Anderson Cooper Biography, Real Name, Age, Birthday, Height, Weight and More
Anderson Hays Cooper is an American broadcast journalist and political commentator from the Vanderbilt family. He is the primary anchor of the CNN news broadcast show Anderson Cooper 360°.
| Name | Anderson Cooper |
| Real Name | Anderson Hays Cooper |
| Date of Birth | June 3, 1967 |
| Age | 55 years old |
| Birthplace | New York, New York, United States |
| Height | 5 feet 10 inches |
| Weight | 70 kg |
Cooper is famous for his high journalistic standards and has covered several major news events around the world. War reporting fascinates him as he is often puzzled by the philosophical thought of why some people survive hardships while others succumb to them. He was always interested in news reporting and journalism. He became a self-taught journalist when he entered Myanmar with a fake press pass and made his own news coverage which he sold to a small channel. He traveled to several war-ravaged regions of the world and filmed stories from Vietnam, Somalia, and Rwanda. He then accepted a position as a correspondent for ABC News and then began hosting a reality show titled ‘The Mole.’ He switched over to CNN because of his interest in broadcast news. Since then, he has covered a number of important stories like the tsunami in Sri Lanka, the death of Pope John Paul II, the conflicts in Egypt and Syria, the Boston Marathon bombing, and the Sandy Hook shootings. Currently, he hosts the television news show ‘Anderson Cooper 360°.’
- Anderson Hays Cooper was born on June 3, 1967, in New York City, USA, to Wyatt Emory Cooper, a writer, and Gloria Vanderbilt, an artist, designer, and writer.
- He was exposed to media from a very young age. His baby photograph appeared on ‘Harper’s Bazaar.’He was a guest on ‘The Tonight Show’ in 1970 when he was just three years old. He modeled for‘Ford Models’ when he was 10 years old.
- He attended ‘Dalton School’ in New York City. After graduating, the adventurous youngster traveled around Africa for several months. He then went to ‘Yale University’ from where he graduated in 1989, majoring in political science.
- He interned for two summers at the ‘Central Intelligence Agency.’However, he did not find it interesting enough and decided to become a journalist.
- He worked as a reporter for a short period of time before moving to Vietnam for a year where he studied the Vietnamese language at the ‘University of Hanoi.’
- After college, his first job was as a fact checker for a small news agency named ‘Channel One.’ Bored with his job, he obtained a fake press pass and entered Myanmar on his own. In Myanmar, he made his own news segments which he sold to ‘Channel One.’
- He was made a correspondent for ABC News in 1995. Eventually, he became the co-anchor of its ‘World News Now’ program in 1999.
- In 2000, he started hosting ABC’s reality show ‘The Mole.’ The show is a competition in which the contestants work together to add money to a pot which only one of them will win in the end. He left the game show after its second season.
- He returned to broadcasting news in 2001 by joining CNN. Initially, he anchored alongside Paula Zahn in ‘American Morning’ before becoming CNN’s weekend prime-time anchor in 2002.
- He started anchoring ‘Anderson Cooper 3600,’ a news show on CNN, which is broadcast around the world on CNN International. The program covers a number of news stories and also includes analysis from experts.
- He covered several important news stories in 2005, including the tsunami in Sri Lanka, the Cedar revolution, the death of Pope John Paul II, and the royal wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles. These coverages made him very famous and also won him several prestigious awards.
- He was added as a co-anchor to the show ‘NewsNight’ in 2005 as a temporary arrangement. Following his addition, the rating of the program increased significantly and Cooper was made a permanent co-anchor.
- To leverage on Cooper’s popularity, CNN expanded his program ‘Anderson Cooper 3600’ to two hours and the show was shifted to the 10 pm slot in November 2005. CNN was so happy with his performance that he was offered a multi-year deal. His annual salary was doubled from $2 million to $4 million in 2007.
- In 2007, he also hosted the documentary ‘Planet in Peril’ with Sanjay Gupta and Jeff Corwin on CNN.He then hosted the ‘CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute,’ a show in which ordinary people who perform extraordinary deeds are honored.
FAST FACTS
- Is a great-great-great grandson of New York Central Railroad founder Cornelius Vanderbilt
- Began modeling at age 10 for Ford Models
- Worked as a summer intern at the CIA while in college; after college, studied Vietnamese at the University of Hanoi
- Got his start in TV news at Channel One, the cable network that broadcasts to schools; left after six months to do freelance reporting from world hot spots, including Burma, Bosnia and Rwanda
- Hosted ABC’s short-lived reality show The Mole in 2001
- His memoir, Dispatches from the Edge, topped the New York Times bestseller list in June 2006
- Recorded the narrator voice-overs for the 2011 Broadway revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
- Has won news Emmys for his reporting on CNN and ABC
