Chris Cuomo biography

Synopsis

Early Life

Journalist Chris Cuomo was born on August 9, 1970, in Queens, New York. Cuomo grew up in Queens as the youngest of five children of Matilda and Mario Cuomo. His father was a Democratic politician; in 1982, when Chris was 12 years old, Mario Cuomo was elected governor of New York. The family moved from Queens into the Governor's Mansion in Albany, where they stayed until Mario Cuomo left office in 1994.

With his workaholic father often absent, Chris Cuomo was raised mostly by his brother Andrew, 13 years his elder. When Chris left for Yale in 1988, Andrew was the one to drop him off at school. After graduating from Yale, Chris Cuomo received his law degree from Fordham University in 1995, and went on to a lucrative career as a Wall Street lawyer. The dashing, young, Italian-American son of the former governor became one of the most sought-after bachelors in New York. In 1997, People magazine included him on its "Most Beautiful People" list. W magazine then named him "New York's most eligible bachelor" after John F. Kennedy Jr. (who later advised Cuomo, "Don't worry, they'll always consider you to be the poor man's me, anyway.")

Move to Journalism

Despite the perks of his high-flying life, Cuomo found the law unsatisfying, and decided to pursue work in journalism. Using his well-known name to his advantage, he was able to land a temporary gig on the CNBC show Equal Time in 1997. He then worked as Geraldo Rivera's co-host before securing a job as a reporter on the program Fox Files.

Inside the Cuomo family, Chris Cuomo's new choice of profession was greeted with some skepticism. To his father, journalism was a lesser form of public service. "My pop didn't want me to go into journalism," Chris Cuomo recalled. "He used to say, 'Why do you just cover these things? Why don't you go out and do them?'" His brother Andrew was also skeptical, counseling his brother, "You got to decide what's more important: your personal celebrity or what you're able to do for other people."

'20/20'

Within a few years, however, the family had put aside their reservations. "No, he's my son, Christopher, and we're very proud of him, because he's gonna be the youngest correspondent ever at 20/20," Mario Cuomo gushed to the crowd at a public event in 2000, just after the younger Cuomo was hired by ABC's flagship newsmagazine. Producers at the show hoped Chris could attract a younger audience for the venerable show. To that end, his first story for 20/20 focused on the manager of boy bands *NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys.