overnight coverage of the war in Iraq.
He has also moderated debates for Democratic presidential candidates.
Anderson Cooper anchors Anderson Cooper 360°, an
unconventional, wide-ranging news program airing on CNN/U.S. weekdays.
Cooper has anchored major breaking news stories, including
the 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. For
"America Votes 2004," he moderated a Democratic presidential
candidates forum the network jointly sponsored with Rock the Vote.
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. More recently, Cooper
interviewed Haiti President Jean-Bertrand Aristide shortly before a 2004
revolt.
In December 2004, Cooper traveled to Sri Lanka to cover the
disaster and aftermath of the tsunami that took more than 155,000 lives in
South Asia.
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.