Anderson Hays Cooper (b. June 3, 1967) is a New York-based television journalist. Since 2003, he has anchored Anderson Cooper 360°, a fast-paced weeknight news program on the CNN television network.
Cooper, the younger son of the socialite, writer, and artist Gloria Vanderbilt and the writer Wyatt Cooper, graduated from Yale in 1989 with a degree in political science. He also studied Vietnamese at the University of Hanoi.
As a budding journalist, Cooper became an anchor to Channel One News, an MTV-style newsprogram broadcast to many schools in the United States. He was sent to report from Bosnia and Rwanda among other places; on those dangerous assignments he was on occasion shot at, and came down with malaria during his trip in Africa.
Prior to joining CNN in December 2001, Cooper was a correspondent for ABC News. He also hosted the first two seasons of ABC's reality show The Mole and has co-anchored ABC World News Now.
In January 2005, he was sent to South Asia to cover the tsunami damage. That same month, he also went to Baghdad (Iraq) to cover the elections. In February and March 2005, he covered the Cedar Revolution in Beirut, Lebanon. In early April 2005, he reported from Rome, covering the death of Pope John Paul II, and from London, covering the royal wedding. Since 2002, he has hosted CNN's New Year's Eve special from Times Square.
Cooper lives in New York City with his dog, Welsh Springer Spaniel, Molly.
Cooper has won numerous awards thoughout his career, including one from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Media Award for Outstanding TV Journalism for his 20/20 Downtown report on gay high school athlete Corey Johnson [1]
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