Lester Holt Wiki, Height, Age, Parents, Siblings, Wife, Net Worth, Career, NBC
Lester Holt Wiki, Biography
Lester Holt, an American, Anchor/Broadcast Journalist working for Dateline NBC serving the station as a News Anchor and NBC Nightly News as a News Anchor since the year 2015.
Lester Holt Height|Weight
Lester Holt Age
H.olt was born on the 8th of March 1959 in Marin County, California, United States. He celebrates his birthday on the 8th of March every year. Lester is 65 years old as of 2024.
Lester Holt Parents|Siblings|Relatives
Lester Holt, whose full name is Lester Don Holt, Jr., was the youngest of four children born to June (née DeRozario) and Lester Don Holt. His maternal grandparents were originally from Jamaica. His maternal grandfather, Canute DeRozario, had an Anglo-Indian heritage and was born in Spanish Town.
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He was one of 14 children, with an Indian father from Calcutta and an English-born White Jamaican mother. Holt’s maternal grandmother, May, was Afro-Jamaican, born in Manchester Parish, Jamaica, and raised in Harlem, New York, where Holt's mother was born. His father, originally from Michigan, was African American with roots in Tennessee.
During the Vietnam War, Holt's father was stationed at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska for four years. Holt's interest in broadcasting was sparked by his older brother, who worked as a disc jockey at a local radio station in Anchorage, Alaska.
Lester Holt Net Worth
Lester Holt Partner|Wife| Kids/Children
Holt lives in Manhattan with his wife, Carol Hagen, and their two sons, Stefan and Cameron. Stefan Holt graduated from Pepperdine University in 2009 and worked as the morning news anchor at NBC-owned WMAQ-TV in Chicago. In 2016, Stefan moved to the same floor as his father’s NBC Nightly News when he joined WNBC, later succeeding Chuck Scarborough as the anchor of the station’s 11 p.m. news broadcast. Stefan now serves as the 10:00 p.m. anchor at WMAQ.
Lester Holt Educational Background
He graduated from Cordova High School in Rancho Cordova in 1977 and studied government at California State University, Sacramento, although he did not complete his degree. In 2015, he was awarded an honorary degree. Additionally, he received honorary Doctorates in Humane Letters from Rutgers University in 2020 and Villanova University in 2023.
Lester Holt Job|Career|Biography
He made history as the first Black individual to independently anchor a weekday network nightly newscast. Holt has been with NBC News since 2000, following a 19-year tenure at CBS News. Widely recognized in popular culture, he has appeared in cameos in films such as The Fugitive (1993) and Primal Fear (1996), as well as in episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, among other appearances.
Lester Holt spent 19 years with CBS, working as a reporter, anchor, and international correspondent. He began his career at WCBS-TV in New York City in 1981, then moved to KNXT in Los Angeles in 1982, and returned to WCBS-TV in 1983 as a reporter and weekend anchor. In 1986, he joined WBBM-TV in Chicago, where he spent 14 years anchoring the evening news and reporting from conflict zones, including Iraq, Northern Ireland, Somalia, El Salvador, and Haiti.
Holt joined MSNBC in 2000 and transitioned to NBC News in 2003, where he became a substitute anchor for NBC Nightly News and Today. After David Bloom's death, he became a full-time co-anchor of Weekend Today. He also anchored a two-hour daily newscast on MSNBC until late 2005. In 2007, Holt became anchor of the weekend edition of NBC Nightly News and held that role for eight years before replacing Brian Williams as the weekday anchor in 2015. Holt also hosts Dateline NBC and moderated presidential debates in 2016, gaining recognition for his tough yet fair questions.
Apart from his primary duties, Holt has hosted specials on The History Channel about 9/11 conspiracy theories, covered the 2008 Summer Olympics for NBC Sports, and narrated a documentary on crystal skulls for the Sci-Fi Channel. He filled in for Brian Williams during Williams' medical leave in 2013 and later took over after Williams was suspended for exaggerating a story about the Iraq War.
In 2016, Holt moderated the first presidential debate and received praise for challenging Donald Trump on false claims, such as Trump's stance on the Iraq War. Holt interviewed Trump in May 2017, discussing the firing of FBI Director James Comey, which garnered significant media coverage.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Holt's ratings surged as he provided extensive coverage of the crisis, often ending his broadcasts with monologues reflecting on its impact. He also addressed the January 6 Capitol Attack, criticizing Trump and disinformation. In 2022, Holt announced the death of Queen Elizabeth II and, in 2023, interviewed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. He reported from Israel in October 2023 on the Israel-Hamas conflict and co-moderated the third GOP Primary Debate in November 2023, which attracted 7.5 million viewers. Since 2020, Holt has concluded his broadcasts with a sign-off: "I'm Lester Holt; please take care of yourself, and each other. Good night."
Lester Holt's Other Works
Holt has appeared in the 1993 film The Fugitive, its 1998 sequel U.S. Marshals, and Primal Fear (1996). He has also appeared on various TV shows, playing himself in episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Due South ("Red, White, or Blue"), Early Edition ("Fate"), and Warehouse 13 ("A New Hope"). Holt appeared in the 30 Rock episode "Cleveland" and provided a voice-over in "Sandwich Day," where he announced Jack Donaghy as a new cabinet member in the Bush administration.
Additionally, he announced the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show for the USA Network in 2006, 2007, and 2008 and was featured in Making Music magazine. He also hosted the 2008 Sci-Fi Channel documentary Mystery of the Crystal Skulls. On May 31, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Holt delivered a virtual commencement address to the 254th graduating class of Rutgers University. Lester Holt plays both the bass guitar and the upright bass. He is also a member of the band Rough Cuts, which is primarily made up of video editors from Dateline NBC.
Lester Holt Awards and Recognitions
Lester Holt has received numerous accolades throughout his career. In 1990, he was awarded the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for his work on CBS's "48 Hours: No Place Like Home." He received honorary doctorates from Pepperdine University in 2012, California State University, Sacramento in 2015, Rutgers University in 2020, and Villanova University in 2023.
Holt was inducted into the California Hall of Fame in 2015, and in 2016, he received the Alan B. DuMont Broadcaster of the Year award from Montclair State University and the NABJ Journalist of the Year Award from the National Association of Black Journalists. He was honored with the Poynter Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Journalism in 2018 and the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism in 2019. In 2023, he was also presented with the Larry Foster Award for Integrity in Public Communication from the Arthur W. Page Center.
Lester Holt Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram
Holt happens to be active on his social media accounts. On his Instagram Account, he has about 220K Followers, whereas on his Twitter Account, he has about 507.1K followers, and 329K followers on his Facebook Page. Below are links to visit his social media accounts.
