Christiane Amanpour was born to an English mother, Patricia and an Iranian father Mohammed, in London, England, on January 12th 1958. When Christiane and her sister Lizzy were still young their parents moved them to Tehran, Iran. At that time country was under the regime of the Shah of Iran and Christiane’s family led a privileged life with her father working as an Iranian Airline executive.
In 1979, when Christiane was just eleven years old her family had to leave Iran with the founding of the Islamic Revolution in the county. When she returned to her birth country she attended the Holy Cross Convent School in Buckinghamshire and then the exclusive Roman Catholic, New Hall School. Amanpour’s university days were spent in America at the University of Rhode Island where she studied journalism. One of her college housemates was John F Kennedy Jr, with whom she remained close friends until his death in 1999. When she graduated, with a bachelor of arts in journalism she was instantly employed by NBC affiliate, WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island. But by 1993 she had been spotted by CNN and was sent on assignments around the world, including covering the conflicts in Sarajevo, Kuwait and Iraq. The first Persian Gulf War in 1990, saw Christiane covering the Iraqi occupation of neighbouring Kuwait and it was during this period that she became the face of CNN while covering the atrocities that Saddam Hussein inflicted on the civilians of Kuwait. She has been recognized as one of the top 100 Most Powerful Women.
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