Matt Lauer Biography

Fast Facts

• In 1979, left Ohio University four credits short of graduation; some 18 years later, was awarded his undergraduate degree and delivered the school's commencement address
• Began his broadcast journalism career at WOWK-TV, in Huntington, WV, as a news producer
• After working at numerous TV stations throughout the 1980s and '90s, was hired as a news anchor for NBC's Today; in 1997, succeeded Bryant Gumbel as its coanchor
• In 2007, celebrated ten years of co-anchoring NBC's Today
• In 2008, was the guest of honor at The Friars Club of New York Celebrity Roast, where he was roasted by Al Roker, Katie Couric, Tom Cruise, and others
• Underwent surgery to repair a separated shoulder after he fell off his bike while trying to avoid a run-in with a deer on Long Island in 2009
• In addition to covering the 2010 Winter Olympics with his Today co-hosts from Vancouver, Canada, he was also chosen to take part in the Olympic Torch Relay; he carried the torch through the town of Burnaby, British Columbia
• Briefly replaced Bob Costas as NBC's primetime Olympics host during the 2014 Olympics in Sochi when Costas developed an eye infection