Samantha Harris (born Samantha Harris Shapiro; November 27, 1973) is an American television presenter, model, and

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 ...

and actress, known as the co-host of seasons two through nine of ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the form ...

'' with

Tom Bergeron Thomas Raymond Bergeron (born May 6, 1955) is an American television personality, game show host, comedian and actor, best known for hosting ''Hollywood Squares'' from 1998 to 2004, ''America's Funniest Home Videos'' from 2001 to 2015, and ''Danci ...

. From 2010–12, she was a correspondent at ''

Entertainment Tonight ''Entertainment Tonight'' (or simply ''ET'') is an American first-run syndicated news broadcasting newsmagazine program that is distributed by CBS Media Ventures throughout the United States and owned by Paramount Streaming. ET also airs in Aus ...

''. In September 2015, she returned to the program as a co-anchor for the weekend edition.

Early life

Harris was born in

Hopkins, Minnesota Hopkins is a small suburban city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, located west of Minneapolis. Hopkins was the headquarters of Minneapolis-Moline, which was a large manufacturer of tractors and agricultural equipment in the United ...

, to Richard, a rock 'n' roll promoter, and Bonnie (née Harris) Shapiro, a dancer. In 1982, her parents founded a

renaissance festival A Renaissance fair, Renaissance faire or Renaissance festival is an outdoor gathering open to the public and typically commercial in nature, which purportedly recreates a historical setting for the amusement of its guests. Some are permanent the ...

, known as

King Richard's Faire King Richard's Faire is a Renaissance Faire held in Carver, Massachusetts, which recreates a 16th-century marketplace, including handmade crafts, foods, musicians, singers, dancers, minstrels, mimes, jugglers, whip artists, magicians, comedians, ...

, which operates in

Carver, Massachusetts Carver is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 11,645 at the 2020 census. It is named for John Carver, the first governor of the Plymouth Colony. The town features two popular tourist attractions: Edavil ...

, seasonally, which continues . She had a

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 ...

upbringing. She graduated from

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

TV hosting

On December 16, 2008, Harris joined '' The Insider'' as a substitute host and correspondent. She had previously been a correspondent with E! Entertainment Television's ''

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

'', and host of ''THS Investigates''. In addition to writing, producing and reporting daily for E! News, she co-hosted the network's live award-show coverage for the

Oscars The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

Golden Globes The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of ...

and

Emmys 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 ...

. She has also appeared as a special correspondent on ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. ...

''. Prior to joining E!, Harris served as a weekend co-host for the

infotainment Infotainment (a portmanteau of ''information'' and ''entertainment''), also called soft news as a way to distinguish it from serious journalism or hard news, is a type of media, usually television or online, that provides a combination of inf ...

show '' Extra'', where she interviewed hundreds of celebrities and served as an anchor for the show's

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

bureau. Her best known hosting job was for ''

'' along with

. She took over in 2006 for

Lisa Canning Lisa Canning (born November 7, 1966) is a Virgin Islander American television and radio hostess and correspondent. Career Her credits include ''Entertainment Tonight'' from 1996 to 1999,Lavin, Cheryl (9 March 1997)Fast Track - Lisa Canning ''Ch ...

. Her other hosting credits include Fox's '' The Next Joe Millionaire'' and ''AMC Access'' (the short-lived spinoff of '' Access Hollywood'' produced for AMC). Additionally, she also served as a guest co-host on '' The View''. She hosted a week of ''

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' (often informally called ''Millionaire'') is an international television game show franchise of British origin, created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill and Steven Knight. In its format, currently owned and l ...

'' shows on May 11–15, 2009. Harris announced on January 28, 2010 that she would leave ''

'' to focus on other projects like her correspondent duties at '' The Insider'' and ''

''. Season 7 champion Brooke Burke replaced Harris as co-host in the spring 2010 season. In August 2022, it was announced that Harris will host the second season of

Game Show Network Game Show Network (GSN) is an American basic cable channel owned by Sony Pictures Television. The channel's programming is primarily dedicated to game shows, including reruns of acquired game shows, along with new, first-run original and revive ...

's '' Tug of Words'', replacing

Ahmad Rashad Ahmad Rashad (born Robert Earl Moore; November 19, 1949) is an American sportscaster and former professional football player. He was the fourth overall selection of the 1972 NFL Draft, taken by the St. Louis Cardinals. He was known as Bobby Mo ...

, who hosted the first season.

Acting work

Her film and television credits include '' D3: The Mighty Ducks'', '' Drop Dead Gorgeous'', ''

Surviving Gilligan's Island ''Surviving Gilligan's Island: The Incredibly True Story of the Longest Three-Hour Tour in History'' is a 2001 American made-for-television docudrama film based on the 1964–1967 television sitcom ''Gilligan's Island''. Originally airing o ...

'' (in which she portrayed the actress

Dawn Wells Dawn Elberta Wells (October 18, 1938 – December 30, 2020) was an American actress known for her role as Mary Ann Summers on the CBS sitcom ''Gilligan's Island''. Early life Wells was born to Evelyn (née Steinbrenner) and Joe Wesley Wells ...

), ''

Reefer Madness ''Reefer Madness'' (originally made as ''Tell Your Children'' and sometimes titled ''The Burning Question'', ''Dope Addict'', ''Doped Youth'', and ''Love Madness'') is a 1936 American propaganda film about drugs, revolving around the melodramat ...

'', '' Beautiful'', ''

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', also referred to as ''CSI'' and ''CSI: Las Vegas'', is an American procedural forensics crime drama television series that ran on CBS from October 6, 2000, to September 27, 2015, spanning 15 seasons. This wa ...

'', among others. She made her Broadway debut in 2009 as Roxie Hart in ''

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

''. She performed a six-week engagement in the long-running musical from July 7 through August 16 at the Ambassador Theatre. After her Broadway run, Harris played Roxie in the Greenville, SC, engagement of the national tour, August 18–23, at the Peace Center.

Public image

Harris has been a three-time cover girl model for ''

Muscle & Fitness ''Muscle & Fitness'' is an American fitness and bodybuilding magazine founded in 1935 by Canadian entrepreneur Joe Weider. It was originally published under the title ''Your Physique'', before being renamed to ''Muscle Builder'' in 1954, and acq ...

: HERS'', and for ''

FHM ''FHM'' (For Him Magazine) is a British multinational men's lifestyle magazine that was published in several countries. Its master edition contained features such as the ''FHM'' 100 Sexiest Women in the World, which has featured models, actres ...

'', ''

SELF The self is an individual as the object of that individual’s own reflective consciousness. Since the ''self'' is a reference by a subject to the same subject, this reference is necessarily subjective. The sense of having a self—or ''selfhoo ...

'', and ''

SHAPE A shape or figure is a graphical representation of an object or its external boundary, outline, or external surface, as opposed to other properties such as color, texture, or material type. A plane shape or plane figure is constrained to lie ...

'' magazines, and in various ads and commercials. She was featured in the December 2006 issue of FHM magazine. In November 2007, Harris was announced as the spokesperson for Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula line, where she was featured in a national print and television campaign. That occurred as Harris won consecutive 2007 and 2008 Crown Awards for the "Best Hairstyle on Television" from voters at Super-Hair.Net.

Personal life

Harris married Michael Hess in 2005. Harris gave birth to the couple's first daughter in 2007 and missed the season five premiere of ''

''. She returned on October 15, 2007. Drew Lachey, winner of season two, filled in for the first three weeks of competition while Harris was out. Three years later, Harris delivered the couple's second daughter. In April 2014, Harris announced that she was diagnosed with

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or ...

and would undergo a double mastectomy. In October 2014, she announced that she was cancer free.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Samantha 1973 births Living people Actresses from Minnesota American film actresses American musical theatre actresses American television actresses American television hosts American women television presenters American television reporters and correspondents Jewish American actresses Jewish American philanthropists Jewish female models Journalists from Minnesota Medill School of Journalism alumni People from Hopkins, Minnesota American women television journalists Female models from Minnesota 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American women