Elizabeth Vargas

Biography: A beautiful and brainy reporter who began her career working for local CBS stations, Vargas graduated to the national market in 1993 when she jumped ship to NBC to appear on Today and NBC Nightly News. She came to prominence on ABC as a correspondent for 20/20 (and its now-defunct offshoot, 20/20 Downtown), eventually becoming the news magazine's coanchor in 2004. Her candid delivery and at times controversial story angles (her interview with the killers of gay teen Matthew Shepard implied that the crime was not fueled by prejudice) garnered attention, and in January 2006 she became the first Latina to permanently anchor a major network newscast when she signed on to ABC World News Tonight opposite Bob Woodruff. But the pairing was short-lived — just a few weeks later, Woodruff vacated his chair after being seriously injured by a roadside explosion while in Iraq. That February Vargas announced that she and her husband, singer-songwriter Marc Cohn, were expecting their secondA beautiful and brainy reporter who began her career working for local CBS stations, Vargas graduated to the national market in 1993 when she jumped ship to NBC to appear on Today and NBC Nightly News. She came to prominence on ABC as a correspondent for 20/20 (and its now-defunct offshoot, 20/20 Downtown), eventually becoming the news magazine's coanchor in 2004. Her candid delivery and at times controversial story angles (her interview with the killers of gay teen Matthew Shepard implied that the crime was not fueled by prejudice) garnered attention, and in January 2006 she became the first Latina to permanently anchor a major network newscast when she signed on to ABC World News Tonight opposite Bob Woodruff. But the pairing was short-lived — just a few weeks later, Woodruff vacated his chair after being seriously injured by a roadside explosion while in Iraq. That February Vargas announced that she and her husband, singer-songwriter Marc Cohn, were expecting their second child and that after her maternity leave, she would return to the air on 20/20 instead of the evening news.… Expand