Lester Don Holt Jr. is a multiple-award winning journalist and a familiar face on NBC as he serves as the news anchor for the weekday edition of NBC Nightly News and Dateline NBC America.
He has been in the profession for over three decades now and has crossed many milestones in the profession.
Lester Don Holt Jr. has won many accolades as well. Read on to know more about Lester Holt as we serve you with his biography, career, personal life, family and social media.
Profile Summary of Lester Holt
Full name | Lester Don Holt Jr. |
Date of Birth | 8th March,1959. |
Age | 63 years(as of 2022) |
Profession | Journalist, News anchor, actor |
Height | 1.87m(6’2”) |
Nationality | American |
Source of wealth | NBC |
Annual income | $10M |
Net worth | $35M |
Early Life (Age, Parents, Siblings and Ethnicity)
Lester Holt was born on March 8, 1959 in Hamilton Air Force Base, Martin County California to parents, June and Lester Holt Sr.
His father was an Air Force master sergeant while his mother was a regional planner. He is the last to be born among four children.
As of 2022, he is 63 years old. Lester has interesting roots. He is a Black American who has parents of disparate roots. His father was African American while his mother has Jamaican roots. His maternal grandparents were born in Jamaica.
Education
Lester Don Holt Jr. had all his education in California. He graduated Cordova High School in Rancho, Cordova in the year 1977.
He moved on to California State University, Sacramento where he majored in government. Lester however never completed the course.
He dropped out of school in the year 1979. Holt first started working as DJ with a radio station while in university. He kept that job for the remainder of his days in university.
Career
Lester Holt is a journalist and news anchor for the weekday edition of NBC Nightly News and Dateline NBC.
Lester Holt began his professional work in 1981 when he got hired as a reporter for WCBS-TV in New York. In 1986, Holt moved to WBBM-TV in Chicago.
He spent 14 years as a news anchor there. He joined NBC News in the year 2000 and in 2003, he began serving as a substitute anchor at NBC news during NBC Nightly News and Today.
He later became the permanent anchor of the NBC Nightly News after replacing Williams who was suspended. He is the first Black person to solo anchor a weekday network nightly newscast.
Lester also hosted other special shows on NBC. In 2008, he helped with coverage of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
He moderated a presidential debate early 2016. The following year, he interviewed President Donald Trump.
The interview gave him quite an amount of recognition as many other journalists regarded Lester as having asked difficult but appropriate questions.
Lester Holt has won many accolades connected to his profession. He has won multiple Emmy awards as well as a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism award (1990).
In 2012, the Pepperdine University conferred on him an honorary Doctorate degree .
He received another honorary Doctorate Degree from his very own alma mater, California State University in the year 2015. On October 28 of the same year, Lester was inducted into the California Hall of Fame.
In 2016, The National Association of Black Journalists picked Lester as Journalist of the Year. In 2019, he received the Walter Cronkite for Excellence in Journalism.
Apart from news-related appearances on television, Lester has made quite a number of appearances in films and TV shows as well.
Some of these are “The Fugitive”(1993), “U.S Marshals”, “Law & Order” among others.
In 2008, he hosted Sci-Fi channel documentary “Mystery of the Crystal Skulls”.
Personal Life (Wife and Children)
Lester Holt lives in Manhattan with his wife Carol Hagen (whom he married in 1982) and two sons Stefan and Cameron. Like father like son, Stefan is also a news reporter and works for WNBC.
Cameron is however a financial analyst. Lester is a christian and attends Manhattan Church of Christ.
Measurements (Height, Body Weight)
He is a bit of a musician himself and loves to play the bass guitar and the upright bass.
Lester Holt cuts an imposing figure with a height of 1.87m (6 feet 2 inches ).
Social Media
Lester Holt is quite active on social media and has active accounts some social media platforms.
On Instagram, his account ‘Lester Holt’ has over 217,000 followers. He also has over 552000 followers on Twitter.
Lifestyle
Apart from his professional work, Lester loves music and plays the bass guitar. He also loves to bake special desserts whenever he gets the chance.
Net Worth (Salary, Income and Investments)
Lester Holt is indeed a man of substance. He has a net worth of approximately $35 million.
He earns an annual salary of $10million. He mainly earns from his job as a journalist working for NBC.
With his continued work as a top-notch journalist, the big bills will always find their way to him.
Frequently Asked Questions – FAQs
- Where does Lester Holt live?
Lester Holt lives in Manhattan with his wife and kids.
- How tall is Lester Holt?
Lester Holt is 1.8m or 6 feet 2 inches tall.
- Who is Lester Holt married to?
Lester Holt is married to Carol Hagen. They married in the year 1982 and have two children.
