Asunción "Sunny" Cummings Hostin (; born October 20, 1968) is an American lawyer, journalist, and television host. Hostin is co-host on
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
's morning talk show ''
The View'' as well as the Senior Legal Correspondent and Analyst for
ABC News
ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...
. She was also the host and executive producer of
Investigation Discovery
Investigation Discovery (stylized and branded on-air as ID since 2008) is an American multinational pay television network dedicated to true crime documentaries owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. As of February 2015, approximately 86 million Amer ...
's true crime series ''Truth About Murder with Sunny Hostin''.
Early life
Hostin was born on October 20, 1968 in New York City to a
Puerto Rican mother, Rosa Beza, and an
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
father, William Cummings.
Her maternal grandfather is
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
. Hostin was raised in
The Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
, New York City, attended the all-girls
Dominican Academy, and is bilingual in English and Spanish.
She received her
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...
in
English and Rhetoric from
Binghamton University and her
Juris Doctor from
Notre Dame Law School
Notre Dame Law School is the professional graduate law school of the University of Notre Dame. Established in 1869, it is the oldest continuously operating Catholic law school in the United States. ND Law is ranked 22nd among the nation's "Top 1 ...
.
Career
Hostin began her career as a law clerk to retired Chief Judge of the
Maryland Court of Appeals
The Supreme Court of Maryland is the highest court of the U.S. state of Maryland. Its name was changed on December 14, 2022, from the Maryland Court of Appeals, after a voter-approved change to the state constitution. The court, which is compose ...
Robert M. Bell and later became a trial attorney in the
U.S. Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...
's
Antitrust Division. Hostin left the Antitrust Division to become a federal prosecutor, specializing in child sex crimes. Hostin was awarded a Special Achievement Award for her successful prosecution of sex offenders. Hostin was also a Managing Director of Business Intelligence and Investigations at Kroll, the world’s leading risk-consulting company, where she led groups of investigators all over the world to investigate and uncover fraud.
She began her television career as a commentator for
Court TV and was then offered a spot on the
Fox News
The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
program ''
The O'Reilly Factor
''The O'Reilly Factor'' (originally titled ''The O'Reilly Report'' and also known as ''The Factor'') is an American cable television news and talk show. ''The O'Reilly Factor'' first aired in the United States on Fox News Channel on October 7 ...
'',
where she appeared on the show's "Is It Legal?" segments, regularly debating with
Bill O'Reilly and
Megyn Kelly.
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
President
Jon Klein signed her to the network in September 2007 as the legal analyst for its flagship morning show ''
American Morning''. In 2014, Hostin began frequently appearing as a guest contributor on the
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
daytime talk show ''
The View''. Also in 2014, she appeared as a contestant on the Mother’s Day edition of
Food Network
Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ( ...
’s
Chopped. She was eliminated in the final round, but returned the next year for the Amateurs Redemption episode, which she also did not win. In 2015, Hostin participated in a TEDx Talk titled ''A Possibility Model'' that details the effects of an early trauma. In March 2016, it was announced that Hostin was joining
ABC News
ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...
as Senior Legal Correspondent and analyst. She became a permanent co-host of ''The View'' beginning the show's twentieth season in September 2016. In 2017, Hostin made a
cameo appearance
A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...
as herself in the comedy film ''
Girls Trip''.
In 2019, Hostin hosted and executive-produced the six-episode documentary series ''Truth About Murder With Sunny Hostin'' on
Investigation Discovery
Investigation Discovery (stylized and branded on-air as ID since 2008) is an American multinational pay television network dedicated to true crime documentaries owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. As of February 2015, approximately 86 million Amer ...
, on which she travels to various parts of the US to explore the stories behind some of the nation’s most notorious homicides. She also hosted a podcast titled ''Have You Seen This Man?'', produced by ABC. Hostin released ''I Am These Truths'', a memoir, in 2020. The following year, she released a novel, titled ''Summer on the Bluffs''. The book will be adapted into a television series. Hostin is also set to executive-produce ''The Counsel'', a drama television series inspired by her life and career.
Personal life
Hostin is a member of
Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. She is married to
orthopedic surgeon
Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics ( alternatively spelt orthopaedics), is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal ...
Emmanuel Hostin.
They have two children, a boy and a girl.
The family resides in
Purchase, New York.
Awards and nominations
See also
*
New Yorkers in journalism
New York City has been called the media capital of the world. Many journalists work in Manhattan, reporting about international, American, business, entertainment, and New York metropolitan area-related matters.
New Yorkers in journalism
A
...
*
Nuyorican
Nuyorican is a portmanteau of the terms "New York" and "Puerto Rican" and refers to the members or culture of the Puerto Ricans located in or around New York City, or of their descendants (especially those raised or currently living in the N ...
*
Puerto Ricans in New York City
Puerto Ricans have both immigrated and migrated to New York City. The first group of Puerto Ricans immigrated to New York City in the mid-19th century when Puerto Rico was a Spanish colony and its people Spanish subjects. The following wave o ...
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hostin, Sunny
1968 births
Living people
20th-century African-American women
20th-century African-American people
20th-century American women lawyers
20th-century Puerto Rican lawyers
21st-century African-American people
21st-century African-American women
ABC News personalities
African-American lawyers
African-American television talk show hosts
African-American television personalities
African-American women lawyers
American columnists
American people of Puerto Rican descent
American people of Sephardic-Jewish descent
American social commentators
American television journalists
American television talk show hosts
American women columnists
American women television journalists
Assistant United States Attorneys
Binghamton University alumni
CNN people
Fox News people
New York (state) lawyers
Notre Dame Law School alumni
Journalists from New York City
People associated with true crime
People from the Bronx
People from Purchase, New York
Puerto Rican television talk show hosts
Puerto Rican women lawyers
University of Notre Dame alumni
African-American Catholics