Zuri Hall (born June 2, 1988) is an American

entertainment reporter Entertainment journalism is any form of journalism that focuses on popular culture and the entertainment business and its products. Like fashion journalism, entertainment journalism covers industry-specific news while targeting general audiences bey ...

, television personality, actress and producer. Hall serves as a correspondent for ''Access Hollywood'' on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

. She is also the sideline reporter for NBC's primetime summer competition show ''American Ninja Warrior''''.'' Hall was the host of

Miss USA Miss USA is an American beauty pageant that has been held annually since 1952 to select the entrant from United States in the Miss Universe pageant. The Miss Universe Organization operated both pageants, as well as Miss Teen USA, until 2020, ...

for the first time in 2021, and returned again as host in 2022''.''

Personal life

Zuri Hall was born on June 2, 1988 in

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

. Growing up, she became fascinated with the arts, more specifically with theatre. She graduated from

Maumee Valley Country Day School Maumee Valley Country Day School (or MVCDS, Maumee Valley or MV) is an independent and non-religious private school located in Toledo, Ohio. The school was founded in 1842 as an all-girls finishing school in Western New York and was moved to Tole ...

in 2006. She graduated from

The Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publi ...

in 2010 with a

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 years ...

in strategic communication and a minor in theatre, with an emphasis on acting. She was a four-year Morrill Scholar, earning a full academic scholarship to attend the college.

Career

Entertainment broadcasting

Hall competed against hundreds in the search for the next Face of MyINDY-TV and became the first woman to win the position. At

WNDY-TV WNDY-TV (channel 23) is a television station licensed to Marion, Indiana, United States, serving the Indianapolis area as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV. It is locally owned by Circle City Broadcasting alongside Indianapolis-licensed CW affiliat ...

in Indianapolis, she covered local events, starred in station

PSA PSA, PsA, Psa, or psa may refer to: Biology and medicine * Posterior spinal artery * Primary systemic amyloidosis, a disease caused by the accumulation of abnormal proteins * Prostate-specific antigen, an enzyme used as a blood tracer for pros ...

s, and interviewed celebrities. From December 2011 to December 2012, she was an on-camera host and producer of ''Living Dayton'', a local, lifestyle talk show on

WDTN WDTN (channel 2) is a television station in Dayton, Ohio, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which provides certain services to Springfield, Ohio–licensed WBDT (channel 26), a ''de facto'' owned-and-oper ...

in Dayton, Ohio. In the summer of 2012, she was featured as a guest correspondent on

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los A ...

's ''

106 & Park ''106 & Park'' is an American hip hop and R&B music video show, set up in a countdown format, that was broadcast on weekdays at 6:00 pm ET/5:00 pm CT on BET; it aired on a one-day delay on BET International. It was the network's highest- rated ...

''. She worked as an official MC for the

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The Pacers were first esta ...

' home games for the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

seasons. Hall previously emceed for the MiLB's

Indianapolis Indians The Indianapolis Indians are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. They are located in Indianapolis, Indiana, and play their home games at Victory Field, which open ...

, the WNBA's

Indiana Fever The Indiana Fever are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, playing in the Eastern Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded before the 2000 season began. The team is owned ...

, and the 2011 Big Ten Tournament. She also served as the MC for the NCAA Women's Final Four entertainment events, and "Tourney Town" for three years -

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

in 2011,

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

in 2012, and

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

in 2013. Hall was also the official MC for the Super Bowl Village, a 10-day-long entertainment for Super Bowl XLVI, in Indianapolis in 2012. There, she kept crowds energized, entertained between performances and introduced national recording artists to the stage, including

Patti LaBelle Patricia Louise Holte (born May 24, 1944), known professionally as Patti LaBelle, is an American R&B singer, actress and businesswoman. LaBelle is referred to as the " Godmother of Soul". She began her career in the early 1960s as lead singe ...

LMFAO LMFAO (an initialism for Laughing My Freaking Ass Off or Laughing My Fucking Ass Off) are an American electronic dance music duo consisting of Redfoo and Sky Blu. Redfoo is the youngest son of Motown Records founder Berry Gordy and Nancy Le ...

, and

Mike Epps Michael Elliot Epps (born November 18, 1970) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He played Day-Day Jones in ''Next Friday'' and its sequel, ''Friday After Next'', and also appeared in ''The Hangover'' and ''The Hangover Part III'' as "Bla ...

. Hall anchored the evening news for CW33's '

Nightcap News KDAF (channel 33) is a television station licensed to Dallas, Texas, United States, serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex with programming from The CW. It is owned and operated by network majority owner Nexstar Media Group (based in near ...

' at KDAF-TV in Dallas, Texas for much of 2013, before moving to NYC to accept a position at FUSE TV. At FUSE TV, she co-hosted ''Trending 10'', which was a live, daily countdown show. She has also been a recurring guest on VH1's ''

Big Morning Buzz Live ''Big Morning Buzz Live'' is a live daily morning news and pop culture talk show on VH1 that premiered on May 9, 2011, and aired its last episode on June 5, 2015. Broadcast weekday mornings and hosted by Nick Lachey, the show featured entertain ...

'' and has appeared on E!'s ''

Fashion Police ''Fashion Police'' is an American television series that premiered on September 10, 2010, on E!. It was originally hosted by Joan Rivers and featured panelists George Kotsiopoulos, Giuliana Rancic, and Kelly Osbourne commenting on celebrity fas ...

'' with

Joan Rivers Joan Alexandra Molinsky (June 8, 1933 – September 4, 2014), known professionally as Joan Rivers, was an American comedian, actress, producer, writer and television host. She was noted for her blunt, often controversial comedic persona—heavi ...

. Until July 2015, Hall worked for

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

, where she hosted '' The Challenge: Battle of the Exes II'' after-shows and various network specials. In the summer of 2015, Hall appeared alongside popular radio personality

Charlamagne Tha God Lenard Larry McKelvey (born June 29, 1978), known professionally as Charlamagne tha God or simply Charlamagne, is an American radio host and television personality. He is a co-host of the nationally syndicated radio show ''The Breakfast Club' ...

on his new

MTV2 MTV2 (formerly M2) is an American pay television Cable television, channel owned by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. The channel launched initially as an all-music video service, once the original MTV had started to sh ...

show, '' Uncommon Sense''. In October 2015, she returned as '' The Challenge: Battle of the Bloodlines'' after-show host. From 2015 to 2019, Hall was a fill-in anchor and daily correspondent for ''

E! News ''E! News'', previously known as ''E! News Daily'' and ''E! News Live'', is the entertainment news operation for the cable network E! in the United States. Its former on-air weekday newscast debuted on September 1, 1991, and primarily reports ...

.'' During her tenure, she hosted ''What's Good with Zuri Hall'' on

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

and co-hosted ''What the Fashion'' on

Snapchat Snapchat is an American multimedia instant messaging app and service developed by Snap Inc., originally Snapchat Inc. One of the principal features of Snapchat is that pictures and messages are usually only available for a short time before the ...

. In October 2019, she joined NBC as a correspondent for

Access Hollywood ''Access Hollywood'', formerly known as ''Access'' from 2017 to 2019, is an American weekday television entertainment news program that premiered on September 9, 1996. It covers events and celebrities in the entertainment industry. It was created ...

and a sideline reporter for ''

American Ninja Warrior American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

''. She is also a co-host of their new show ''AllAccess'', which focuses on entertainment news, human interest & true crime stories. Zuri has hosted

for the last two years; first for

Miss USA 2021 Miss USA 2021 was the 70th Miss USA pageant, held on November 29, 2021, at the Paradise Cove Theater of River Spirit Casino Resort in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The competition was hosted by Zuri Hall and Patrick Ta, while Nicole Adamo served as a lounge ...

, returning to host again for

Miss USA 2022 Miss USA 2022 was the 71st Miss USA pageant. The competition was held on October 3, 2022 at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada and was broadcast on the FYI cable channel. The competition was hosted by Zuri Hall for the second consecutive ...

Acting

Hall started her on-camera career as a commercial actress. She has been featured in national spots for

Value City Furniture American Signature, Inc. is a privately owned furniture company based in Columbus, Ohio. It is the parent company of the retail brands American Signature Furniture and Value City Furniture, and the manufacturer brand American Signature. Ame ...

, and commercials for Safe Auto,

Meijer Meijer Inc. (, ; stylized as meijer) is an American supercenter chain that primarily operates throughout the Midwest. Its corporate headquarters are in Walker, Michigan, which is a part of the Grand Rapids metropolitan area. Founded in 1934 as ...

, and

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

tourism. She has made numerous guest appearances on scripted television shows throughout her career. In 2019, she acted in a cameo opposite Jen Aniston, in Apple TV +'s "The Morning Show," and has made multiple appearances on TV Land's "Nobodies" (executive produced by

Melissa McCarthy Melissa Ann McCarthy (born August 26, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, producer, writer, and fashion designer. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including two Primetime Emmy Awards, and nominations for two Academy Awards and tw ...

), "The Arrangement" on E!, and the digital comedic series "Hashtaggers". Hall studied Improv at The

Upright Citizens Brigade The Upright Citizens Brigade is an improvisational and sketch comedy group that emerged from Chicago's ImprovOlympic in 1990. The original incarnation of the group consisted of Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts, Matt Walsh, Adam McKay, Ri ...

, in New York City.

Social Impact & Activism

Hall fronts the partnership between ''Access Hollywood'' and th
Black & Missing Foundation
— sitting down to exclusively interview authorities and the loved ones of missing people of color, to amplify their stories and highlight cold cases. She was a panelist on ''Bravo'''s 2020 televised special "Race in America : Our Vote Counts" ''—'' where she discussed the power of the Black vote. Zuri gave the keynote speech for her hometown

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

chapter's 2018 Freedom Fund banquet ''—'' emphasizing the importance of voting in midterm elections and personal economic empowerment. Hall also participated in the

Ad Council The Advertising Council, commonly known as the Ad Council, is an American nonprofit organization that produces, distributes, and promotes public service announcements on behalf of various sponsors, including nonprofit organizations, non-governme ...

's 'Know Your Girls' campaign (in partnership with

Susan G. Komen Susan G. Komen (formerly known as Susan G. Komen for the Cure; originally as The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation; often simply as Komen) is a breast cancer organization in the United States. Komen focuses on patient navigation and advo ...

) to raise breast cancer awareness for Black women; including being a speaker at the BlogHer Health 2019 Summit.

Notable Press

'
Paper Magazine "Black Excellence" Feature
'' '
Essence Magazine's October "It Girl" Feature
'' Hall has been featured in numerous publications—including as ''

Essence Essence ( la, essentia) is a polysemic term, used in philosophy and theology as a designation for the property or set of properties that make an entity or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it ...

'' Magazine's October 2016 "It Girl" of the month (with

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

and

Michelle Obama Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. She was the first African-American woman to serve in this position. She is married t ...

on the cover),

PAPER Magazine ''Paper'' (also known as ''Paper Mag'') is a New York City-based independent magazine focusing on fashion, popular culture, nightlife, music, art, and film. Initially produced monthly, the magazine eventually became a quarterly publication, and a ...

O, The Oprah Magazine ''O, The Oprah Magazine'', also known simply as ''O'', is an American monthly magazine founded by talk show host Oprah Winfrey and Hearst Communications. Overview It was first published on April 19, 2000. , its average paid circulation was ...

and numerous South African publications, including ''Sunday World'' and ''True Love'' magazine. She's also been featured in profile pieces for

AXS TV AXS TV is an American cable television channel. Majority-owned by Anthem Sports & Entertainment, it is devoted primarily to music-related programming (such as concert films, documentaries, and reality series involving musicians) and combat sport ...

, in ''Metromix Indy'' as a Local Celebrity, ''Ballers Block'' as a "game changer", AMPS Indy, and ''

The Indianapolis Star ''The Indianapolis Star'' (also known as ''IndyStar'') is a morning daily newspaper that began publishing on June 6, 1903, in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. It has been the only major daily paper in the city since 1999, when the ''Indianap ...

''.

Other ventures

She also started a YouTube channel titled, "Hey Zuri Hall" where she talks about, "love life, and style for girls who hustle." Her channel has more than 100,000 subscribers, and has accumulated over 5 million total views. In November 2019, Hall launched her podcast. ''Zuri Hall's Hot Happy Mess'' in collaboration with

iHeartRadio iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast and radio streaming Computing platform, platform owned by iHeartMedia. It was founded in August 2008. , iHeartRadio was functioning as the national umbr ...

and

's Black Effect Podcast Network. She also has a blog on her official website called ''#AlphaBabe''. In 2020, Hall was featured in the season 2 of '' Bravo TVs program ''Race in America'', a roundtable with NBC members discussing the power of the black vote.

Awards and nominations

One year after graduating from college, Hall won a

Regional Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for Outstanding Host and Talent. In 2017, she earned a

Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences ...

nomination for Outstanding Entertainment News Program as a part of ''E! News''.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Zuri 1988 births Living people Actresses from Los Angeles Actresses from Toledo, Ohio African-American actresses African-American television personalities Maumee Valley Country Day School alumni Ohio State University alumni People from Toledo, Ohio Journalists from Ohio African-American women journalists African-American journalists 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women Regional Emmy Award winners