Ann Curry

An accomplished television journalist and news anchor with a winning smile, Ann Curry rose to the top of her field reporting on worldwide stories from the World Trade Center bombing on 9/11 to the 2003 war in Iraq. An NBC News correspondent since 1990, Curry served as a news anchor-turned-co-host on "The Today Show" (NBC, 1952- ) and "Dateline NBC" (NBC, 1992- ). Of Japanese-American decent, Curry quickly became a role model for young women in the journalistic community.

Notoriously determined and a hard worker, she devoted much of her time to humanitarian reporting and was the first network news anchor to cover the tsunami zone in southeast Asia and the refugee crisis in Kosovo. Also known for landing exclusive interviews, Curry conducted one-on-one interviews with numerous political and entertainment figures, including Lance Armstrong and Angelina Jolie. Curry filled in for Katie Couric on "The Today Show" when Couric stepped down as co-host in 2006 and eventually replaced Meredith Vieira once she left her co-host position in 2011.

Unfortunately, Curry was let go from her position on the couch after only one year. Despite this brief tenure, there was no denying she was force to be reckoned with as an esteemed journalist.

Born Nov. 19, 1956 in Guam to a US Naval officer father and a Japanese mother, Curry's family moved to a number of places before settling down in the small theater town of Ashland, Oregon. After graduating from Ashland High School, Curry went on to study journalism at the University of Oregon in Eugene. Graduating in 1978 with a BA in Journalism, Curry began her broadcasting career as an intern in at KTVL, in Medford, Oregon, 15 miles from her hometown. Promoted within a short time, Curry became KTVL's first female reporter.

In 1981, Curry went on to work as a reporter and anchor for Portland's NBC affiliate, KGW. Leaving the northwest in 1984, Curry headed for Los Angeles. Reporting for KCBS-TV, Curry won two Emmys; one for her reporting on the 1987 Los Angeles earthquake and another for her reporting of a San Bernadino gas pipeline explosion.

She went on to join NBC News in August of 1990 and served as a Chicago correspondent until 1992 when she was promoted to anchor for "NBC News at Sunrise" (NBC, 1983-1999). After helping the NBC launch the MSNBC network in 1996, a joint-venture with Microsoft, Curry landed an important promotion; she became the news anchor for NBC's popular morning show, "The Today Show" (NBC, 1952- ) in 1997, succeeding Matt Lauer who went on to co-host "Today."

A versatile anchor and reporter, Curry filled in for a number of NBC News anchors while working for the network, including Maria Shriver, Mary Alice Williams, Jackie Nespral, and Jodi Applegate. She also sat in for Bryant Gumbel, Katie Couric, and Matt Lauer as co-host for "Today," and for Tom Brokaw and Brian Williams on the "NBC Nightly News" (NBC, 1970- ).

Throughout her NBC career, Curry became known for her groundbreaking worldwide reporting. She reported live from ground zero on a daily basis in the weeks following 9/11 and reported extensively from the USS Theodore Roosevelt in 2001 when the US bombed Al Qaeda targets in Afghanistan. Providing coverage from the Middle East in 2003, Curry reported from Baghdad when the US declared war on Iraq. The first network news anchor to report from Asia during after the 2004 tsunami, Curry filed reports on the devastation and aftermath in Sri Lanka.

Countering her globetrotting reports, Curry also gained notoriety as a reporter through her exclusive one-on-one interviews. In 2004, she interviewed freed American contractor Thomas Hamill after his hostage ordeal in Iraq.

Curry's continual hard work at the network paid off the following year when NBC announced that Curry would become co-host of the network's popular television news magazine, "Dateline NBC" (NBC, 1992- ). Taking over the position Jane Pauley had vacated in 2003, Curry began co-hosting "Dateline" alongside Stone Phillips in June of 2005. Landing an exclusive interview with Angelina Jolie for the news-magazine in 2006, Curry went to Namibia to interview the pregnant actress about her life in the spotlight and her work with the UN.

Also in the spring of 2006, Curry was asked to step in as an alternating co-host for "Today" after Couric's departure for CBS. Though Curry was considered as a possible replacement for Couric, Meredith Vieira was named as Couric's successor in April of 2006. Alternating anchoring duties with Natalie Morales and Campbell Brown, Curry served as co-host for the morning news show through the summer of 2006.

In 2011, it was confirmed Curry would replace Vieira when the latter announced she was leaving the show. Hopes were high for the new co-anchor and Curry took enthusiastically to her new role, but accusations of over-earnest interviews and on-air gaffes - not to mention a very obvious lack of playful chemistry with Lauer - were cited as reasons for the show's ratings dip.

By June 2012, rumors began to fly via blogs and leaks to the New York Times, possibly from NBC insiders, that Curry was about to be sacked and replaced by co-host fill-in Savannah Guthrie. On the 28th, a tearful Curry announced her departure from "Today" and her new endeavors for the network as a foreign correspondent.