Biography

Failed her driving test 4 times as a student in England, and passed the test first time after moving to the U.S.A.

Lived in Iran until her late teens/early twenties. She left her homeland because of the Iranian Revolution.

Born in Ealing, London, England, to Patricia Anne (Hill) and Mohammad Taghi Amanpour. Her father was from a wealthy Persian family, and was born in Tehran. Her English mother was born in Paris, France, to English parents. Her parents met when her mother traveled to Iran.

Was an accomplished equestrian who competed as a child jockey.

Found out on the Genealogy show Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr that her paternal grandfather's brother was murdered in Iran and when her grandfather found out about it he went to Teheran to exact "blood money" and when he got to Teheran he was given a title given to clerics in order to appease him.

But 17 years ago, I arrived at CNN with a suitcase, with my bicycle, and with about 100 dollars.

It occurred to me that I have spent almost every working day of the past ten years living in a state of repressed fear.

U.S. soldiers, with whom I now have more than a passing acquaintance, joke that they track my movements in order to know where they will be deployed next.

[on being a war correspondent] There's a certain kind of person who's attracted to being an astro-physicist or a soldier or taking risks at sports. We need the adrenaline to keep us safe. We're not heroin addicts. If you want us to be the eyes and ears in our field - not people spinning in the blogosphere or sitting in armchairs opining about what's going on in the rest of the world - you need people who are willing to go to the battlefield.

If I had been reporting in World War II, would I have had to say, in the name of objectivity, 'Poor Mr. Hitler, he has a point'? No, you don't play footsie with the most appalling crimes known to humanity. I realized in Bosnia that, even if it it means you're going to be accused of not being fair, you have to tell the truth.