Who

O'Brien is the peppy, telegenic newscaster who co-hosted CNN's American Morning until mid-2007. She's now a correspondent for CNN's Special Investigations Unit.

Backstory

The daughter of an Irish-Australian father and a black Cuban mother, O'Brien grew up on the North Shore of Long Island. Along with her five siblings, she was accepted to Harvard, but dropped out when she snagged a radio producer's job at Boston's WBZ-TV. (She returned when she was pregnant in 2000 and finished her degree.) National attention arrived at age 30 when O'Brien hosted MSNBC's web culture/new technology show The Site; in 1999, she moved to the world of network news when she began anchoring Weekend Today for NBC News. In 2003, O'Brien decamped to CNN and spent more than three years co-hosting American Morning—first with Bill Hemmer, and then with Miles O'Brien. After shopping with Laura Bush in Moscow, traveling to Cuba with the Pope, and grilling FEMA's Michael Brown, in 2007 O'Brien was dropped by CNN president Jonathan Klein amid sagging ratings. She's now a correspondent for CNN's documentary series Special Investigations Unit.

Personal

O'Brien is married to investment banker Charles Bradford Raymond (he goes by "Brad"), a partner at Thomas Weisel Partners. They have four children—daughters Sofia and Cecilia, and younger twin boys Jackson and Charlie—and live on West 26th Street.

For the record

Listmakers seem to love the multi-ethnic O'Brien. She's was one of People's "50 Most Beautiful" in 2001 and one of People en Espanol's "50 Most Beautiful" in 2004; Crain's, Essence and Black Enterprise named her to "40 under 40" lists in the early '00s. Fortunately, O'Brien turned 40 in 2006 and lost her high-profile gig the following year, which means she's now spared inclusion on these lists.

True story

Contrary to what many people think, O'Brien doesn't speak Spanish fluently, which once led to an awkward encounter with Al Gore when he tried to impress her with his command of the language.