Anderson Cooper

Anderson Cooper, anchor of CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360," has contributed reports to CBS News' "60 Minutes" through an agreement between CNN and CBS News since the 2006-07 season. The 2012-13 season will be his seventh on "60 Minutes"; he remains a full-time employee of CNN.

In Cooper's sixth season on "60 Minutes" he landed the first interview that superstar singer Adele gave after her throat surgery. Other noteworthy pieces he has reported for "60 Minutes" include an Emmy-winning story on the use of rape as a weapon in Congo, the drug war in Mexico, African infant hunger, the plight of endangered Mountain gorillas in Africa, a Lady Gaga profile and the first television interview with Abu Ghraib whistle-blower Joe Darby.

His exceptional reporting on big news events has earned Cooper a reputation as one of television's pre-eminent newsmen. CBS News recognized his talent and invited him to contribute stories to "60 Minutes II." He reported two stories on that broadcast during the 2004-05 television season, the second of which broke the story of a doctor who prescribed steroids and human growth hormone to several Carolina Panthers NFL players. The doctor was subsequently indicted on multiple counts of distributing the drugs and pleaded guilty to some of the charges. Congress held hearings and the NFL strengthened some of its drug policies.

"Anderson Cooper 360," a nightly newscast committed to going beyond the headlines to tell stories in-depth and from multiple points of view, airs weeknights at 10 p.m. ET on CNN. Cooper, who joined CNN in December 2001, served as CNN's weekend anchor before moving to prime time in March 2003 following the war in Iraq and then to a two-hour, late evening timeslot in November 2005 following Hurricane Katrina.

Since the launch of "Anderson Cooper 360," Cooper has covered nearly all major news events around the world and often reporting from the scene. Most recently he covered the uprising in Egypt the aftermath of both earthquakes in Japan and Haiti and from the gulf following the BP oil spill. In 2005, Cooper spent more than a month along the U.S. Gulf Coast covering the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina and has returned many times since to follow the reconstruction progress. Cooper has also reported multiple times from Afghanistan and Iraq, including several anniversaries of the Sept. 11 attacks and the Iraqi elections. Cooper covered the ongoing violence in Mexico, the bombings in London and the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict. He also anchored much of CNN's live coverage of the funeral of Pope John Paul II in the Vatican City in 2005 and traveled to Sri Lanka to cover the tsunami in 2004.

During most of 2007 and 2008, Cooper traveled around the world for Planet in Peril, a high definition documentary about issues threatening the planet, its inhabitants and its natural resources.

Cooper also has played a pivotal role as part of the Best Political Team on Television for CNN's America Votes 2008 coverage, reporting and anchoring coverage from both the Democratic and Republican national conventions. In 2007, Cooper moderated the groundbreaking CNN/YouTube debates for Democratic presidential candidates from The Citadel in Charleston, S.C., and for Republican presidential candidates in St. Petersburg, Fla., and, in 2008, moderated a Republican debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif.

In addition to reporting for CNN, Cooper launched a new show in 2011, "Anderson," a topical issue/event-driven talk show produced by Telepictures and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution. "Dispatches from the Edge," Cooper's memoirs about covering the South Asia tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and other news events, recently topped the New York Times Bestsellers List and other bestseller charts.

Before joining CNN, Cooper was an ABC News correspondent and host of the network's reality program, "The Mole." Cooper anchored ABC's live, interactive news and interview program, "World News Now," as well as providing reports for "World News Tonight," "20/20" and "20/20 Downtown." Previously, he was a New York-based correspondent for ABC News, reporting primarily for "World News Saturday/Sunday."

Cooper joined ABC from Channel One News, where he served as chief international correspondent. During that time, he reported and produced stories from Bosnia, Iran, Israel, Russia, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa and Vietnam. He also reported national stories that were broadcast over the Channel One News school television network and seen in more than 12,000 classrooms nationwide.

Cooper and Anderson Cooper 360 have won several major journalism awards, including multiple Emmy awards. Cooper has also earned a National Headliners Award for his tsunami coverage, an Emmy Award for his contribution to ABC's coverage of Princess Diana's funeral; a Silver Plaque from the Chicago International Film Festival for his report from Sarajevo on the Bosnian civil war; a Bronze Telly for his coverage of famine in Somalia; a Bronze Award from the National Educational Film and Video Festival for a report on political Islam; and a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding TV Journalism for his "20/20 Downtown" report on high school athlete Corey Johnson.

Cooper graduated from Yale University in 1989 with a bachelor of arts degree in political science. He also studied Vietnamese at the University of Hanoi. Cooper is based in New York City.