Nancy O'Dell

Television

Birthday February 25, 1966

Birth Sign Pisces

Birthplace Sumter, South Carolina, U.S.

Age 58 years old

Nationality United States

#45780 Most Popular

1966

Nancy O'Dell (born Nancy Evelyn Humphries; February 25, 1966) is an American television host and entertainment journalist.

O'Dell was born in 1966 in Sumter, South Carolina, and moved to Myrtle Beach as an infant.

She has one sister.

1984

After her 1984 graduation from the now-defunct Coastal Academy High School, she graduated with a summa cum laude bachelor's degree in marketing from Clemson University in 1990.

At Clemson, O'Dell joined Kappa Kappa Gamma.

1987

She won the Miss South Carolina pageant in 1987 and represented the state at Miss America 1988, where she won a preliminary swimsuit award.

1990

In 1990, in the Miss South Carolina USA pageant, she finished first runner-up to Gina Tolleson, who became the first runner-up in Miss USA 1990 before winning Miss World that year.

O'Dell began her broadcasting career as a reporter and anchor at WPDE-TV in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

She later worked as morning news anchor and crime reporter at WCBD-TV in Charleston, South Carolina.

While there, her reports on the lenient police approach to DUI cases led to a State Law Enforcement Division investigation that resulted in authorities issuing more stringent directive for such cases.

She was honored by the Associated Press with the Best Report of the Year Award (all media, South Carolina).

1993

In 1993, she joined NBC's WTVJ in Miami, co-anchoring the 5:30 p.m. news with Jackie Nespral.

1995

O'Dell left that station in 1995 to move to Las Vegas.

O'Dell was married to Dr. Richard O'Dell from September 30, 1995, to November 4, 2004.

1996

While there she worked as an entertainment reporter for the nationally syndicated tabloid show A Current Affair until the show ended in 1996.

O'Dell joined the entertainment news program Access Hollywood when the program debuted in 1996.

In addition to her work as Access Hollywood's lead anchor, O'Dell contributed to NBC News' Today and Dateline NBC.

She covered such ceremonies as the Oscars, Emmys, Grammys, and Golden Globe Awards, as well as co-hosting a number of pre-shows and arrivals for the Emmys and Golden Globes.

1999

O'Dell appeared in minor roles in the television series Charmed (season 1 finale (1999) and season 5 premiere (2002). She guest starred in The Simpsons episode "Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder" (1999), voicing herself. She also portrayed herself in Scream 2 (1997), Scream 3 (2000), and Scream 4 (2011) and served as host and consulting producer of the USA Network talent competition Nashville Star for its first two seasons.

2004

O'Dell co-hosted the Miss USA and Miss Universe competitions in 2004 and 2005.

She co-hosted the New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade on WNBC from 2004 to 2006.

2005

In 2005, she married Keith Zubchevich.

2006

She co-hosted the Miss USA 2006 pageant with Drew Lachey, the Miss Universe 2006 pageant with Carlos Ponce, and the Miss USA 2007 pageant with Tim Vincent.

2007

O'Dell gave birth to their daughter, Ashby Grace, in June 2007, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

She said unexpected and surprising changes happened to her body during the pregnancy that prompted her to write a parenting book, Full of Life.

2008

On January 13, 2008, after the 65th Annual Golden Globe Awards were canceled as a result of the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, she co-hosted NBC's 65th Annual Golden Globe Awards Winners Special with Access Hollywood co-anchor Billy Bush.

2009

In 2009, O'Dell hosted NBC's pre-show for the 66th Annual Golden Globes with Tiki Barber and Brooke Burke.

She portrayed herself in the Hannah Montana season three episode "Cheat It".

She also appeared on the Fox sitcom Brothers, and in the same year she and Maria Menounos guest co-hosted WWE Raw on October 12.

O'Dell was to participate in the eighth season of Dancing with the Stars, paired with professional dancer Tony Dovolani, but had to withdraw before the season started after tearing her meniscus during training; her replacement was Melissa Rycroft.

O'Dell underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair it on March 20, 2009.

O'Dell's departure from Access Hollywood was announced in December 2009.

She left the show with two years left on her contract.

2010

On June 22, 2010, O'Dell hosted the Nashville Rising concert to provide flood relief for Nashville residents, after the floods in May of that year.

She shared hosting duties with Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.

An avid scrapbooker, in 2010 O'Dell partnered with Creative Memories to release her first collection of scrapbooking supplies, the Hummingbird Collection, and her second book, Full of Love: Mom-to-mom Advice for Enriching Families with Simple Photo Albums and Scrapbooking.

2011

She served as co-anchor of the syndicated entertainment news show Entertainment Tonight from January 3, 2011, to August 2, 2019.

On January 3, 2011, O'Dell joined Entertainment Tonight as a special correspondent, and she succeeded Mary Hart as co-anchor after Hart left the show in May 2011.

2019

On August 2, 2019, O'Dell announced on-air that she would be leaving Entertainment Tonight after that day's broadcast.

She also paid respects to her manager who recently died.