Asunción "Sunny" Cummings Hostin (; born October 20, 1968) is an American lawyer, journalist, and television host. Hostin is co-host on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

's morning talk show '' The View'' as well as the Senior Legal Correspondent and Analyst for

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

. She was also the host and executive producer of

Investigation Discovery Investigation Discovery (stylized and branded on-air as ID since 2008) is an American multinational pay television network dedicated to true crime documentaries owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. As of February 2015, approximately 86 million Amer ...

's true crime series ''Truth About Murder with Sunny Hostin''.

Early life

Hostin was born on October 20, 1968 in New York City to a Puerto Rican mother, Rosa Beza, and an

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

father, William Cummings. Her maternal grandfather is

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 ...

. Hostin was raised in

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, New York City, attended the all-girls Dominican Academy, and is bilingual in English and Spanish. She received her

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 year ...

in English and Rhetoric from Binghamton University and her Juris Doctor from

Notre Dame Law School Notre Dame Law School is the professional graduate law school of the University of Notre Dame. Established in 1869, it is the oldest continuously operating Catholic law school in the United States. ND Law is ranked 22nd among the nation's "Top 1 ...

Career

Hostin began her career as a law clerk to retired Chief Judge of the

Maryland Court of Appeals The Supreme Court of Maryland is the highest court of the U.S. state of Maryland. Its name was changed on December 14, 2022, from the Maryland Court of Appeals, after a voter-approved change to the state constitution. The court, which is compose ...

Robert M. Bell and later became a trial attorney in the

U.S. Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

's Antitrust Division. Hostin left the Antitrust Division to become a federal prosecutor, specializing in child sex crimes. Hostin was awarded a Special Achievement Award for her successful prosecution of sex offenders. Hostin was also a Managing Director of Business Intelligence and Investigations at Kroll, the world’s leading risk-consulting company, where she led groups of investigators all over the world to investigate and uncover fraud. She began her television career as a commentator for Court TV and was then offered a spot on the

Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...

program ''

The O'Reilly Factor ''The O'Reilly Factor'' (originally titled ''The O'Reilly Report'' and also known as ''The Factor'') is an American cable television news and talk show. ''The O'Reilly Factor'' first aired in the United States on Fox News Channel on October 7 ...

'', where she appeared on the show's "Is It Legal?" segments, regularly debating with Bill O'Reilly and Megyn Kelly.

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 ...

President Jon Klein signed her to the network in September 2007 as the legal analyst for its flagship morning show '' American Morning''. In 2014, Hostin began frequently appearing as a guest contributor on the

daytime talk show '' The View''. Also in 2014, she appeared as a contestant on the Mother’s Day edition of

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ( ...

’s Chopped. She was eliminated in the final round, but returned the next year for the Amateurs Redemption episode, which she also did not win. In 2015, Hostin participated in a TEDx Talk titled ''A Possibility Model'' that details the effects of an early trauma. In March 2016, it was announced that Hostin was joining

as Senior Legal Correspondent and analyst. She became a permanent co-host of ''The View'' beginning the show's twentieth season in September 2016. In 2017, Hostin made a

cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...

as herself in the comedy film '' Girls Trip''. In 2019, Hostin hosted and executive-produced the six-episode documentary series ''Truth About Murder With Sunny Hostin'' on

, on which she travels to various parts of the US to explore the stories behind some of the nation’s most notorious homicides. She also hosted a podcast titled ''Have You Seen This Man?'', produced by ABC. Hostin released ''I Am These Truths'', a memoir, in 2020. The following year, she released a novel, titled ''Summer on the Bluffs''. The book will be adapted into a television series. Hostin is also set to executive-produce ''The Counsel'', a drama television series inspired by her life and career.

Personal life

Hostin is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. She is married to

orthopedic surgeon Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics ( alternatively spelt orthopaedics), is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal ...

Emmanuel Hostin. They have two children, a boy and a girl. The family resides in Purchase, New York.

Awards and nominations

References

External links