Elizabeth Vargas Biography

Elizabeth Vargas (born September 6, 1962) is an American television journalist who is anchor of ABC's television newsmagazine 20/20 and ABC News Specials. She was previously an anchor of World News Tonight.

Early years

Vargas was born in Paterson, New Jersey to a Puerto Rican father Rafael (Ralf) Vargas, a former Colonel in the U.S. Army, and an Irish-American mother, Anne Vargas. She spent her youth moving from base to base in Germany and Belgium. Vargas graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri in Columbia, where she made her debut broadcast as a reporter/anchor for KOMU-TV.

While working at WBBM-TV, an affiliate of CBS in Chicago, Illinois, Phyllis McGrady, a senior vice president at ABC, said of her: "Elizabeth is one of the most flexible talents I've ever worked with. She could do interviews, and do hour-long specials that make you think, and then she'll do a great interview with P. Diddy. She is versatile."

Career

After four years at Chicago's WBBM, Vargas jumped to NBC News in 1993, as a correspondent for Dateline NBC and a sub anchor for Today. In June 1996, she joined Good Morning America as the newsreader and Joan Lunden's likely "heir apparent". In June 1997, ABC elevated Vargas to primetime magazine show correspondent, succeeded by Kevin Newman as newsreader. She was also named anchor of WNT Saturday, and presented with the opportunity to develop specials for primetime. In November 2003, Vargas became anchor of WNT Sunday. But that didn't last for long: she was named co-anchor of 20/20 in May 2004.

Vargas was the first woman to anchor a network evening newscast in the U.S. since Connie Chung, and the first national evening news anchor of Puerto Rican and Irish-American heritage. She is said to be particularly proud of an ABC special report in which she questioned why the Laci Peterson case merited more attention than two other similar cases, one involving a black woman and the other involving a Hispanic woman. Another story she did, based on the book The Da Vinci Code and the role of Mary Magdalene, helped fuel a nationwide religious debate. Vargas stated that for centuries Mary Magdalene has been portrayed as a prostitute by the church, despite evidence to the contrary. She went on to question the strictly limited role of women within the church. In 1999, she won an Emmy Award for her coverage of the Elián González story and in 1998, she was nominated for an Emmy Award for her 20/20 investigation into the wrongful conviction of Betty Tyson.

In April 2005, she and Charles Gibson temporarily filled in for Peter Jennings, who was receiving chemotherapy for his lung cancer, on World News Tonight until Jennings' death in August. After a period of mourning and indecision, she and Bob Woodruff were chosen as co-anchors on December 5, 2005.

Although Katie Couric is the first woman named as permanent solo anchor of a network evening newscast, Vargas can be considered the first de facto solo woman evening news anchor, given that she anchored many broadcasts alone after Bob Woodruff's injury in Iraq in January 2006. Briefly, she also co-anchored World News Tonight with either Charles Gibson or Diane Sawyer.

On May 23, 2006, Vargas announced her resignation from WNT. Gibson was then named sole anchor of the show, effective from May 29, 2006, replacing Vargas and Woodruff. To explain the sudden change, Vargas cited her doctors' recommendation to cut back her schedule considerably due to a difficult pregnancy and her wish to spend more time with her new baby when he arrives. Most "inside accounts", however, claimed she fully expected and wished to return to the anchor chair soon after giving birth, but Gibson threatened to quit the network if he wasn't made sole permanent anchor. According to these sources, his gambit succeeded and she was left embittered, although not enough to sever ties with the network. In late 2006, Vargas returned as co-anchor of 20/20 and primary host of ABC News specials.

Personal life

After three years of dating, on July 20, 2002, Vargas married singer-songwriter Marc Cohn. They were introduced by Andre Agassi at the 1999 U.S. Open. They have two children, Zachary Raphael Cohn (January 31, 2003) and Samuel Wyatt Cohn (August 16, 2006). Vargas also has two stepchildren, Max and Emily, from Cohn's first marriage.

See also

• List of famous Puerto Ricans
• List of Irish-Americans
• Irish immigration to Puerto Rico