Jean Martirez (born January 19, 1963) is a Filipino-American newscaster who formerly co-anchored the KTTV FOX 11 Morning News for 17 years, with Tony McEwing.

Background

Personal

Martirez was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

where her parents met. She is a first generation Filipino-American and is of mixed

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

and Spanish heritage. Martirez attended the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

, where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority, and graduated with a

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 years ...

degree in journalism. Martirez lives in Malibu, California with her husband and two children.

Career

Martirez began her broadcasting career working as a weekend anchor and reporter for KOMU in

Columbia, Missouri Columbia is a city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It is the county seat of Boone County and home to the University of Missouri. Founded in 1821, it is the principal city of the five-county Columbia metropolitan area. It is Missouri's fourth ...

. She then moved on to WXII in

Winston-Salem Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the 5th most populous city in N ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

where she worked as a morning anchor and reporter. She was then hired as an anchor and reporter for the

Harlingen, Texas Harlingen ( ) is a city in Cameron County in the central region of the Rio Grande Valley of the southern part of the U.S. state of Texas, about from the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The city covers more than and is the second-largest city in ...

CBS-affiliate

KGBT KGBT may refer to: * KGBT-TV, a television station (channel 4 virtual/18 digital) licensed to Harlingen, Texas, United States * KGBT-FM, a radio station (98.5 FM) licensed to McAllen, Texas, United States * KGBT (AM) KGBT (1530 kHz, "TUDN Radio ...

. She then relocated to

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , s ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

where she began working for ABC-affiliate KSAT as a morning anchor. Martirez joined KTTV in October 1995 as a general assignment reporter for the station's morning news and its

Good Day LA ''Good Day L.A.'' is an American morning television news and entertainment program airing on KTTV (channel 11), a Fox owned-and-operated television station in Los Angeles, California, owned by the Fox Television Stations subsidiary of Fox Corpor ...

program. Prior to arriving at KTTV Martirez worked at the

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

CBS-affiliate

KCNC KCNC-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Denver, Colorado, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, and maintains studios on Lincoln Street (betwee ...

anchoring their morning newscasts. In Denver from 1993–1995, Martirez hosted an

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 ...

winning syndicated children's newsmagazine ''"News for Kids".'' In early October 2012, Martirez stopped appearing on the Fox 11 Morning news. This led many people to speculate whether Martirez had been axed from Fox after seeing the departures of Dorothy Lucey and

Jillian Reynolds Jillian Marie Barberie (née Warry; born September 26, 1966) is a Canadian-born American television hostess, sportscaster, radio personality and actress. From 1995 to 2012, she was a co-host on the Los Angeles television morning news and enterta ...

. Jean quickly denied rumors by stating on Twitter that she was still with the show and just on sick leave. A few days later she finally hinted at her departure in a tweet that she had cleaned out her desk. Lucey soon confirmed Martirez's departure on her blog.

Awards & nominations

* 2007,

nomination * 2009, Emmy Award nomination

References

External links

KTTV Fox 11 On-Air Talent Bio (archived)MyFox Chattanooga Jean Martirez Blog
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Martirez, Jean 1963 births Living people American writers of Filipino descent American women television journalists People from Chicago Journalists from Illinois 21st-century American women