Maria Menounos

Actress 

Actress, filmmaker, TV news correspondent and humanitarian, Maria Menounos is one of the brightest stars in the worlds of entertainment and journalism today. From the podium she draws on the events of her young but dazzling career in empowering young journalists, filmmakers and artists to achieve their dreams, with her formula of discipline, dedication and enthusiasm. Maria also provides guidance on living well with diabetes (with which her father is afflicted) and growing up as a first-generation American, and speaks passionately about her favorite humanitarian causes-including Take Action Hollywood!, the charity she created to raise social awareness in the entertainment industry.

Now a hugely popular correspondent for Today and Access Hollywood, as well as an actress with recurring roles on Without a Trace and One Tree Hill, Maria has been an accomplished veteran journalist and entertainer since her teens. By the time she was named Entertainment Tonight's youngest-ever correspondent in 2002, Maria had traveled the world as an international reporter for Channel One News (the number one news source for America's youth); directed independent film's first fairy tale feature; and taken ET to number one weekend ratings on MTV and VH1. Astonishingly these accomplishments came in spite of her being a first-generation Greek-American who didn't learn English until she was in the third grade, and who worked after school cleaning nightclubs in Boston with her parents, while helping her father cope with his 30-year struggle against diabetes.

A young woman with a future as bright as her past, Maria is an articulate and engaging speaker who never fails to leave audiences delighted, informed and inspired.