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Julie Chen

Julie Chen On David Letterman
Born:	January 6, 1970 Queens, New York, USA
Occupation:	TV presenter, News anchor, producer
Spouse:	Les Moonves
Website:	Official CBS Bio

Julie Suzanne Chen (born January 6, 1970) is a prominent Chinese American television personality, news anchor, journalist, and producer who has twelve years of broadcasting experience, is best known for co-anchoring CBS's, The Early Show and for hosting the CBS summer reality program Big Brother, since its debut in July 2000. Her trademark catchphrase is "but first".

Chen was born in Queens, New York. Her mother grew up in Rangoon, Burma, where Chen's grandfather was a leading industrialist and her father was born in China, as one of the top leaders in the government of Chiang Kai-shek. Her grandmother with her six children moved everywhere in China trying to flee to Taiwan. When she was in seventh grade, Chen went with her parents after they took her older to Wellesley College in Gladys' freshman year, where Julie decided she wanted to go there, only if her best grades were good enough. In Junior High School 194 in Queens, voted by her classmates the "Most Intelligent and Most Likely to Succeed." When she graduated in 1987 from St. Francis Prep, her classmates named her "Most Sophisticated." Her carefree days as a geek and a math wizard came to an sudden end when she did horribly on exams and was rejected from Bronx High School of Science, the school her older sisters attended. The popular student opted instead for nearby St. Francis where she was well-known to her classmates. She attended the University of Southern California and graduated in 1991 with a major in broadcast journalism and in English. One of her earlier jobs came in June of 1989, when she worked on the CBS Morning News, the series which she would anchor a decade later. Though Julie was very frustrated, she had no contact to veteran anchors Harry Smith and Kathleen Sullivan, with the exception of answering phones and copying faxes for distribution. The following year in 1990, while she was in school, she stayed in Los Angeles where she worked for ABC NewsOne, for one season as a desk assistant, just before she was promoted to work as a producer for the next three years, for a total of five seasons altogether. 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 ridiculed in the media for her heavily scripted, wooden delivery, interaction with the studio audience and interviews on the live programs. In the same season, ratings have declined, hence, producers needed to find a way to improve on the show, the following year for the second season. Since that time, she has grown into her dual roles, and her mannerisms have earned her a cult-like adoration among some fans of the show, including the affectionate moniker "Chenbot" by writers at television website TVgasm.com [1].

On December 23, 2004, she married Les Moonves, president and CEO of CBS Television. Chen is 21 years his junior. At the time, she had been the only single host among the 4-person Early Show anchor team.

• Official CBS Bio
• Julie Chen at NNDB
• Archived biography of Chen from one of her first reporting jobs.
• Interview with Entertainment Weekly discussing Chen, including her opinion on her nickname "The Chenbot."
• Chenbot.com fan site
• Julie Chen - Plastic Surgery