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Background:
Mexican-born, American television journalist and actress Giselle Fernandez is
known for her unique style of interviewing that made her a favorite and became
one of the supreme interviewers in Hollywood. A six-time Emmy winning news
veteran, Giselle has given significant contributions to such networks as CBS and
NBC, as well as KTLA. Her impressive body of works including anchoring “The CBS
Evening News”, “CBS News this Morning, the “CBS Weekend News,” NBC’s weekend
edition of the “Today Show, Sunday edition of the “NBC Nightly News,” and “KTLA
Morning News,” as well as hosting such shows as “This Week in History,” “Access
Hollywood” and “Cafe Ole’ with Giselle Fernandez.”
Aside journalism career, Giselle also branched out into acting and has appeared
in both television and film. Her film credits include Mother Knows Best (1997,
TV), Wag the Dog that (1997), Bodily Sanctions (2001), The Hot Chick (2002) and
End Game (2003, also a director). She is set to play roles in the forthcoming
the Simon Crane-directed Adrenaline (2006), writer/director Veronica Gomez’s Air
Battle Force (2006), the comedy Army Geek (2006) and Brian Dannelly’s romance
The Guided Man (2007).
Off screen, Giselle is a passionate collector of Latin American art and the work
of famous women photographers. She is also a humanitarian who is active with a
number of charities that raise money and awareness for breast cancer research,
education and treatment. She is an active supporter of “Revlon’s Run/Walk for
Women” and for the second year is a representative for an annual event
benefiting the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, “Race For The Cure.” A
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles board of trustees member, Giselle also supports
the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles and the Beit Issie Shapiro Foundation, a
charity which helps developmentally disabled children in Israel. The author of a
children’s book titled “Gigi and the Birthday Ring,” Giselle also spends her
time outside the limelight as a lecturer on the subjects of Latina empowerment,
education and reading, health and fitness, spas, and alternative approaches to
medicine and healing. Besides, she served as a guest editor for both Shape and
Living Fit magazines and writes feature articles on the latest in the fields of
health and fitness.
Kosher Burrito
Childhood and Family:
Giselle Fernández was born on May 15, 1961, in Mexico City, Mexico. She was
reared by a Jewish mother and a legendary Mexican flamenco father in Southern
California. Giselle developed her love for journalism from an early age when as
a young child she was taken by her parent traveling around Mexico in search of a
doctoral thesis in Mexican folklore. Rich with information and loaded with
enthusiasm, the experience of exploring Mexican pueblos and gathering mystical
stories encouraged her to pursue a career in journalism. She attended the
Sacramento State University in northern California and graduated with a degree
in journalism in 1982.
A self-referred as the original “Kosher Burrito” due to her ethnic heritage,
Giselle tied the knot with former CEO of Panavision, Inc. John Farrand on
November 27, 2002, and the couple are now still together. She is the mother of a
daughter name Samantha. When not working, Giselle likes spending time hiking
with her dogs or playing tennis.
Access Hollywood
Career:
With a degree in journalism in her pocket, Giselle Fernández started her
professional career in 1983 when she landed her first on-air job at KRDO in
Pueblo, Colorado. Back to Los Angeles two years later, she worked as a
television reporter and weekend anchor at KTLA until 1987, and then moved to
Chicago to work at WBBM before taking a job in Miami in 1989. Giselle finally
headed for New York in early 1990s to elevate a career in network news.
Her first national news job arrived with the CBS News, in which she was
recruited as a correspondent and back-up newscaster, substituting Paula Zahn on
“CBS This Morning,” Dan Rather on the “CBS Evening News” and Connie Chung on the
“CBS Weekend News.” In addition, Giselle was a regular contributor to CBS
“Sunday Morning,” “Face the Nation” and “48 Hours.” She left CBS for NBC later.
With NBC, she anchored the weekend edition of the “Today Show” and Sunday
edition of “NBC’s Nightly News.” Besides, she handled various special reporting
assignments for the NBC network in the U.S. and elsewhere.
Recognized over the past decade for her coverage of international news stories
and major events, Giselle reported a number of international news stories like
the US Invasions of Haiti and Panama, the Somalia and Bosnian Wars, the Gulf
War, Hurricane Andrew, the 1993 World Trade Center and Oklahoma City bombings,
and interviewed such global leaders as Fidel Castro. Due to her significant
contributions, she was honored five Emmy Awards.
Taking a three-year hiatus from serious reporting, Giselle returned to Los
Angeles to co-host NBC’s nightly entertainment news magazine “Access Hollywood,”
where she outlined numerous Hollywood’s a-list celebrities. She then profiled
famous people and events in history as co-host of A&E Network’s History Channel,
“This Week in History,” as well as hosted her own talk show “Cafe Ole” for Si Tv.
Giselle made her way back to news reporting in 2002 when she decided to rejoin
KTLA television news, co-anchoring the KTLA Morning News on Tribune’s KTLA WB5
in Los Angeles. However, she left the position a year later to pursue a variety
of special projects, including writing children’s books and making movies.
As the president of her own production company named Skinny Hippo Productions,
and co-president of F Squared Productions, Giselle has produced several movie
projects and TV programs for both English and Spanish language networks. Her
first feature length documentary is “Our Story,” detailing about a little boy
with cancer who had a dream to change the world. Aside working behind the
camera, Giselle also tried her hand in acting. Frequently cast as newscaster,
she made her debut performance in the made-for-television movie Mother Knows
Best (1997), and segued into big screen film with Wag the Dog that same year.
She also played Victoria Gonzalez in the drama/thriller Bodily Sanctions (2001),
was featured as a newscaster in the comedy The Hot Chick (2002) starring Anna
Faris and Rob Schneider, and directed the war film End Game (2003), in which she
also appeared as newswoman #1.
“I am loving the chance to dance, it’s romantic, it plays to my great heritage
and is a tribute to my beloved father, also to the great Latin flavor that is
surely the very passion of dance. At 44, it gives me a new challenge to prove
age has no limitations and the motivation to stay in the competition as long as
I can so I can have a chance to dance the great latin dances - Rumba, Tango,
Paso Doble and Samba.” Giselle Fernandez
Recently, the daughter of popular Mexican flamenco dancer Giselle participated
as a contestant on the second season of the ABC mega-hit “Dancing with the
Stars.” As the only Latina on the show, she feels a marvelous sense of pride and
pressure to perform in the show, but she became the third contestant to be
eliminated in that round.
45-year-old Giselle is scheduled to play roles in the upcoming the Simon
Crane-directed Adrenaline (2006), writer/director Veronica Gomez’s Air Battle
Force (2006), the comedy Army Geek (2006) and Brian Dannelly’s romance The
Guided Man (2007).
Awards:
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