Claudia Coffey Biography

Claudia Coffey is an Emmy Award winning American broadcast journalist. She is the co-anchor of WHAS11's News At 4 in Louisville, Kentucky.

Career

Coffey's TV career began with ABC affiliate WABG in Greenville, Mississippi in 1997, as the host of Good Morning Mississippi. She worked as a reporter at KARK in Little Rock, Arkansas and WVUE, in New Orleans, Louisiana before being hired in 2003 as the 4:30 p.m. anchor and 10 p.m. reporter for WTMJ-TV, the NBC affiliate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. While there, she extensively covered the 2004 presidential election. She interviewed Howard Dean, John Kerry and John Edwards as they crossed the hotly contested battleground state.

Coffey joined WTTG, the Fox-owned and operated station in Washington, D.C. in 2006, where she was a fill-in news anchor and reporter. While at WTTG, Coffey won a regional Emmy Award for her coverage of the alleged White House party crashers, Michaele and Tareq Salahi. Following her Emmy win, Coffey was also featured in the Diane Dimond book on the infamous couple called Cirque Du Salahi. She also covered the election and inauguration of President Barack Obama and Pope Benedict XVI's historic visit to the United States. Her stories often appeared on Fox News and Coffey has filled in as a substitute correspondent in the DC Bureau and as the live reporter for the Fox affiliate groups across the US.

Also while in Washington, D.C., Coffey worked as a freelance correspondent for CBS Newspath, covering several major national and international news stories, including the nomination of Chief Justice John Roberts, President George W. Bush's 2006 State of the Union address, the Iraq War and the congressional hearings on the federal response to Hurricane Katrina.

Coffey was hired by WHAS-TV in Louisville, Kentucky in April 2010, where she still works today.

Coffey has interviewed many prominent celebrities, including Tom Hanks, director Steven Spielberg, pop star Britney Spears, actors Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, and Airplane! writers David and Jerry Zucker,. She was co-host of The Travel Channel's coverage of Mardi Gras, alongside former Night Court star Harry Anderson.

Film

Coffey appeared as a news reporter in the 2003 movie Runaway Jury starring Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman. Coffey can be soon be seen as a reporter in the upcoming movie Shadow People starring Clint Eastwood's daughter, Alison Eastwood.

Education

Claudia Coffey graduated with honors from Assumption High School in Louisville, Kentucky. She earned her B.A from Indiana University with a double major in Political Science and Journalism. She graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University where she earned her Master's in International Relations.

Personal life & activism

Coffey is a mother of one son, Jack, who is afflicted with Long QT Syndrome, a rare heart condition in which delayed repolarization of the heart following a heartbeat increases the risk of episodes of irregular heartbeat. Coffey produced a widely acclaimed news special about the syndrome for WHAS. Reaction to the story of teen athletes and undiagnosed heart conditions and the need for automated external defibrillators in all schools led Coffey to launch a website, claudiacoffeyheartproject.org.

Awards

In June of 2013, Today's Woman Magazine called Coffey "The Most Admired Woman in Media" She was featured on the June cover. In September 2012, Business First named Coffey as one of the "40 Under 40" in the community. The business publication highlights the accomplishments and future potential of young leaders in the community. In July 2010, Louisville Magazine named Coffey the "Critic's Choice " for Best Weekend TV Anchor. In September 2011, Coffey appeared for the first time on the cover of Today's Woman magazine detailing her journey in television news, the passion she has for her hometown and the thrill and challenges of being a mother.