Anjali Rao is an Australian-Indian global television news anchor and broadcast journalist. She starred on season 5 of ''

The Real Housewives of Melbourne ''The Real Housewives of Melbourne'' (abbreviated ''RHOMelbourne'') is an Australian reality television series that premiered 23 February 2014 on Arena. It was developed as one of the international installments of ''The Real Housewives'', an Ame ...

''. Rao has spent over 25 years in television journalism, as an anchor and correspondent for

CNN International CNN International (CNNI, simply branded on-air as CNN) is an international television channel that is owned by CNN Global. CNN International carries news-related programming worldwide; it cooperates with sister network CNN's national and inter ...

, Sky News UK, Channel 5 UK as well as hosting ''The Project'' and ''

Studio 10 ''Studio 10'' is an Australian morning talk show on Network 10. The show airs between 8:30am and noon on weekdays and a highlights show airs between 9:30am and noon on weekends. ''Studio 10'' is broadcast live from Network 10 Studios in Pyrm ...

'' on Australia's

Network 10 Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

and for several years on

SBS One SBS is a national public television network in Australia. Launched on 24 October 1980, it is the responsibility of SBS's television division, and is available nationally. In 2018, SBS had a 7.7% audience share. As of 2022, SBS is the lowe ...

public affairs program ''

Dateline A dateline is a brief piece of text included in news articles that describes where and when the story was written or filed, though the date is often omitted. In the case of articles reprinted from wire services, the distributing organization i ...

.'' She has also been host of the nightly news, current affairs and entertainment programme, ''The Anj, Rob and Robbo Show''.

Early life

Born in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

, Anjali Rao was educated mainly in England at

Cobham Hall School Cobham Hall School is an independent day and boarding school for girls in the English parish of Cobham, Kent. It is a Round Square school and a member of the Girls' Schools Association. The school is housed in Cobham Hall, a Tudor era Grade I l ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, and

King's School, Canterbury The King's School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for 13 to 18 year old pupils) in Canterbury, Kent, England. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group. It is Britain's ...

, followed by the

City University, London City, University of London, is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, and a member institution of the federal University of London. It was founded in 1894 as the Northampton Institute, and became a university when The City Univ ...

, where she earned a bachelor's degree with Honours in Sociology and Media Studies. Her father was an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

doctor, Dr Prithvi Raj Rao, from Bangalore, although born in Burma. He died suddenly at the age of 55, when she was almost five years old. Her mother, Cynthia Lockeyear, is from

Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is a city in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2019, Bendigo had an urban populat ...

, Victoria, Australia, and now lives in the UK.

Career

Prior to joining CNN, Rao worked as a producer and reporter at

's Wharf Cable Television and at the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. She went on to the principal news anchor role at

Star TV Star TV may refer to: * E! (Canadian TV channel) (formerly Star!), a Canadian entertainment news channel * Las Estrellas (Spanish for The Stars), the Mexican television network * Estrella TV (Spanish for Star TV), the American Spanish-language net ...

where she won the top prize at the 2004 Amnesty International Human Rights Press Awards. In 2009, she was named Best Current Affairs Presenter at the Asian Television Awards while anchoring at

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 ...

. Anjali has also been the recipient of a number of other prestigious awards, including a Peabody Award. Rao is best known in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

as a presenter for Sky News and Channel 5 news. Rao was an anchor for

, from January 2006 until her resignation in August 2012. She presented CNN's breakfast show live to the world from the television network's

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

news headquarters in

. She also fronted CNN's flagship celebrity chat show ''

TalkAsia ''TalkAsia'' is a weekly half-hour interview show on CNN International, produced from the network's Asia-Pacific headquarters in Hong Kong. Each month, the show features a candid and in-depth conversation between a CNN correspondent and a newsma ...

'', interviewing household names such as U.S President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

, the

Dalai Lama Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current D ...

, Kobe Bryant,

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...

, Jay-Z,

Karl Lagerfeld Karl Otto Lagerfeld (; 10 September 1933 – 19 February 2019) was a German fashion designer, creative director, artist and photographer. He was known as the creative director of the French fashion house Chanel, a position held from 1983 ...

, Rihanna,

Kevin Spacey Kevin Spacey Fowler (born July 26, 1959) is an American actor. He began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s, obtaining supporting roles before gaining a leading man status in film and television. Spacey has received various accolade ...

, Gwyneth Paltrow, and

Roger Federer Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-e ...

among many others. Rao was featured on season 5 of ''

''. On 21 November 2021, Rao quit the series. On 30 November 2022, it was announced that Rao was cast on ''Australian Survivor: Heroes V Villains'', being placed on the Villains tribe.

References

External links

*
Interview with Anjali Rao
Alumni of City, University of London Hong Kong journalists Hong Kong women journalists Australian people of Indian descent Hong Kong people of Indian descent Living people Special Broadcasting Service Australian television presenters Australian television journalists Australian women journalists Australian women television presenters Hong Kong people of Australian descent CNN people People educated at Cobham Hall School The Real Housewives of Melbourne Australian Survivor contestants {{HongKong-media-stub