Julie Chen has been host of "The Early Show" since October 2002. Throughout that time she has covered many of the biggest news stories, including the war in Iraq, and reported for the program during the war from Kuwait and Qatar in March 2003. Chen has also interviewed many of the world's top newsmakers, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Queen Rania of Jordan and former Defense Secretary William Cohen, as well as celebrities such as Tom Hanks, Ellen DeGeneres, Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lopez, Barbra Streisand, Robert DeNiro and Robert Redford, among many others. Chen has served as news anchor of "The Early Show" and anchor of the "CBS Morning News," the Network's early-morning broadcast, since Nov. 1, 1999, when "The Early Show" debuted under that title. Prior to joining "The Early Show," Chen was a reporter and anchor for WCBS-TV, the CBS-owned station in New York (1997-99). Chen spends her summers doing double duty between hosting "The Early Show" and the popular reality show "Big Brother". Before joining CBS News, Chen worked as a reporter for WDTN-TV Dayton (1995-97). She began her career at ABC News (1990-95), where she worked on the late night news program, "Nightline," and won an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award for broadcast journalism for her work on "Nightline's" primetime special, "Anatomy of a Riot," about the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Chen was born in Queens, N.Y. She graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in broadcast journalism and English. Chen lives in New York and Los Angeles with her husband, with whom she has a son and three stepchildren.
