Thomas Edward Llamas ( ; born July 2, 1979) is an American

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

who was the weekend anchor for '' World News Tonight'' on ABC from 2014 to 2021. Afterward, he left

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 with David Muir''; other programs include morning news-talk show '' Good Morning America'', '' ...

for rival

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's v ...

, with his last ABC broadcast being on January 31, 2021. On May 3, 2021, he officially joined

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

as Senior National Correspondent and anchor for NBC News Now, hosting ''Top Story with Tom Llamas'', as well as being a fill-in & substitute anchor for ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 ...

'', and NBC Nightly News, He has won multiple

Emmy Award 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 ...

s for his reporting, as well as two Edward R. Murrow awards.

Early life

Llamas was born in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

, Florida, on July 2, 1979, to Cuban immigrants who had fled the island as political refugees. He attended The

Belen Jesuit Preparatory School Belen Jesuit Preparatory School is a private, Catholic, all-male, preparatory school run by the Antilles Province of the Society of Jesus in Tamiami, Page 1anPage 2/ref> unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, operated by the Society of J ...

in Miami. He is a graduate of Loyola University in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is bord ...

, and was a member of the LA Gamma chapter of

Sigma Phi Epsilon Sigma Phi Epsilon (), commonly known as SigEp, is a social college fraternity for male college students in the United States. It was founded on November 1, 1901, at Richmond College (now the University of Richmond), and its national headquarte ...

. He received bachelor's degrees in Broadcast Journalism and Drama and Speech which he completed in May 2001.

Career

Llamas began his broadcasting career in 2000 with the NBC News Specials Unit and moved to

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...

where he worked from 2000 to 2005 and covered mostly politics. After that he moved to NBC's WTVJ in

. Llamas moved to New York and joined

WNBC WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo stati ...

and

in 2009 as general-assignment reporter and anchor. In September 2014, he moved to

as a New York-based correspondent and substituted for

David Muir David Jason Muir (born November 8, 1973) is an American journalist and the anchor of ''ABC World News Tonight'' and co-anchor of the ABC News magazine ''20/20'', part of the news department of the ABC broadcast-television network, based in ...

on ''

ABC World News Tonight ''ABC World News Tonight'' (titled ''ABC World News Tonight with David Muir'' for its weeknight broadcasts since September 2014) is the flagship daily evening television news program of ABC News, the news division of the American Broadcasting ...

'' over the Christmas 2014 period. In 2015, Llamas became the Sunday anchor of ''ABC World News Tonight''. He became the sole weekend anchor in January 2017. During the 2016 U.S. Presidential Campaign, Llamas spent the year reporting on the Republican candidates. He criticized the use by

Jeb Bush John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (born February 11, 1953) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. Bush, who grew up in Houston, was the second son of former President George H. W. Bush ...

and

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

of the term "

anchor baby Anchor baby is a term (regarded by some as a pejorative) used to refer to a child born to a non-citizen mother in a country that has birthright citizenship which will therefore help the mother and other family members gain legal residency. In the ...

" and was called a "sleaze" by Trump after questioning him about the amount of money he had donated to charity. In January 2021, it was reported that Llamas would leave ABC News and return to NBC News. His last broadcast on ABC News was on January 31, 2021. In April 2021, it was announced that Llamas was named senior national correspondent for NBC News and will anchor a primetime newscast for

NBC News Now NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...

. On March 28, 2022, a rebroadcast of that evening's ''Top Story with Tom Llamas'' was added to NBC's overnight schedule on weeknights, replacing a replay of ''Today''s fourth hour.

Awards

Llamas has won several awards including an

for "Best Anchor" and "Best Hard News Story" and a regional Edward R. Murrow Award for WNBC-TV's coverage of

Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...

. His first Emmy was awarded in 2008 for his reporting as the first TV journalist to work on a human smuggling interdiction at sea with the U.S. Coast Guard. He won an

in 2013 for his coverage of Hurricane Irene.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Llamas, Tom 1979 births Living people ABC News personalities American people of Cuban descent American television news anchors American television reporters and correspondents Loyola University New Orleans alumni NBC News people