Television host, producer, and author Andrew “Andy” Cohen was born on June 2, 1968 to parents Evelyn and Lou. He and older sister, Emily, were raised in a suburb of St. Louis called Clayton, Missouri. Cohen earned a bachelors degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University. While in college, he interned at CBS News alongside Julie Chen. Before transitioning to his hosting career on Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live,” “Andy Cohen’s Then & Now,” and reality show reunion specials, Cohen found success behind the scenes.
He was hired by Bravo in 2004 as vice president of original programming and then served as executive vice president of development and talent from November 2011 until January 2014. He’s the man behind popular reality shows such as the “Real Housewives” franchise, “Project Runway,” “Top Chef,” “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” the “Million Dollar Listing” franchise, “Flipping Out,” and “Shahs of Sunset.” He won an Emmy for season six of “Top Chef” and Peabody Awards as executive producer of the documentary “The N Word” and “Project Runway.” Cohen previously ran original programming and development for TRIO, beginning in July 2000. Prior to that, he was a producer at CBS News’ “CBS This Morning” and “48 Hours” from 1990-2000.
In Fall 2015, his SiriumXM channel, Radio Andy, hit air ayes. He has written the books “Most Talkative: Stories from the Frontlines of Pop Culture,” “The Andy Cohen Diaries: A Deep Look At a Shallow Year,” and “Superficial: More Adventures from the Andy Cohen Diaries” and hosts the revival of the dating show “Love Connection” on FOX. Cohen and his best friend, Anderson Cooper, tour the country with “AC2: An Intimate Evening with Anderson Cooper & Andy Cohen.” Cohen is the proud dad to a fur baby, his rescue dog Wacha, who is named after St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Michael Wacha.