Giselle Fernández
Encyclopedia
Giselle Fernández is an American
television
journalist
. Her appearances on network television include as reporter and guest anchor for CBS Early Show, CBS Evening News
, NBC Today, NBC Nightly News
, regular host for Access Hollywood
, and guest on Dancing with the Stars
.
, Mexico
, and was brought to east Los Angeles in the United States at the age of four. Her Catholic father was a flamenco
dancer, while her Jewish mother was a student of Mexican folklore
. Giselle attended California State University, Sacramento
, where she graduated in 1982. Her television
career began in 1983 at KRDO
in Pueblo
, Colorado
and KEYT-TV
. From 1985 until 1989, she worked as a television
reporter and weekend anchor
in Los Angeles
(KTLA
), Chicago
(WBBM
), and Miami (WCIX
). In 1988 she garnered some controversy in Chicago when she went boating with John Cappas, a drug dealer being sought by authorities, then accompanied him to his arrest by federal agents. While in Chicago, she met Ron Kershaw
, who was previously involved with Jessica Savitch
. The two were engaged, but Kershaw died of pancreatic cancer
and liver cancer
. A month later her father died of Alzheimer's disease
.
She gained her first national news job in October 1991 for CBS News
, when she moved to New York
and became a correspondent and back-up anchor
for both the morning, evening, and weekend news broadcasts. She later moved to NBC
, where she anchored the weekend edition of the Today Show and the Sunday NBC Nightly News
, as well as various special reporting assignments in the U.S.
and elsewhere. During this period of national news coverage, Fernández reported on the crisis from Cuba
n immigration, unrest in Haiti, the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama
, the trial of the conspirators from the 1993 World Trade Center bombing
, and a scud missile attack while covering the Persian Gulf War
. She was invited to make a rare interview of Fidel Castro
, then president of Cuba.
From 1996 to 1999, Giselle was the co-host for Access Hollywood
, an entertainment news program on NBC
. She then co-hosted the "This Week in History" show on the History Channel. In October 2001 she returned to Los Angeles and joined KTLA
television news. She left this position in August 2003 to pursue a variety of special projects, including making a movie and writing children's books. In 2004, her book titled Gigi and the Birthday Ring was published through the Laredo Publishing Company.
Fernandez participated as a contestant on the second season of ABC's "Dancing With The Stars" in January 2006, but was the third contestant to be eliminated. She partnered with Jonathan Roberts
and had an average of 23 points.
Fernández has won five Emmy Award
s for journalism. She is a member of the Smithsonian National Board for Latino Initiatives and has worked on the board of trustees of the Children's Hospital Los Angeles. In 2006, she was named the year's Outstanding Philanthropist by the Association of Fundraising Professionals. She is president of Skinny Hippo Productions, her own production company, and is co-president of F Squared Productions, where she is a developer of film and television projects. She is married to John Farrand
, former CEO of Panavision
, Inc.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
. Her appearances on network television include as reporter and guest anchor for CBS Early Show, CBS Evening News
CBS Evening News
CBS Evening News is the flagship nightly television news program of the American television network CBS. The network has broadcast this program since 1948, and has used the CBS Evening News title since 1963....
, NBC Today, NBC Nightly News
NBC Nightly News
NBC Nightly News is the flagship daily evening television news program for NBC News and broadcasts. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is located in the center...
, regular host for Access Hollywood
Access Hollywood
Access Hollywood is a weekday television entertainment news program covering events and celebrities in the entertainment industry. It was created by former Entertainment Tonight executive producer Jim Van Messel, and is currently directed by Robert Silverstein. In previous years, Doug Dougherty and...
, and guest on Dancing with the Stars
Dancing with the Stars
Dancing with the Stars is the name of several international television series based on the format of the British TV series Strictly Come Dancing, which is distributed by BBC Worldwide – the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the format has been licensed to over 35 countries...
.
Life and career
Fernández was born in Mexico CityMexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, and was brought to east Los Angeles in the United States at the age of four. Her Catholic father was a flamenco
Flamenco
Flamenco is a genre of music and dance which has its foundation in Andalusian music and dance and in whose evolution Andalusian Gypsies played an important part....
dancer, while her Jewish mother was a student of Mexican folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
. Giselle attended California State University, Sacramento
California State University, Sacramento
California State University, Sacramento, popularly known as Sacramento State, is a public university located in the city of Sacramento, California. It is part of the California State University system...
, where she graduated in 1982. Her television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
career began in 1983 at KRDO
KRDO-TV
KRDO-TV, virtual channel 13, is the ABC-affiliated television station in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA. The station broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 24. The station is owned by Pikes Peak Television, a subsidiary of the News-Press & Gazette Company of St...
in Pueblo
Pueblo
Pueblo is a term used to describe modern communities of Native Americans in the Southwestern United States of America. The first Spanish explorers of the Southwest used this term to describe the communities housed in apartment-like structures built of stone, adobe mud, and other local material...
, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
and KEYT-TV
KEYT-TV
KEYT-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, and San Luis Obispo, California areas. Licensed to Santa Barbara, California the station broadcasts on digital UHF channel 27 and uses VHF channel 3 as its virtual channel...
. From 1985 until 1989, she worked as a television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
reporter and weekend anchor
Anchor
An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, that is used to connect a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the vessel from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ancora, which itself comes from the Greek ἄγκυρα .Anchors can either be temporary or permanent...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
(KTLA
KTLA
KTLA, virtual channel 5, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, USA. Owned by the Tribune Company, KTLA is an affiliate of the CW Television Network. KTLA's studios are on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson...
), Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
(WBBM
WBBM-TV
WBBM-TV, virtual channel 2 , is the CBS owned-and-operated television station in Chicago, Illinois. WBBM-TV's main studios and offices are located in The Loop section of Chicago, as part of the development at Block 37, and its transmitter is atop the Willis Tower.-History:WBBM-TV traces its history...
), and Miami (WCIX
WFOR-TV
WFOR-TV, virtual channel 4.1 , is the CBS owned-and-operated station in Miami, Florida. WFOR shares its TV studio facilities with sister station WBFS-TV in Doral, near Miami International Airport, and its transmitter is located in Miramar.WFOR-TV also previously had two translator stations in the...
). In 1988 she garnered some controversy in Chicago when she went boating with John Cappas, a drug dealer being sought by authorities, then accompanied him to his arrest by federal agents. While in Chicago, she met Ron Kershaw
Ron Kershaw
Ron Kershaw was an American television news executive responsible for several television news innovations. Considered somewhat a genius, Kershaw was the news director in several large cities across the United States including New York, Chicago and Baltimore.-News director:In 1974, Kershaw was hired...
, who was previously involved with Jessica Savitch
Jessica Savitch
Jessica Beth Savitch was an American television broadcaster and news reporter, host of PBS' Frontline and New York weekend anchor of NBC Nightly News during the short-lived Roger Mudd/Tom Brokaw era....
. The two were engaged, but Kershaw died of pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer refers to a malignant neoplasm of the pancreas. The most common type of pancreatic cancer, accounting for 95% of these tumors is adenocarcinoma, which arises within the exocrine component of the pancreas. A minority arises from the islet cells and is classified as a...
and liver cancer
Hepatocellular carcinoma
Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most common type of liver cancer. Most cases of HCC are secondary to either a viral hepatitide infection or cirrhosis .Compared to other cancers, HCC is quite a rare tumor in the United States...
. A month later her father died of Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
.
She gained her first national news job in October 1991 for CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
, when she moved to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and became a correspondent and back-up anchor
Anchor
An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, that is used to connect a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the vessel from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ancora, which itself comes from the Greek ἄγκυρα .Anchors can either be temporary or permanent...
for both the morning, evening, and weekend news broadcasts. She later moved to NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, where she anchored the weekend edition of the Today Show and the Sunday NBC Nightly News
NBC Nightly News
NBC Nightly News is the flagship daily evening television news program for NBC News and broadcasts. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is located in the center...
, as well as various special reporting assignments in the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and elsewhere. During this period of national news coverage, Fernández reported on the crisis from Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n immigration, unrest in Haiti, the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama
United States invasion of Panama
The United States Invasion of Panama, code-named Operation Just Cause, was the invasion of Panama by the United States in December 1989. It occurred during the administration of U.S. President George H. W...
, the trial of the conspirators from the 1993 World Trade Center bombing
1993 World Trade Center bombing
The 1993 World Trade Center bombing occurred on February 26, 1993, when a truck bomb was detonated below the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. The 1,336 lb urea nitrate–hydrogen gas enhanced device was intended to knock the North Tower into the South Tower , bringing...
, and a scud missile attack while covering the Persian Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
. She was invited to make a rare interview of Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
, then president of Cuba.
From 1996 to 1999, Giselle was the co-host for Access Hollywood
Access Hollywood
Access Hollywood is a weekday television entertainment news program covering events and celebrities in the entertainment industry. It was created by former Entertainment Tonight executive producer Jim Van Messel, and is currently directed by Robert Silverstein. In previous years, Doug Dougherty and...
, an entertainment news program on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
. She then co-hosted the "This Week in History" show on the History Channel. In October 2001 she returned to Los Angeles and joined KTLA
KTLA
KTLA, virtual channel 5, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, USA. Owned by the Tribune Company, KTLA is an affiliate of the CW Television Network. KTLA's studios are on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson...
television news. She left this position in August 2003 to pursue a variety of special projects, including making a movie and writing children's books. In 2004, her book titled Gigi and the Birthday Ring was published through the Laredo Publishing Company.
Fernandez participated as a contestant on the second season of ABC's "Dancing With The Stars" in January 2006, but was the third contestant to be eliminated. She partnered with Jonathan Roberts
Jonathan Roberts (dancer)
Jonathan Roberts is an American professional ballroom dancer. He decided to take up dancing after he received a free trial at a local dance studio and enjoyed it...
and had an average of 23 points.
Fernández has won five Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
s for journalism. She is a member of the Smithsonian National Board for Latino Initiatives and has worked on the board of trustees of the Children's Hospital Los Angeles. In 2006, she was named the year's Outstanding Philanthropist by the Association of Fundraising Professionals. She is president of Skinny Hippo Productions, her own production company, and is co-president of F Squared Productions, where she is a developer of film and television projects. She is married to John Farrand
John Farrand
John Stuart Farrand is a British-American business executive.For fourteen years he worked for a U.K. company, Music Hire Group Limited, and served as managing director beginning in 1973. From 1980 until 1985, he was a senior executive at Warner Communications Inc., which included heading up its...
, former CEO of Panavision
Panavision
Panavision is an American motion picture equipment company specializing in cameras and lenses, based in Woodland Hills, California. Formed by Robert Gottschalk as a small partnership to create anamorphic projection lenses during the widescreen boom in the 1950s, Panavision expanded its product...
, Inc.