Neighbor:

Christopher Cuomo - News Anchor

By Christian McLean

In the Cuomo family, life in the spotlight seems to be as hereditary as a penchant for law. But unlike his father, Mario and his brother, Andrew, Christopher Cuomo found a calling outside the arena of politics, opting instead for the politician's best and worst friend, the media.

While his older brother, Andrew, was busy managing their father's New York gubernatorial campaign in 1982, Chris was only twelve. Upon his dad's victory, Chris moved to Albany and spent the rest of his adolescent life in the Governor's Mansion, a slightly different setting than the Queens home where he grew up. He attended the prestigious Albany Academy, a prep school for the children of Albany's political and social elite. Not letting the opportunity be squandered, he followed the Academy with an undergraduate degree at Yale, which was then succeeded by a law degree from Fordham University.

He landed an attorney position on Wall Street at Cassandra Partners, but the law wouldn't be his calling. By 1997, the 27-year-old was voted as one of People's "Most Beautiful People," while Manhattan File deemed him "New York's most Eligible Bachelor." (Oddly enough, the magazine's founder, Christina Greeven, changed all that when she married him in 2002). Taking all this buzz about his appearance and charm, he was able to parlay the media exposure into media gigs. He grabbed a guest spot on CNBC's "Equal Time" later that year and then secured himself a co-hosting position on "The Geraldo Rivera Show." Suddenly, he was immersed in a world with which his family had always had a touchy relationship. Chris knew what the least common denominator of news was and knew he could succeed high above it. In 1998, Cuomo began working at "Fox Files," a less-than-substantial news show where he covered such things at the East Dublin, Georgia "Redneck Games" -- which is just what it sounds like. Aside from the typical fare for which the show was known, Cuomo was given a degree of freedom in tackling larger social issues, such as the controversy involving school prayer.

His work was admired not just by the audiences who thought he was "dreamy," but media execs high above the tabloid level. Soon after at the age of 29, he began sharing airtime with Diane Sawyer and Peter Jennings as the youngest correspondent to ever work at ABC's "20/20." He followed this with contributing pieces on "Primetime Thursday" and since September of 2006, has become a permanent fixture on "Good Morning America" ("GMA"). On his new role at "Good Morning America," he said, "I could not be more proud to be joining the 'GMA' family. After years at ABC News working with these very talented and good people, this is an enormous privilege."

In his eight years at ABC, Chris has covered everything from a cross-country Earth Day celebration to the events surrounding 9/11 and molded pieces on urban combat training for American troops in the war in Iraq. Using his legal training, Cuomo has weighed in on several national legal cases, including the Martha Stewart trial and the now completely abandoned Duke lacrosse scandal. While much of his work has been applauded, he has only received one Emmy, for his piece on Mattie Stepanek, a twelve-year-old poet who suffered from Dysautonomic Mitochondrial Myopathy. His coverage of this case also made him a finalist for the 2004 Livingston Awards for Young Journalists.

Recently, after the Virginia Tech Massacre, Cuomo was able to interview Dr. Christopher Flynn, the director of the university's counseling center. Searching for answers, he asked the question that has been on every American's mind since the senseless act occurred, "What do you need to do to get removed from the general population of this university? You harass two different girls, you have five different professors saying they're worried about you, you have an acquaintance saying you think you're going to kill yourself, you then get taken for psychiatric help and are found to be a threat to yourself. What do you need to do for the university to step up and say 'we're going to have to remove this person'?" Probing, in-your-face interviews like this have raised Cuomo to the top in a fraction of the time it takes most news journalists.

When Christopher married Christina Greeven, the Hamptons became a special place. Christina is vice-chairman and part-owner of Niche Media, the publishers of Hamptons Magazine. The Cuomos and their two children, Bella and Mario, spend a good deal of time at and around their Southampton home. Stop by any big East End event or visit your favorite celebrity website and you will see photos of them at places like the Southampton Hospital Gala or perched in the VIP section of the Hampton Classic. Hamptons lore even has it that, while attending a clambake event at the beach in Flying Point, Christopher came upon an SUV in the parking lot. He saw that there was a baby sitting in its carseat inside. Appalled, he borrowed the microphone from the MC and made the announcement, "Anyone with a Cadillac Escalade, you have a baby crying in the back seat."

At 37 years of age, Christopher Cuomo, with the support of his family, has invested his time in raising the bar in the field of media. While his father and brother made their mark by helping shape and reform communities through politics, Chris has sought to reach a wider audience and promote change by asking hard questions, tackling difficult subjects and inspiring the nation to action.