Meredith Vieira
- Born:
- December 30, 1953, Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.
Meredith Vieira (born December 30, 1953, Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.) is an American television personality and journalist, best known as coanchor (2006–11) of the morning news and talk program Today and as host (2002–13) of the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. She was also a cohost (1997–2006) of the daily talk show The View, and she later hosted The Meredith Vieira Show (2014–16).
Vieira graduated from Tufts University with a B.A. in English in 1975 and began her career in broadcasting as a radio news announcer. Shortly thereafter, she was hired as an on-camera television reporter for New York City’s WCBS, a CBS (then Columbia Broadcasting System) affiliate. In 1982 she joined CBS’s national news team as a reporter in its Chicago bureau. During the next two decades, Vieira steadily rose through the ranks to become a prominent national journalist. In 1985 she was named chief correspondent for the CBS newsmagazine show West 57th. Four years later she became a coeditor for CBS’s flagship newsmagazine 60 Minutes. In addition to those duties, she regularly contributed to or coanchored several of the network’s other news shows. In 1991 Vieira left 60 Minutes after becoming pregnant with her second child, and in 1993 she left CBS altogether. She joined ABC as chief correspondent for the news program Turning Point.
In 1997 Vieira shifted her career to that of television host and personality when she became one of the cohosts of the daily talk show The View, which focused on currents events, particularly those that affected women. While continuing to appear on The View, Vieira also became the host of the syndicated game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire; in 2005 and 2009 she won Daytime Emmy Awards for her work on that program. In 2006 she left The View to fill a vacant coanchor seat on Today, which aired on NBC. After stepping away from that position in 2011, Vieira became a special correspondent for NBC’s news division. In addition to appearing on the newsmagazine Rock Center with Brian Williams (2011–13) and other programs, she cohosted the network’s coverage of the London 2012 Olympic Games. In 2014 her daytime talk show, The Meredith Vieira Show, debuted on NBC. It was canceled after two seasons. In 2018 she began hosting the game show 25 Words or Less.