Nancy O'Dell

Nancy O'Dell (born Nancy Evelyn Humphries; February 25, 1966) is an American television host and entertainment journalist. She served as co-anchor of the syndicated entertainment news show Entertainment Tonight from January 3, 2011, to August 2, 2019.

Early life

O'Dell was born in 1966 in Sumter, South Carolina, and moved to Myrtle Beach as an infant. She has one sister. 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. She won the Miss South Carolina pageant in 1987 and represented the state at Miss America 1988, where she won a preliminary swimsuit award. 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.

Career

Early career

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). In 1993, she joined NBC's WTVJ in Miami, co-anchoring the 5:30 p.m. news with Jackie Nespral. O'Dell left that station in 1995 to move to Las Vegas. While there she worked as an entertainment reporter for the nationally syndicated tabloid show A Current Affair until the show ended in 1996.