Who is Meredith Louise Vieira? The News world knows Meredith Vieira as an American journalist, television personality, and game show host. She currently co-hosts NBC's Today and often contributes to Dateline NBC. She is the current host for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in syndication, replacing Regis Philbin in 2002. 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.Early years
Vieira was born December 30, 1953 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 was raised Roman Catholic, but has stated in recent interviews that she has "spirituality, not a religion."[2] 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).The View
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."[3] 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..."[4]
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 was a celebrity contestant on the Regis Philbin-hosted version of Millionaire before she hosted the syndicated version winning $250,000 for her charity. She even made an appearance on the ABC version during the show's 10th anniversary promo, where she hosted the series' final segment and Regis himself was the contestant to answer one question for a chance to win $50,000 for his selected charity.
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, also become contributing anchor for Dateline NBC.[5][6] The following day, Vieira announced on The View that she would be leaving the show to be co-anchor of Today, a role View co-host and ABC News journalist Barbara Walters filled four decades prior during her tenure at NBC during the 1960s and 1970s.
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 and again during the Vancouver Olympics. It was also done during the Barack Obama inauguration in Washington in 2009.
Vieira is still the current host for the show. People Magazine stated on April 6, 2011 that Vieira may be leaving Today in September 2011 when her contract is up so she can spend time with her ill-husband while co-host Matt Lauer announced that he may be leaving when his contract expires a year later.
Other appearances
- Vieira appeared briefly in a Jay Leno monologue segment which chronicled her employment history, including a brief shot of her head superimposed upon a NakedNews anchor's body. Vieira joked on the Today show that 'it was only for a month'.
- 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 1½. Timon the Meerkat serves as the contestant; Pumbaa as an audience member for the "Poll the Herd" lifeline as well as being 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 pre-show for ABC.[7]
- Vieira had a brief stint in the Broadway show Thoroughly Modern Millie in 2003, appearing in various scenes.[8]
- 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. 8, 2007.
- Vieira had a guest appearance in the NBC sitcom 30 Rock in the episodes "Greenzo" and "Larry King." In another episode, it is implied that she sexually harasses Kenneth Parcell.
- Vieira made a cameo role as a news reporter in Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.
- Vieira made an appearance as Broomsy Witch in Shrek Forever After.
- Vieira made an appearance on the "Chumdog Millionaire" episode of Pawn Stars, in which, in a dream sequence, she reads the million dollar question to Chumlee.
- Vieira appeared in the 2010 film Get Him to the Greek as herself in a scene where the main characters appear on The Today Show.
- Vieira made an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show as herself in a scene where she wanted to be the 300,000th audience member of the show, but instead was the 300,001st. [9]
Personal life
Vieira married Emmy-award winning CBS News journalist Richard M. Cohen on June 14, 1986.[10][11] They reside with their three children in Westchester County, New York. Richard 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.[12]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.[13]
Honors
In 2006, Vieira received the P.T. Barnum Award from Tufts University for her exceptional work in the field of media and entertainment.
Career timeline
- 1985–1989: West 57th
- 1989–1993: 60 Minutes correspondent
- 1992–1993: CBS Morning News co-anchor
- 1993–1997: Turning Point correspondent
- 1997–2006: The View moderator
- 2002–present: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
- 2006–present: Dateline NBC contributing anchor
- September 2006–present: Today co-host
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