Natasha Margaret Kaplinsky was born on 9 September 1972 and is an English newsreader, TV presenter and journalist, best known for her roles as a studio anchor on Sky News, BBC News, Channel 5 and ITV News.
36 Facts About Natasha Kaplinsky
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Natasha Kaplinsky has hosted light entertainment and factual programmes during her career, including Children in Need and Born to Shine.
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Natasha Kaplinsky was the subject of the most highly rated Who Do You Think You Are.
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Natasha Kaplinsky was the first ever winner of the first series of BBC's Strictly Come Dancing in 2004.
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In 2014, the then PM David Cameron asked Natasha Kaplinsky to become a Holocaust Commissioner leading a project to interview 112 survivors.
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Natasha Kaplinsky was awarded an OBE in 2017 for her services to the Holocaust Commission.
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Natasha Kaplinsky was born in Brighton, but spent her early life in Kenya; she has stated that she was fluent in Swahili.
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The family immigrated to the United Kingdom and Natasha Kaplinsky was brought up in Barcombe, East Sussex.
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Natasha Kaplinsky attended Ringmer Community College, until the age of sixteen when she moved to Varndean College in Brighton.
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Natasha Kaplinsky followed her paternal line to Slonim and was shown official documentation relating to her cousin's family.
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Natasha Kaplinsky started out presenting on F2F, a youth chat show, for Granada Talk TV in 1996 with co-host Sacha Baron Cohen.
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Natasha Kaplinsky then moved to presenting early morning news bulletins at Meridian.
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In 1999, Natasha Kaplinsky moved to ITV's London News Network where she hosted London Today and London Tonight as well as a political programme called Seven Days.
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In November 2000, Natasha Kaplinsky joined Sky News, where she initially co-presented breakfast news programme Sunrise; she later moved to early evening bulletin Live at Five, which she presented alongside Jeremy Thompson.
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Natasha Kaplinsky joined the BBC in November 2002 to present BBC Breakfast from Monday to Thursday with Dermot Murnaghan, before moving on the host the BBC News at Six.
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In 2006, Natasha Kaplinsky became only the third woman to present the BBC's Ten O'Clock News.
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Natasha Kaplinsky was recruited from the corporation to join Five to help relaunch the channel.
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On 21 August 2008, Natasha Kaplinsky began her first maternity leave from Five, followed by a second period after the birth of her daughter.
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On 14 October 2010, Natasha Kaplinsky announced that she was leaving her job at Channel 5 at the end of 2010, having spent most of her three years at the network on maternity leave.
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Kaplinsky's first presenting role with ITV was in the summer of 2011, when she hosted a new Sunday entertainment series Born to Shine, which raised awareness for the charity Save the Children, of which Natasha is an ambassador.
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On 19 August 2013, Natasha Kaplinsky presented The People's Medal, a documentary about The Queen's Birthday Honours List.
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On 29 October 2013, Natasha Kaplinsky hosted the documentary On the Run, alongside journalist Mark Williams-Thomas.
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In 2004, Natasha Kaplinsky participated in the first series of the celebrity ballroom dancing competition Strictly Come Dancing and went on to win the competition with partner Brendan Cole.
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Natasha Kaplinsky then co-presented the first half of the second series in 2004 with Bruce Forsyth, when regular presenter Tess Daly went on maternity leave.
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Natasha Kaplinsky returned to the show in 2012, taking part in the Christmas Special and in 2018 as part of the BAFTA tribute to Sir Bruce Forsyth.
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On 25 September 2008, Five News revealed that Natasha Kaplinsky had given birth to a son.
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On 8 February 2011, Natasha Kaplinsky commented in a BBC radio interview on Steve Wright in the Afternoon that she and Bower had performed as disguised extras for the English National Ballet although she "had insisted that her name was not used in the programme".
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Natasha Kaplinsky's daughter was flown back to Britain for emergency treatment.
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Natasha Kaplinsky became a celebrity ambassador for the UK charity Save the Children in 2010.
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Natasha Kaplinsky is a patron of the Bevern Trust and she is an ambassador for Wellbeing of Women.
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Natasha Kaplinsky is Patron for the National Maternity Support Foundation and The Willow Foundation.
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Natasha Kaplinsky volunteered to record 112 testimonies of Holocaust survivors who had never spoken before.
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Natasha Kaplinsky continues to serve as a board member for the Holocaust Memorial Foundation.
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Natasha Kaplinsky was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to the Holocaust Commission.
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In July 2019, it was announced that Natasha Kaplinsky had taken on the role as Barnardo's President.
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Natasha Kaplinsky was welcomed into this position at the annual Parliamentary reception by Javed Khan, CEO of Barnardo's, as well as other celebrity champions.