Katie Couric Biography

Fast Facts

• Was a high school cheerleader, gymnast, runner, National Honor Society member and newspaper writer
• After watching her fill in for an absent news correspondent at the start of her career in 1980, a CNN executive said he never wanted to see her on the air again
• While Deborah Norville was out on maternity leave, she sat in for her as co-anchor of NBC's Today Show, and officially replaced Norville in 1991
• Launched the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance (NCCRA) to encourage preventive testing and new medical research after her husband died of colon cancer in 1998
• Wrote a bestselling children's book, The Brand New Kid, in 2000
• Named News Person of the Year by TV GUIDE in 2001
• Other awards she has won include Daytime Emmys, an Associated Press Award and a National Headliner Award
• Was the voice of the character Katie Current in the animated movie Shark Tale (2004)
• In 2006, she left the Today Show to anchor the CBS Evening News, becoming the first woman to solo anchor a weeknight network news broadcast
• In 2009, won a Walter Cronkite Award for Special Achievement for National Impact on the 2008 Campaign