Biography

Ashleigh Banfield

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Overview

Born
December 29, 1967 · Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Birth name
Ashleigh Dennistoun Banfield

Mini bio

Award-winning veteran journalist Ashleigh Banfield was the host of "Banfield" on NewsNation.

"Banfield" aired weeknights at 10 p.m. ET, offering in-depth coverage of the day's top news stories. It also features Banfield interviewing newsmakers, politicians and celebrities.

Before joining NewsNation, Banfield, an Emmy, Telly, Iris, Gracie and National Headliner Award winner, served as a legal analyst and host for Court TV, as well as a regular contributor to Investigation Discovery's ID "Murder Mystery" series.

During her 30-year career, Banfield has served as host of the A+E prime-time series, "Live Rescue," host of "Primetime Justice with Ashleigh Banfield" on HLN, anchored "Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield" on CNN, and and co-anchored the CNN morning news show, "Early Start."

She has also served as a correspondent for ABC News, reporting for "Good Morning America," "20/20," "ABC World News Tonight," and "Nightline." Prior to ABC, Banfield anchored and hosted three programs on TruTV including the daily legal news program, "Banfield and Ford: Courtside," the weekly evening show, "Hollywood Heat," and the prime-time special series that she created and co-produced, "Disorder in the Court." As a correspondent for NBC News, Banfield reported for "The Today Show," "NBC Nightly News," and "Dateline." During this time, she also anchored several prime-time series on MSNBC, including "A Region in Conflict and Ashleigh Banfield: On Location."
- IMDb mini biography by: NewsNation Official Site Bio

Family

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Trivia

She has her own style of eye glasses, which were featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show (1986).
She once sang in a rock band.
(December 29, 2017) Married her boyfriend of 3 years Chris Haynor at the Hermitage Club ski lodge in Wilmington, Vermont following a 16-month-long engagement. The wedding came as a surprise to most of the 50 guests, who thought they were assembling for Banfield's 50th birthday party. According to Banfield, she slipped away to change into her gown - and no one knew what was happening. At 5 p.m. local time, the wedding march began to play. Banfield, accompanied by her two sons, walked down the lodge's grand staircase. Haynor unzipped his ski jacket and was wearing a suit underneath. "When everyone realized what was happening, they started to cheer," Banfield tells PEOPLE. Banfield and Haynor met on Match.com in October 2014. They arranged a lunch date - but never got around to eating. "We just sat there in the restaurant talking for five hours," Banfield laughs. "We never even ordered. We stayed until they asked us to leave." The couple headed to another restaurant for dinner. By the time the evening was over, "I knew I had found my soulmate," she says.
Suffered minor injuries in the aftermath of the World Trade Center collapse.
She has a bachelor's degree in Political Studies and French from Queens University in Ontario.