Who

The editor of Newsweek International, Zakaria is a columnist, pundit-at-large, and an "intellectual heartthrob."

Backstory

The son of a prominent Bombay politician, Zakaria moved to the U.S. to attend Yale before heading off to Harvard to pick up a PhD in political science. He soon landed at the small but influential magazine Foreign Affairs, where he eventually became managing editor, then left in 2000 to join Newsweek as international editor. A political conservative and foreign policy hawk, Zakaria first gained notice (from the public, at least) in the aftermath of Sept. 11th, when he started appearing regularly on Charlie Rose's talk show on PBS and published several op-eds in the New York Times.

Of note

Zakaria's a rare breed: Muslim, conservative, and a supporter George Bush's war in Iraq. For those reasons—and because he happens to be a gifted public speaker, too—Zakaria has become a fixture on political chat shows. Until 2007, he was a regular on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos and hosted the weekly program Foreign Exchange on PBS. In 2007, CNN president Jon Klein hired him to host a weekly international news program; Fareed Zakaria GPS debuted on June 1, 2008. But Zakaria can also be found weighing in on current affairs on a handful of other programs from The View to the Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

In print

In 2003, Zakaria published his first book, The Future of Freedom. His central argument? That democracies aren't inherently good, and that the U.S. should do more to support states that support rule of law, property rights, and human rights—rather than just having popularly elected governments.

Drama

Zakaria's participation in a November 2001 Pentagon strategy session sparked criticism after it was revealed. The resultant report supported a U.S. invasion of Iraq, and critics suggested that Zakaria had violated journalism ethics by participating in a session involving policy recommendations. For his part, Zakaria claimed that he "thought it was a brainstorming session."

Personal

He's married to Paula Throckmorton Zakaria, a Harvard MBA who owns a jewelry-design business; the couple has a son, Omar, and a daughter, Lila. The family lives on West 102nd Street, in a 3,900-square-foot townhouse that Zakaria paid $3.4 million for in 2004.