Elizabeth Vargas
Elizabeth Vargas was born on Sept. 6, 1962 in Paterson N.J. , Who was raised Roman Catholic by a Puerto Rican father and Irish-American mother.. She is a journalism graduate of the the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Elizabeth Vargas is a rarity in network
television news - a Hispanic face. When she graduated from a Chicago CBS
affiliate to a reporter for NBC, Vargas joined the slim ranks of national
Hispanic broadcasters, a number that has changed little in the last decade.
A 2001 study by Professor Joe Foote, director of the Walter Cronkite School of
Journalism at Arizona State University, found that in 2000 only 1 percent of
network correspondents were Hispanic.
Elizabeth Vargas has cut out her own
niche in the world of broadcast journalism as a news correspondent for such
top-rated shows as 20/20 and Prime Time Live. Alongside such news veterans as
Barbara Walters and Diane Sawyer, Vargas earned a reputation as a dynamic
journalist who is more than able to handle the stress of a live news broadcast.
As a woman at the top of her field, she has faithfully reported the news to
millions of Americans.
Vargas joined ABC News from NBC News, where she spent three years as a
correspondent and anchor, mostly for Dateline NBC and the Today show. While at
Dateline, Vargas reported on a wide range of issues, including breast cancer
research, PETA's (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) war against fur and
the mysterious life and death of billionaire socialite Doris Duke. She also
reported a one-hour story on a controversial drunk-driving case in New Mexico.
During her tenure at NBC, she served as substitute co-anchor and news anchor for
NBC News' Today show and as a substitute anchor for the weekend editions of NBC
Nightly News. Vargas joined NBC News in 1993 as a correspondent for the NBC
newsmagazine, Now with Tom Brokaw and Katie Couric.
Prior to joining NBC News, Vargas spent four years as a reporter and anchor for
WBBM-TV, the CBS affiliate in Chicago. From 1986-1989, she was the lead reporter
for KTVK-TV, the ABC affiliate in Phoenix. Earlier, she worked as a
reporter-anchor for KTVN-TV, the CBS affiliate in Reno, Nevada.
Vargas graduated with a Bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of
Missouri in Columbia, Missouri, where she began her broadcasting career as a
reporter-anchor for KOMU-TV.
In a special 20/20 report, Vargas
anchored and reported on the Yosemite National Park murders that shocked the
nation last fall — a special investigation revealing never-before-reported
accounts of the four murders and exclusive interviews with alleged suspects.
Other recent pieces include a report on the disturbing battle between two teen
factions in a Texas town that ended in the murder of 19-year-old Brian Deneke
last year and a court case that divided the community; an interview with former
Boulder Police Detective Steve Thomas, who spoke about evidence he says leads to
Patsy Ramsey; a revealing profile of Playboy mogul Hugh Hefner; and the first
broadcast interviews with the reclusive '70s icon Cat Stevens.
Vargas has anchored several one-hour "Vanished" specials. Most recently, she
anchored and reported the "Object of Desire," the story of the mysterious
disappearance of a popular anchorwoman from the Midwest. Other "Vanished"
specials include a report on the story of Minnesota housewife Patty Wetterling's
11-year search for her missing so
n,
Jacob, and how her search has touched thousands of parents searching for their
missing children; the troubling case of nine missing women in Ireland, and the
U.S. government's effort to find one of the victims, a young American student.
Other hour-long specials include "Same Sex Marriages," "Surrogacy" and "It Takes
a Miracle." She has also been involved in ABC's Children First Program,
participating in a Children First Safety Special and in ABC's March Against
Drugs.
Vargas graduated with a Bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of
Missouri in Columbia, Mo., where she began her broadcasting career as a
reporter-anchor for KOMU-TV.
In February 2003, Vargas
became a mother. She and her husband of two years, Grammy singer-songwriter Marc
Cohn, became the very proud parents of Zachary Rafael.
Vargas says she still is learning to find a balance between work and family. “I
don’t know any parent who hasn’t gone through a cataclysmic change,” she says.
“Having children changes your life irrevocably. It takes the whole paradigm and
turns it upside down in the most wonderful way. Until you have a child, you’ve
never been certain you’d give your life for someone, you’ve never been so proud,
you’ve never felt so tired.”
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last updated:Thursday September 01, 2005
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last updated:Thursday September 01, 2005
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