Lester Holt

Lester Holt, an American news journalist/ prominent anchor, is currently working for NBC News. He is in the Weekend editions of NBC’s Today, Weekend Today, and also NBC Nightly News. Lester is also the anchor for Dateline NBC.

He has spent almost 19 years with CBS and spent 14 years on WBBM-TV in Chicago where she anchored the evening news. Holt has been awarded Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for his excellent work on CBS 48 Hours: No Place Like Home.

Early Life 

Lester Don Holt, Jr. was born on 8th March 1959 in Marin County, California, U.S. Holt comes from a Jamaican descendant from his mother’s side

The rest of his West African and Scottish descendants. Lester joined Cordova High School based in Rancho Cordova, California.

Education 

In 1977, Holt graduated from Cordova. He then attended California State University in Sacramento and now holds a degree in government. Lester was highly interested in working as an anchor for a television or radio station.

However, he took a job as a disc jockey at a Country and Western station and that was his first on-air job. He went on to do good and kept the job on the radio station during his college period.

Early Career

After ending his college years, Holt went on to find similar jobs that would finally lead him to become a reporter of some kind. Luckily for him, Holt got a job as a reporter in New York City at WCBS-TV in 1981.

He began working there and after a year, he was hired to become a reporter and weekend anchor on KNXT in Los Angeles. After that, in 1993, Holt returned to New York to work again at WCBN-TV as a reporter and also a weekend anchor. After working for a few years on WCBN-TV. 

Started working for WBBM-TV

In 1986, he moved to Chicago and started working for WBBM-TV. He spent his entire 14 years working in Chicago as an anchor on the evening news which proves that his work was really appreciated. While working at WBBM-TV,

Holt included news about the excessively troubled areas in the world like Iraq, Northern Ireland, El Salvador, and also Haiti. He finally moved from WBBM-TV in 2000 and started working for MSNBC.

Lester Holt's NBC Career

After working there for a couple of years, Holt began taking his full-time duties at NBC News in August 2005. At NBC Holt became a substitute anchor for NBC Nightly News and Today. While on Weekend Today Holt became a full-time co-anchor.

At the same time, he also was anchoring a two-hour daily newscast on MSNBC. Lester has also been named anchor of the weekend edition of NBC Nightly News on 9th May 2007.

Famous Movies and Tv Series

Holt has also been seen in many movies and TV series but as a minor character. He was given a cameo role in the film The Fugitive in 1993 and Primal Fear in 1996. On Television, Holt has appeared on Due South’s episode “Red, White or Blue” and Early Edition’s episode “Fate”.

Holt was also seen as a minor character in the NBC sitcom 30 Rock’s episode “Cleveland” and has done a voiceover in the episode “Sandwich Day”. From 2006 to 2008 Holt announced Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show on the USA Network.

Featured in Making Music Magazine 

Holt has also been featured in Making Music Magazine as he discusses his interest in Music. In 1990, Lester Holt was awarded Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for his work on 48 Hours: No Place Like Home aired by CBS.

He earned his Doctorate from Pepperdine University in 2012. Holt then worked as the morning news anchor at WMAQ-TV NBC5 based in Chicago.

Permanent anchor of NBC Nightly News

In June 2015, he became the permanent anchor of NBC Nightly News and became the first African-American to solo anchor a weekday network nightly newscast.

In 2016, he moderated the Democratic presidential candidates’ debate alongside a panel of NBC political reporters. He also moderated the first presidential debate on September 26, 2016.

Interviewed President Donald Trump

Lester Holt has interviewed President Donald Trump several times. In May 2017, he interviewed Trump and discussed with him the firing case of FBI director James Comey.

In that interview, Trump told that he fired Comey after suspecting his connection with Russia. That interview had extensive media coverage. Numerous news analysts said that interview was televised and not real.

Net Worth and Salary

To calculate Holt’s anchoring success in monetary term, according to celebrity net worth, his salary is estimated to be $4 million by NBC News and his net worth is $12 million whereas, other sources such as The Richest claims his net worth to be around $35 million as of 2022.

Lester Holt is doing excellent in his anchoring career and has been able to perfectly balance personal and professional life together. Holt stands at the height of 6 feet 2 inches.

In August 2017, he listed his midtown Manhatten apartment for $6.6 million. 

Lester Holt's Wife

Holt is a married man. Holt lives in Manhattan with his wife Carol Hagen whom he married in 1982. The couple has two children named Stefan and Cameron. The family seems to be happy together.

His wife, Hagen is a licensed real estate salesperson based in New York. She has even worked in the travel industry and cosmetic industries. 

Hagen was a flight attendant

They first met each other while Hagen was a flight attendant and Holt was still a student in 1980. They married after dating for almost two years. 

One of Holt’s hobbies is playing the ba s s guitar in his spare time. Holt seems to be a religious man as he attends the Manhattan Church of Christ in New York.