Clayton Sandell Official Biography

— -- Clayton Sandell is an ABC News Correspondent based in Denver. His stories appear on "Good Morning America," "World News Tonight with David Muir”, “This Week with George Stephanopoulos”, "Nightline", ABC News Radio and ABCNews.com.

Sandell covers a wide range of breaking news and feature stories in addition to being known as ABC’s resident Star Wars fan. For Nightline, Sandell took viewers inside Lucasfilm’s Industrial Light and Magic for a look at the visual effects created for “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.”

In 2014 he spent several weeks overseas covering the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 from Malaysia and Australia. From his home base in Colorado, he’s reported extensively on the growth of the legal marijuana industry, the Aurora movie theater massacre, as well as numerous wildfires, floods, and tornadoes.

Prior to his post in Denver, Sandell was based in Washington D.C. as a producer for "World News with Charles Gibson" and "World News Tonight with Peter Jennings”.

In 2010 Sandell received an Emmy Award as part of the ABC News team that covered the inauguration of President Barack Obama. He traveled to Copenhagen, Denmark in 2009 to cover the U.N. Climate Change Conference. Along with correspondent Bill Blakemore, Sandell went to Greenland in 2007 and has made two trips onboard the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy to follow scientists researching the effects of climate change in the Arctic region. In October 2007, he went to China with correspondent David Kerley to produce a special series on toy recalls and food safety.

In April 2007, Sandell helped cover the shooting massacre at Virginia Tech University. From the U.S. and the Caribbean he has reported on the approach and aftermath of numerous hurricanes, including Hurricane Ike that struck Texas in 2008 and Category-4 Hurricane Wilma that hit Cancun Mexico in 2005.

He was in Haiti in February 2004 during the violent uprisings that led to the ouster of President Jean Bertrand Aristide, and also covered the trials of the two men eventually convicted in the 2002 DC-area sniper murders.

Prior to joining "World News," Sandell was an associate producer for the "Sam Donaldson: Live in America" radio program and the SamDonaldson@ABCNews.com daily webcast. He joined ABC's Washington bureau in September 2000, working on the assignment desk.

Before coming to ABC News, Sandell worked as a reporter at Los Angeles news radio station KFWB-AM. During that time he also produced and edited award-winning science and nature documentaries for the Finley-Holiday Film Corporation in Whittier, California. He began his professional broadcasting career in Southern California, first as a DJ at KRTM-FM radio in Temecula and then as a reporter and anchor at KCKC-AM news-talk radio in San Bernardino.

Sandell graduated from the University of California Riverside with a degree in political science.