Icon of the generation x– george stephanopoulos

ICONS OF THE GENERATION X–

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS

BY SUSAN GRAHAM

ORIGINSGeorge Robert Stephanopoulos was

Born on February 10, 1961 to parents Robert and Nikki Stephanopoulos. He is

the middle child and oldest son of 4 including an older sister, a younger

sister and younger brother.George is of Greek descent and his

original home was in Falls River, Massachusetts but grew up in

Cleveland, Ohio.He says his proudest childhood

achievement was being chosen as one of the Altar boys to represent the Greek

Orthodox Churches of the United States.

is father is a Greek Orthodox priest and Dean Emeritus of the Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in New

York City, and his mother was for many years director of the national news

service of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. In his youth, George also became a follower of his

parents' faith and long considered entering the priesthood himself.

HIGH SCHOOL YEARSStephanopoulos attended

Orange High School in Pepper Pike one of the eastern suburbs

of Cleveland, Ohio. This is George along with his HS pals and teammates from The Orange High School team from

1978.The same year Stephanopoulos

graduated.During his HS 4 years George

was a wrestler in which he states he was never that good but however he also states he

doesn’t know what drive he has but he is sure it comes from his mom Nikki who urged him not to quit wrestling and he says it made a huge difference in his

life.

COLLEGE YEARS

In 1982, he received his bachelor of arts degree in

political science from Columbia University in

New York, where he was a sports broadcaster for

WKCR-FM, the university's radio station.

Stephanopoulos was the salutatorian of his class and was also awarded a

Harry S. Truman Scholarship.

AFTER COLLEGEIn 1988, Stephanopoulos worked on the Michael Dukakis 1988 U.S.

presidential campaign. He has noted that one of his attractions to

this campaign was that Dukakis was a Greek-American liberal from

Massachusetts.After this campaign,

Stephanopoulos became the "floor man" for Dick Gephardt, U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader; he held this position until he joined

the Clinton campaign.Stephanopoulos was, along with

David Wilhelm and James Carville, a leading member of Clinton's 1992 U.S. presidential campaign. His role

on the campaign is portrayed in the documentary film The War

Room (1993).

At the outset of Clinton's presidency, Stephanopoulos served

as the de facto press secretary, briefing the press even though Dee Dee Myers was officially the White House Press Secretary. Later, he was moved to Senior Advisor on Policy and Strategy, when Myers began personally conducting the briefings) and David Gergen was

brought in as the new White House Communications Director.

LIFE POST-CLINTON

After leaving the White House at the end of Clinton's first term,

Stephanopoulos became a political analyst for

ABC News and served as a correspondent on This

Week, ABC's Sunday morning public affairs program; World News Tonight, the evening

news broadcast; Good Morning America, the

morning news program; along with other various

special broadcasts.

THIS WEEK – THE 1ST PHASE 2002-2009

In September 2002, Stephanopoulos became host of This Week, and ABC News officially named him "Chief Washington Correspondent"

in December 2005. The program's title added the

new host's name.When named to the position,

Stephanopoulos was a relative newcomer to the show, usurping longtime

panelists and short-term co-hosts Sam Donaldson and

Cokie Roberts who, for a few years, briefly replaced the

longtime original host, David Brinkley.

GOOD MORNING AMERICA AND RETURN TO THIS WEEK 2.0 PHASE

2009-PRESENTIn December 2009, ABC News president David Westin offered

Stephanopoulos Sawyer's job on Good Morning America after

Sawyer was named anchor of World News. Stephanopoulos

accepted the new position and began co-anchoring GMA on

December 14, 2009. Stephanopoulos announced on

January 10, 2010, that that would be his last broadcast as the

permanent host of This Week. However, after his successor,

Christiane Amanpour, left the show amid sagging ratings, it was

announced that Stephanopoulos would return as host of This Week

in December 2011.Stephanopoulos was one of the

substitute anchors for Sawyer on nights when she is away on assignment or unavailable.

DESCRIPTION OVER THE YEARS

As describe by high school buddy said high school friend David Pomerantz, who described Stephanopoulos as "a

nerd" who got into his share of fender-benders.

Also With help from his wife, Ali Wentworth-Stephanopoulos, longtime

friends James Carville and Mary Matalin, and a teacher and friend from

high school, the segment described Stephanopoulos as a highly intelligent family man who cannot change a light

bulb.

LOOKS AND HAIRSTYLEWith his height as 5' 7“George Stephanopoulos is highly

considered as an influence for short guys to pack KILLER punch and giving preppies confidence to fight back against naysayers and bullies who ridicule their

height.George’s usual style is outside of

the news desk is cool casual with jeans and a button shirt

(always light blue or sometimes white).

A sweet triple threat sweater, Button up shirt (sleeves rolled up – his signature style in any

season).George is a brunet haired with little gray better known as Salt and Pepper in hair terms. His hairstyle trademark is usually

his bangs is flipped to the right (despite he’s left-handed) His hairstyle is among the sexiest

hairstyles for the guys and probably baldy boys are so

jealous.

STATUS AS A POP ICON

Stephanopoulos was the inspiration for the character of

Henry Burton in Joe Klein's novel Primary Colors (1996). Burton was subsequently portrayed by Adrian

Lester in the 1998 film adaptation.

Michael J. Fox's character, Lewis Rothschild, in the film The

American President (1995), written by Aaron Sorkin was

modeled after Stephanopoulos. He was also used by Sorkin as the model for Rob Lowe's character, Sam Seaborn, on the television drama series The West Wing.

According to Stephanopoulos, his role in the Clinton administration was more like Bradley Whitford's

character Josh Lyman than Seaborn or Rothschild.

LIFE AS A FAMILY MAN

George married actress, comedienne and also

alumna of the 1990’s variety classic In Living Color

Alexandra Wentworth and together they have 2

daughters. Elliott Anastasia

Stephanopoulos (12 years old) and Harper Andrea

Stephanopoulos (10 years old). The family lives in

Manhattan.

ABC NEWS CHIEF ANCHOR – PHASE 2.1

Following Diane Sawyer's departure from World News at the

end of August 2014, Stephanopoulos became the Chief

Anchor at ABC News while retaining his current roles on GMA and This Week. Stephanopoulos is now the lead anchor for coverage

of breaking news and major special events. Stephanopoulos is

the only chief anchor of a U.S. network news division not to anchor or serve as managing

editor of the evening newscast (those duties were taken over by

David Muir).