Matt Lauer
Matt Lauer | |
|---|---|
| File:Matt Lauer NBC Today Show 2006.jpg Lauer on Today in 2006 | |
| Born | December 30, 1957 |
| Occupation | television personality |
Matthew Todd Lauer (December 30, 1957) is an American television personality.
Biography
Early life
Lauer was born in New York City and grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut, the son of parents who divorced during his youth. He is Jewish on his father's side.[1] He attended Ohio University, but left four credits short of graduating in 1979.
Career
Lauer began his television career in 1979 as a producer of the noon news for WOWK-TV in Huntington, West Virginia. By 1980, he had become an on-air reporter on the 6 and 11 o'clock newscasts. He then started to move around the country to further his career, hosting a number of weekly information and talk programs in Boston, Philadelphia, Providence, and Richmond. He was also host of PM Magazine from 1980-1986 and worked for ESPN in the 1980s.
Lauer got his first job in the New York area when he was tapped to host a three-hour live interview program, WWOR-TV's 9 Broadcast Plaza, from 1989-1991. He moved to WNBC-TV in 1992, where he became co-anchor on the early weekday news show Today in New York, alongside Jane Hanson. After a year, he also filled the role of Live at Five co-anchor with Sue Simmons, and held that role until 1996.
Lauer's on-camera presence provided him with many opportunities with NBC's national news organization while working in their New York O&O. Lauer filled in as the newsreader on The Today Show for Margaret Larson when needed from 1992 to 1993. This "audition" allowed him to join The Today Show full-time in January 1994 as news anchor, while still co-anchoring Today in New York and Live at Five.
Lauer pinch-hit for NBC newscasters Scott Simon, Mike Schneider, and Jack Ford as the co-host of Weekend Today, and for Ann Curry as anchor of the former NBC News program NBC News at Sunrise from 1992 to 1997. Lauer had also filled in for Tom Brokaw on the NBC Nightly News. As the Today Show news anchor, he also stepped in for Bryant Gumbel and Katie Couric in the Today Show hosting chair when required before being named the official co-anchor on January 6, 1997, after Gumbel stepped down.
In addition to his duties on the Today Show, Lauer has also hosted programming on Discovery Channel and MSNBC.
Highlights
In 2002, in a surprising and unusual move, Lauer changed his hairstyle from a full head of hair to a buzzcut. This gave Lauer substantial media attention and he became the butt of several on-air jokes from his Today co-hosts.
Over the past several years, Lauer has embarked on a once-yearly five-day logistical nightmare called "Where in the World is Matt Lauer?", named after Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? which it borrowed the theme song of. This segment of the Today Show has sent Lauer to the far reaches of the Earth, where he does segments on the importance of the location from where he is broadcasting. In recent years, he has broadcasted from locations such as Easter Island, the Panama Canal, Hong Kong, Croatia, and the Great Wall of China.
On two particular occasions, tensions have escalated in interviews Lauer has conducted. In a June 2005 interview, Tom Cruise got into an argument with Lauer about psychiatry and called Lauer "glib". In a June 2006 interview with Ann Coulter, Coulter seemed to take offense at Lauer's questioning her criticism of the September 11, 2001 widows and said, "You're getting testy with me."
Lauer hosted The Greatest American on the Discovery Channel, which used Internet and phone voting by viewers to select the winner. Lauer was rather critical of his own program, since it tended to favor well-known figures over others who had less influence in pop culture.
Since 1998, has co-hosted NBC's live coverage of Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
In April 2006, Lauer made an announcement that he intends to stay with Today until 2011.
Lauer guest-starred as himself on a live episode of Will & Grace in early 2006. Katie Couric had guest-starred as herself on an episode of the same NBC sitcom a few years earlier.
Today celebrated his 10th year anniversary with surprise visits from Bryant Gumbel and Katie Couric.
Personal life
He was married from 1982 until 1989 to Chris (1955- ), a television producer. The marriage ended in divorce; the couple had no children. From 1989 until 1996, he dated Kristen Gesswein, a television newscaster. They were briefly engaged.
In 1997, he received his degree from Ohio University. The university awarded him his remaining credits by counting his journalism experience as "independent study" towards his degree. He was also the guest speaker at the graduation ceremony.
A quote: "My dad was Jewish. My mom is not. So I was not raised anything. I do feel a desire now to find something spiritual. Getting married and wanting to have kids has something to do with that."
In 1997, he met model Annette Roque, who went by the professional name Jade. They married a year later. Born in the Netherlands, she is Eurasian of Dutch, Chinese, and Indonesian heritage. Briefly separated in 2005, they have three children: a son, Jack Matthew, a daughter, Romy, and a son Thijs (pronounced tice), who was born 28 November 2006.