Thomas Edward Llamas ( ; born July 2, 1979) is an American journalist currently working for

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Media Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's various operations r ...

as the anchor of ''

NBC Nightly News ''NBC Nightly News'' (titled as ''NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas'' for its weeknight broadcasts ) is the flagship daily evening News broadcasting#Television, television news program for NBC News, the news division of the NBC television network ...

'' and ''Top Story with Tom Llamas''. He worked for

ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...

as the weekend anchor of ''

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 ...

'' from 2014 until 2021, before joining NBC News as Senior National Correspondent and anchor for NBC News Now, hosting ''Top Story with Tom Llamas'', and serving as a substitute anchor for ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * The current day and calendar date ** Today is between and , subject to the local time zone * Now, the time that is perceived directly, present * The current, present era Arts, entertainment and m ...

'' and ''NBC Nightly News''. On March 5, 2025, Llamas was named as

Lester Holt Lester Don Holt Jr. (born March 8, 1959) is an American journalist who was the news anchor for the weekday edition of ''NBC Nightly News,'' NBC Nightly News Kids Edition, and is currently news anchor for '' Dateline NBC''. On June 18, 2015, Ho ...

's successor as anchor and managing editor of ''NBC Nightly News'' beginning June 2, 2025. He has won multiple

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

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

Early life

Llamas was born in

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

, on July 2, 1979, to Cuban immigrants who had fled the

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

political refugee The right of asylum, sometimes called right of political asylum (''asylum'' ), is a juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereign authority, such as a second country or another enti ...

s. He attended

Belen Jesuit Preparatory School Belen Jesuit Preparatory School ( Spanish: ''Colegio Preparatorio Jesuita Belén'') 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 Mi ...

in Miami. Llamas graduated from

Loyola University Loyola University is one of several Jesuit Universities named for St. Ignatius of Loyola. Loyola University may refer to: Democratic Republic of the Congo *Loyola University of Congo, Kinshasa, Congo Spain * Loyola University Andalusia, Sevilla ...

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, Louisiana, with bachelor's degrees in broadcast journalism, and drama and speech. He was also a member of the LA Gamma chapter of

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

, a social fraternity.

Career

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

MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

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

WTVJ WTVJ (channel 6) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States. It is owned and operated by the NBC television network through its NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Fort Lauderdale–licensed WSCV (channel 51), a flag ...

in Miami. Llamas moved to New York and joined

WNBC WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey� ...

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 anchor for '' 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 ''

'' 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. A member of the Bush family, Bush political family, he was an unsuccessful candidate for pre ...

and

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

of the term " anchor baby" 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 Media Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's various operations r ...

beginning May 3, 2021. A rebroadcast of the newscast, called ''Top Story with Tom Llamas,'' was added to the overnight schedule of most NBC stations on weeknights on March 28, 2022, replacing a replay of ''

''s fourth hour. On March 5, 2025, NBC News announced Llamas as the successor to

as anchor and managing editor of ''

''. Llamas will continue to anchor ''Top Story''. He debuted as anchor for ''Nightly News'' on June 2, 2025.

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 large and devastating tropical cyclone which ravaged the Caribbean and the coastal Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States in late ...

. His first Emmy was awarded in 2008 for his reporting as the first TV journalist to work on a

human smuggling People smuggling (also called human smuggling), under U.S. law, is "the facilitation, transportation, attempted transportation or illegal entry of a person or persons across an international border, in violation of one or more countries' laws, ...

interdiction at sea with the U.S. Coast Guard. He won an

in 2013 for his coverage of

Hurricane Irene Hurricane Irene was a large and destructive tropical cyclone which affected much of the Caribbean and East Coast of the United States during late August 2011. The ninth tropical cyclone naming, named storm, first hurricane, and first major ...

Personal life

Llamas has three children with his wife, Jennifer. The family formerly lived in

Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan, serving as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Building, the ...

before moving to

Purchase, New York Purchase is a hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set ...

, in 2022. Llamas and his wife are Catholic.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Llamas, Tom 1979 births 20th-century Roman Catholics 21st-century American journalists 21st-century Roman Catholics American people of Cuban descent American television news anchors American television reporters and correspondents Catholics from Florida Catholics from New York (state) Living people Loyola University New Orleans alumni NBC News people People from Purchase, New York