2007 On-Air Women
By Staff -- Multichannel News, 1/28/2007 7:00:00 PM
Laura Allen
FX
Actor, Dirt
SCENE NOW: Meet Julia Mallory, beloved A-list movie and television star, whose recreational drug habit is spinning wildly out of control after some tragic news and a horrible accident … can she ever regain her place in Hollywood and maintain her relationship with her boyfriend? Such is the predicament in which actor Laura Allen finds herself in the new fictional tabloid drama Dirt. The FX series stars and is executive produced by Courteney Cox. Allen also made a guest appearance on a recent episode of Fox's popular medical series House.
SCENE BEFORE: Born and raised in Oregon and Washington, Allen graduated Wellesley College with a degree in sociology and criminology. After nine months as a counselor in the domestic violence unit of the New York City Police Department's 24th Precinct, she burned out. She looked to acting for relief. Her portrayal of Maid Marian in a national tour of Robin Hood led to roles in off-Broadway theatre, where she met an agent interested in submitting her for television roles. Her first pilot was Fox's The $treet and soon after she was chosen to play Laura Kirk English on the daytime soap All My Children. Allen also starred in Spike Lee's Showtime film Sucker Free City and on the USA Network original series The 4400. She recently guest-starred in episodes of Cold Case and North Shore; and her screen credits include the Julia Roberts film Mona Lisa Smile and How You Look to Me.
Samantha Bee
Comedy Central
Correspondent, The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
SCENE NOW: Samantha Bee is best known for her work as the sardonic special reports correspondent on Comedy Central's The Daily Show With Jon Stewart. The first foreign-born and currently only female correspondent on the show, she has orchestrated a slew of memorable segments, including one about indecisive voters leading up to the 2004 U.S. elections; a report on hunters and fossil-fuel executives claiming to be environmentalists; and a piece on the lack of Asian men in U.S. pornography. More recently, her segment on Al Jazeera in English provided an inside look at that network, as well as an opportunity for Bee to school the broadcasters on American expectations. In addition to comedy news, Bee appears in theater, film and children's animation, and writes and produces with her all-women sketch comedy group, The Atomic Fireballs. On tap for 2007: the big-screen family comedy/adventure Underdog.
SCENE BEFORE: Hailing from Toronto, Canada, Bee has called herself “an American-In-Training.” In 2005, she won “Best Female TV Performance” at the sixth annual Canadian Comedy Awards. She has also appeared in episodes of television series Love Monkey, Odd Job Jack and The Endless Grind, and her film credits include Ham & Cheese, Ham I Am and Jasper, Texas. Bee has appeared in commercial ad campaigns for Pillsbury, Kraft, Budweiser and Ford, among others, across Canada and the U.S. She was hired by The Daily Show in 2003.
Michele Beschen
DIY Network
Host, B. Original
SCENE NOW: As creator and star of B. Original, anchoring DIY Network's daytime crafts block, Michele Beschen, 37, combines deftly accessorized personal style (rings, check; necklaces, ditto; safety glasses, on) with a facility for power tools and PVC pipes. With a bright smile and Midwest twang, she makes it seem oh so doable to make rock belt buckles, decorate cabinet doors with painted plexiglass artwork or build backyard birdhouses out of copper tubes. Beschen has a glam style but is so easygoing that nobody would be too intimidated to follow her lead and sew together their own pool-side coverups out of old scarves. And that's her goal — to get people past their inertia and get creative. She works from the studio near Des Moines, Iowa, that she and husband, Jon, built. After daughter Madeline's birth in 2002, Beschen left (after 10 years) her job as a marketing executive at KDSM-FOX-17 in Des Moines. It was time to create something new. “I thought there was a need for a different kind of how-to show,” she says. “My mother and I came up with Courage to Create one afternoon in her living room because it seems like fear or no confidence is what holds people back generally. A friend from the station helped me shoot a spec spot of what the show would look like and I put together a sales kit and presentation for the general manager of the station in October 2002. I pitched it to them and we sold it out in two days.”
Her half-hour DIY show premiered last September; the second 13-episode season began Jan. 1. B. Original also appears on Scripps Networks' older sister, HGTV.
SCENE BEFORE:She created and hosted Michele Beschen's Courage to Create on KDSM-FOX 17. She has partnered with Elisabeth Ballstadt in 2 Chicks and a Camera Productions, which produces her show. She also writes a column for Scripps Howard News Service.
Dr. Heidi Cullen
The Weather Channel
Climatologist, The Climate Code
SCENE NOW: A scientist of international standing in climate research, Dr. Heidi Cullen has quickly established herself as someone able to maintain depth and perspective while breaking down complex issues for her audience. She is the resident climate expert at The Weather Channel, appearing Sunday nights on The Climate Code, as well as on the channel's long-form environmental series, Forecast Earth. In addition to Weather, she has been featured as a guest expert on CNN Headline News' Down To Earth, ABC's Good Morning America, Fox News and CNN's Prime News Tonight. She has also appeared on National Public Radio's Weekend America.
SCENE BEFORE: Owing to her graduate work on abrupt climate change at Columbia University, Cullen's research was referenced in an award-winning series by Elizabeth Kolbert in The New Yorker, which was the basis for the writer's book, Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change. Before joining Weather in 2003, Cullen was a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. She is also a member of the World Climate Research Program's Climate Variability Scientific Steering Group, and has published works on issues in the U.S. Southwest and the Middle East (Syria and Turkey). In 2004, she went to Alaska to interview residents for Weather's special report “Alaska Meltdown,” which investigated the effects of global warming already in evidence. More recently, she was involved in the Forecast Earth report “Chicago Heatwave.”
Tricia Helfer
Sci Fi Channel
Actor, Battlestar Galactica
SCENE NOW: Tricia Helfer's journey has taken her from a Canadian farm to outer space. The 32-year-old Alberta-born model and actress currently stars as the human-like Cylon Number Six on Sci Fi Channel's Peabody Award winning Battlestar Galactica. Six — who used sex appeal, strength and cunning to collect information that gave the Cylons the upper hand in their war against humanity — affords Helfer ample opportunity to show her acting versatility, playing everything from aggressive seductress to abused captive. Helfer won a Leo Award, the Canadian equivalent of an Emmy Award, for her work on Battlestar's second season. Helfer also produces and hosts Canada's Next Top Model. On tap for 2007: movies Spiral and The Green Chain, as well as video game Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars.
SCENE BEFORE: Helfer started her modeling career in high school after being discovered in line at a movie theater. After moving to New York, she won Ford Models' “1992 Supermodel of the World Contest.” Helfer's first TV gig was as a correspondent for Canada's Ooh La La Fashion Television. In 2002, she landed the role of Sarah in Showtime's sci-fi series Jeremiah. From there, she made several appearances in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation before becoming Battlestar's top Cylon. Helfer also appeared in NBC's Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of 'Charlie's Angels' in 2004, and has had roles in several independent films, including White Rush, Mem-o-re and The Genius Club.
Traylor Howard
USA Network
Actor, Monk
SCENE NOW: Returning to USA Network for the fifth season of the hit original series Monk, Traylor Howard stars as Adrian Monk's assistant, Natalie Teeger. This is Howard's second season on the show, having surfaced last year next to Emmy Award-winning Tony Shalhoub for 32 episodes. The role of Natalie Teeger was written to replace beloved former assistant Sharona Fleming, played by Bitty Schram. But Howard stepped up ably, following in the sassy Sharona's footsteps with her own more nurturing, yet more assertive Natalie.
SCENE BEFORE: An Orlando native, Howard's first exposure to acting was during high school when she began landing commercials, including one for Juicy Fruit. After graduating from Florida State University with a degree in communications and advertising, she went on to appear in more than 30 commercials. Her first series role was in 1996-97 as Joy Byrnes in the NBC comedy Boston Common, followed in 1998-2001 by her part as the “girl” in ABC's Two Guys and a Girl. She has also appeared on NBC's The West Wing and CBS's Bram & Alice. Howard has had her share of big-screen time, with credits that include the Jim Carrey comedy Me, Myself and Irene, Dirty Work, the indie feature Confessions of a Sexist Pig and, most recently, The Mask II: Son of the Mask. She also appeared in the Foo Fighters' video for the song “Breakout,” which was featured in Me, Myself and Irene.
Kelly Naqi
ESPN
Reporter, Outside the Lines
SCENE NOW: Kelly Naqi is one of two full-time reporters assigned to ESPN's Emmy Award-winning series Outside the Lines. She is also a regular contributor to ESPNews, SportsCenter, NFL Tonight and Baseball Tonight. As a correspondent she has excelled at covering socially relevant topics, such as how high school athletes in Louisiana were affected by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, and the impact of 9/11 on Arab-Americans and Muslims in the sports world. Naqi also made headlines this fall for questions that inflamed controversy in the New York Giants locker room. In June, she will accept a Gracie Award from the Foundation of American Women in Radio and Television for Outside the Lines in the category of “Outstanding Sports Program.”
SCENE BEFORE: Prior to ESPN, Naqi was a sports producer at KYW-TV in Philadelphia, covering Julius Erving's last season in the NBA, the 1986 World Series and the 1987 Stanley Cup Finals. She also served as a production associate for CBS Sports in New York, covering the NFL, NCAA basketball, tennis and gymnastics. She joined ESPN in 1987 as a Bristol-based associate producer, contributing features for SportsCenter, college basketball, NBA Today and Outside the Lines. Naqi's forte as a producer has been long-format features on social issues related to sports, such as Nike's labor practices in Vietnam, sports changes in Russia since the fall of Communism, and the healing effect of little league on a Pennsylvania high school that lost 16 students in the crash of TWA flight 800. Naqi moved in front of the camera in 1999 and three years later became a full-time correspondent.
Becky Quick
CNBC
Correspondent, Co-anchor, Squawk Box
SCENE NOW: Becky Quick is a co-anchor and on-air correspondent for CNBC's signature morning news program Squawk Box. Her energetic and savvy reportage has gained a steady following among the Wall Street crowd. The show runs weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. as the trading day unfolds and features Quick and colleagues Joe Kernen and Carl Quintanilla reporting on business news, interspersed with unscripted discussion and reports from Washington, D.C., Silicon Valley, London and Hong Kong. Quick also fills in as needed on other CNBC business programming.
SCENE BEFORE: A seven-year veteran of The Wall Street Journal, Quick covered the Wall Street beat for CNBC as part of the network's partnership with Dow Jones. Prior to joining CNBC in 2001, she spent three years reporting on retail and e-commerce for The Journal. Before that, she covered various Internet issues, ranging from online privacy to domain-name disputes. Quick also played a crucial role in the launch of The Wall Street Journal Online in April 1996 and served as the site's international news editor, overseeing foreign affairs coverage. Prior to that, she worked at The Journal's overseas copy desk as a copy editor, copyreader and research assistant. A graduate of Rutgers University with a degree in political science, Quick was awarded the Times Mirror Fellowship from the Journalism Resources Institute at Rutgers. She also served as editor in chief of The Daily Targum, the school's daily newspaper.
Michelle Singletary
TV One
Financial Expert, Host, $ingletary $ays
SCENE NOW: Perhaps best known for her award-winning weekly column in The Washington Post, “The Color of Money,” financial expert Michelle Singletary has successfully bridged the gap between print journalism and television. Her first national television program, $ingletary $ays, is a half-hour reality series in which she visits people in their homes in the Washington-metro area to help resolve various personal finance issues. The show is in its second season on the TV One cable and satellite network. Singletary is also a regular personal finance contributor on National Public Radio's afternoon program Day to Day, as well as the host of a live online chat on washingtonpost.com. Singletary also produces an electronic finance newsletter, distributed by the Post.
SCENE BEFORE: Singletary has appeared on NBC's Today Show, CBS' The Early Show, Nightline, Oprah, The View, BET's Real Business and live financial segments for MSNBC. Prior to television, she was a regular contributor on Howard University's evening news radio program, Insight, as well as a reporter for The Washington Post and Baltimore Evening Sun. She is the author of two books, 7 Money Mantras for a Richer Life: How to Live Well With the Money You Have and more recently, Your Money and Your Man: How You and Prince Charming Can Spend Well and Live Rich, due out in paperback in 2007.
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