Ryan Seacrest

Ryan Seacrest became an instant household name when he first appeared as a host on the now long-running competitive reality series "American Idol" (Fox, 2002-2016, ABC, 2018-) in 2002. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Seacrest was always taken with the idea of presenting and hosting, emceeing imaginary TV and radio shows for his family throughout his childhood. He snagged an internship at local radio station WSTR as a teenager, which eventually led to him DJing the overnight weekend shift for the channel while he was still in high school. After graduating, Seacrest studied journalism at the University of Georgia for a year before opting to leave for Hollywood at age 19, where he could begin auditioning as an on-camera host. He landed his first few jobs on minor shows like the "American Gladiators" (Syndicated, 1989-1996) spin-off "Gladiators 2000" (Syndicated, 1994-96), but his big break on the wildly popular "American Idol" proved to be the defining moment of his career. The notoriety that Seacrest gained from the show offered a slew of new opportunities from other areas of media in addition to television. Just two years after first appearing on the show, he was able to fulfill his dreams as a radio presenter, taking up the reigns for not one but two of his idols, first replacing radio station KIIS' longtime morning show host Rick Dees on the newly titled "On the Air with Ryan Seacrest," and next taking over hosting duties for DJ Casey Kasem as the host of the syndicated radio countdown program "American Top 40." He followed this the very next year with another epic milestone, taking up the mantle of a third titan of broadcasting, Dick Clark, as the new host of the yearly broadcast "New Year's Rockin' Eve" (ABC, 1974-). In 2006, Seacrest signed with the E! Network as a host on the red carpet at various awards ceremonies and events, and also as a producer behind the scenes. He remained a producer on "E! News" (E!, 1991-) as well as several other shows on the cable network including the massively popular "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" (E! 2007-), even after his contract as an on-camera host for the channel ended in 2012. At this point, Seacrest signed with NBC to host a number of broadcasts during the station's Olympic coverage. In 2017, Seacrest took over for Michael Strahan as a permanent co-host and executive producer on the long-running daytime talk show, newly titled "Live with Kelly and Ryan" (Syndicated, 1983-). That same year, "American Idol" made a move from the Fox network to ABC and Seacrest moved with it for a contract that was reported to be worth 10 million dollars.