• Evan Perez was born in Belize City, Belize to Mexican and Belizean parents
• He is a highly acclaimed journalist and reporter for CNN
• He attended the University of South Florida in Tampa and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism
• He has received numerous awards throughout his career, including a Pulitzer Prize nomination and a White House Correspondents Association’s Merriman Smith Award
• He has an estimated net worth of close to $1 million
Known for movies
From the Earth to the Moon 1998
as Camera and Electrical Department
Contents
Who is Evan Perez from CNN?
Evan Perez was born in Belize City, Belize of Mexican and Belizean descent. The exact date of his birth is unknown to the public. He is a highly acclaimed, award-winning journalist and reporter, who currently works as a Senior Justice Correspondent for CNN. Throughout his career he has reported on various crime, legal and national security issues in the US. He joined CNN in 2013.
Evan Perez Bio: Early Life, Family and Education
Evan Perez was born in the capital of Belize, but he spent most of his childhood in Sartaneja, the largest fishing community and the second largest village in Belize, as his entire family hails from this coastal village located in the northern part of the country. Unfortunately, not much is known about his parents and siblings.
In an interview with another highly acclaimed Belizean-born reporter Jules Vasquez, Perez stated that audacity was the most important thing in his journey from a humble, meek boy from Sartaneja to one of the most respected reporters in the US: ‘I think being audacious and never ever really thinking that you don’t belong somewhere is a definite part of the success that you can have in any, any path you choose in life’. He also claimed that he was drawn to journalism because journalists were not afraid of asking difficult questions. Therefore, having matriculated from high school, he decided to move to the US and enrolled at the University of South Florida in Tampa. After four years of study, he graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism.
Career Beginnings
Shortly after his graduation, Perez landed his first job in Miami. He began working as a reporter for the “Associated Press”, a multinational nonprofit news agency with headquarters in New York City, until 1998. After that, he spent several years working for The Wall Street Journal, and it was during his time there that he attracted national and international acclaim for his reporting and journalism work. He regularly covered the business shifts on cruise lines, airlines, construction industry and real estate, as well as the events surrounding Hurricane Katrina.
He also had significant involvement in the coverage of the complaint that sparked off the federal investigation of David Petraeus, former head of the CIA, and it was Perez and his team that then reported on the removal of an FBI agent related to the case. In 2013, Perez and his co-workers covered the Boston Marathon bombings and its tragic aftermath, including the search for suspects. After nearly ten years at The Wall Street Journal, Perez left the paper and started working for CNN.
Work at CNN
With CNN Perez continued to build his reputation as well as his impressive resume. In the last few years, he’s covered the events surrounding the criminal charges against Bob Menendez, the US Senator who was accused of corruption, was also the first to break the news of charges against the instigators of the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, and rose to further prominence when he and his team reported on the suspicions of the intelligence community regarding the alleged compromising information on then President-elect Donald Trump owned by Russia. The reporting and the case itself garnered national and international attention, and Perez still leads the team reporting on the Russia investigation. In addition to this, he is also the head of the team covering the Department of Justice. He still occupies the position of Washington, D.C. bureau-based Senior Justice Correspondent, with his main areas of interest still various judicial, legal and national security issues.
Awards and Achievements
Over the course of his career, Perez has received a number of accolades. In 2004, he and his team received a Pulitzer Prize nomination for their report on the Florida hurricane season of that year. In 2017 he was given the White House Correspondents Association’s Merriman Smith Award in the broadcast category. Perez and his colleagues from CNN Carl Bernstein, Jim Sciutto and Jake Tapper were awarded the prize for their coverage of alleged Russian involvement and compromising information during the 2016 Presidential election. Regarding the award, Perez stated: ‘I got to tell you, we spent a lot of time trying to be careful, trying to make sure we got it right. And the award, the Merriman-Smith award from the White House Correspondents Association is the culmination of that’.
Controversy
Despite this latter Award, Perez found himself amidst the controversy regarding his coverage of Russian involvement in the Presidential election. Several news networks reported that the network that first published the controversial files had close ties to “Fusion GPS”, a commercial research and strategic intelligence firm which was at the center of the Russian dossier controversy. Perez was criticized for largely relying on unnamed sources, and having connections with a number of operatives from “Fusion GPS”. The debate regarding “Fusion GPS” involvement is on-going.
Net Worth
Over the course of his career as a journalist and reporter Evan Perez managed to acquire a net worth of close to $1 million, according to estimations by authoritative sources, with his current salary from CNN reputed to be over $150,000.
Must be a big day when we get the big guns on TV @Phil_Mattingly @pkcapitol @margarettalev @lbarronlopez w @JohnKingCNN pic.twitter.com/Z3RdtjjDwB
— Evan Pérez (@evanperez) June 13, 2019
Social Media
Concerning his social media activity, Perez owns a Twitter account with nearly 50,000 followers. The Belizean-born reporter and journalist uses this account primarily for sharing and retweeting articles as well as posting information regarding his work. He does not own accounts on any other social media platform, and rarely shares photos from his private life.
Social profile links
Source: IMDb, Wikipedia
