Maria Shriver

Maria Shriver

Active - 1993 - 2023  |   Born - Nov 6, 1955 in Chicago, Illinois, United States  |   Genres - Science & Technology [nf], Historical Film, Health & Fitness

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Biography by AllMovie

The niece of the late president John F. Kennedy and the daughter of R. Sargent Shriver and Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Maria Shriver grew up in Washington, D.C., and attended Georgetown as an undergraduate. Shriver subsequently established herself as an eminent broadcast journalist -- first as a producer for local stations in Philadelphia and Baltimore, then as a reporter for The CBS Morning News (in the early '80s), and finally for NBC, on the programs NBC Nightly News and Sunday Today. By the early '90s, Shriver had dramatically reduced her on-air activity, though she still occasionally tackled special reporting assignments for MSNBC and Dateline; she placed greater emphasis and weight (as did the media) on her marriage to Austrian bodybuilder-turned-action star Arnold Schwarzenegger (the two wed in 1986). Despite the democratic background of her family, Shriver threw her full support behind Republican Schwarzenegger when he won the California gubernatorial seat during the 2003 election, and focused much of her attention on addressing social causes as the governor's wife.

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Factsheet

  • Was inspired to pursue broadcast journalism after volunteering for her father's 1972 vice-presidential campaign.
  • Began career as a news writer and producer for KYW-TV in Philadelphia, PA, in 1977.
  • Became a reporter for CBS News in 1983, was later named co-anchor of the CBS Morning News, joined NBC News in 1986, and eventually became a contributing correspondent for MSNBC.
  • Worked as a correspondent on a 1998 Dateline NBC documentary about welfare reform titled Checks and Balances that won a Peabody award.
  • Author of numerous books, including Ten Things I Wish I'd Known Before I Went Out Into the Real World (2002) and What's Heaven? (2007).
  • Lost her job at NBC when husband Arnold Schwarzenegger ran for governor of California. She ultimately became the state's First Lady on November 17, 2003.