Christiane Amanpour's Biography

Christiane Amanpour's Biography

ByABC News
July 20, 2010, 3:12 PM

 — -- Christiane Amanpour is the global affairs anchor for ABC News, providing international analysis of important issues of the day for ABC News programs and platforms, and anchoring primetime documentaries on international subjects, as well as host of "Amanpour" and chief international correspondent for CNN International. Previously, Amanpour anchored ABC's Sunday morning political affairs program, "This Week," from August 2010 to December 2011.

Her illustrious career in journalism spans three decades. When she became an international correspondent for CNN in 1990, her first major assignment was covering the Gulf War. She has since reported from the world's major hotspots, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Somalia, Israel, the Palestinian territories, Asia, Rwanda, the Balkans, and the U.S. during Hurricane Katrina. She has interviewed most of the top world leaders over the past two decades, including securing the only interview with Hosni Mubarak and an exclusive with Muammar Ghadafi during the Arab Spring.

Amanpour has received every major broadcast award, including an inaugural Television Academy Award, nine News and Documentary Emmys, four George Foster Peabody Awards, two George Polk Awards, three duPont-Columbia Awards, the Courage in Journalism Award, an Edward R. Murrow Award and nine honorary degrees. In 2011, Amanpour received a Giants in Broadcasting award and was the 2011 recipient of the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism from Arizona State University. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a commander of the most excellent order of the British empire and a honorary citizen of Sarajevo.

Amanpour was born in London and spent part of her childhood in Tehran, Iran. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Rhode Island with a B.A. in journalism.

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