Kerri-Anne Kennerley

Kerri-Anne Kennerley
Born Kerri-Anne Wright
(1953-09-22) 22 September 1953
Brisbane, Queensland
Residence Sydney, New South Wales
Nationality Australian
Occupation Television presenter, actress, singer
Years active 1967−present
Known for Studio 10
Spouse(s)
John Kennerley (m. 1984)

Kerri-Anne Kennerley (née Wright; born 22 September 1953) is an Australian television personality, actress and singer. After more than 50 years in the industry and an inductee into the Logie Hall of Fame, she is one of Australia's most respected light entertainment and variety hosts. She is noted for her professional and personable hosting style, and her ability to handle awkward guests and situations with gentle humor and composure.

Career

Kennerley made her first television appearance in 1967 at the age of 14 on the children's shows The Channel Niners and Everybody's In on Brisbane's QTQ 9. Her audience stayed with her when she crossed to The Saturday Show on Network Ten, and when she tackled the New York cabaret circuit as a 19-year-old singer.

She returned to Australia from the US in 1981. That year she landed her first adult role on Australian TV, as the dowdy Melinda Burgess in TV series The Restless Years, a teen-oriented soap opera. She hosted the breakfast TV program Good Morning Australia on Network Ten for 11 years. During the 1980s Kennerley performed as a singer, and released a self-titled album (Kerri-Anne) as well as a Christmas album in 1985.[1] Her cabaret singing style was parodied by singer and comedian Gina Riley on the TV comedy show Fast Forward. She appeared on the television show and later record album Andrew Denton's Musical Challenge with a rendition of the AC/DC song Dirty Deeds.

From 1996 until 1998, she was compere of the daytime-variety TV show Midday. Hosting duties on the show earned her three Gold Logie nominations. After Midday ended in late 1998, she joined the What's Cooking program in 1999. This role (and the program) only lasted a few months. Both Midday and What's Cooking aired on the Nine Network.

In 2001, she shifted to Channel Ten to host the game shows Greed and Moment of Truth. Both flopped and lasted only a few episodes.

In 2002, Kennerley returned to the Nine Network where she hosted Kerri-Anne (originally titled 'Mornings with Kerri-Anne') She garnered considerable media attention from the program's dance instruction segments featuring prominent Australian politicians – Peter Costello and the macarena, Cheryl Kernot and the Cha-cha-cha and Kevin Rudd and the rhumba. A memorable interviewee was the normally reticent Priscilla Presley who discussed her ex-husband Elvis and daughter Lisa Marie.[2] American TV actor John Stamos who appeared on her show in June 2007 was arguably her most challenging interview. Two years later Stamos conceded that he had been drunk, confirming media speculation raised at the time.[3] Kennerley also persuaded Russell Crowe to hurl himself against a wall on her show. Kennerley caused controversy in 2010 while discussing sexual assault allegations involving two Collingwood Football Club players by referring to women who socialize with footballers as "strays" and for suggesting that "responsibility cuts both ways".[4] She hosted the show for nine years, before it was cancelled in late 2010, and replaced with Mornings, which began in early 2011.

Kennerley moved to the Seven Network in 2012, and appeared as a contestant on the network's program Dancing with the Stars. A planned prime-time program for the network was put on hold due to Kennerley's cancer battle,[5] but she appeared as a guest reporter on Sunday Night and as fill-in presenter for Kylie Gillies on The Morning Show

In September 2013, Kennerley joined Foxtel to present the true crime series Behind Mansion Walls for the Crime & Investigation Network. The initial order is for 13 one-hour episodes.[6] Kennerley has also been a guest panelist on Network Ten's The Project.[7]

In 2017, Kennerley made a cameo appearance as herself in the first episode of The War on Waste.[8]

Kennerley is an advisor on the fourth season of The Celebrity Apprentice Australia.[9]

In September 2018, it was announced that Kennerley will be joining Studio 10 as co-host.[10]

Personal life

Kennerley was born Kerri-Anne Wright in Brisbane, Queensland, the daughter of a builder/hobby farmer. Along with her three siblings, she was raised in Brisbane's bay-side suburb of Sandgate.[11] During her time in the US, she was married to record producer Jimmy Miller. She has said that he regularly subjected her to physical assaults. She sought support from friend John Kennerley, who helped her leave the abusive marriage.[12]

In 1984, she married divorcee Kennerley at the Sydney Opera House, the first such event to be held there. She said that meeting him was the biggest turning point in her life. Kennerley has two step-children, plus a pet dog 'Harvey', which she named after the former musical director of the Nine Network, Geoff Harvey. In 2016, they had a golden retriever named "Digger". In a 2006 interview in The Australian Women's Weekly, she revealed that they had tried to have children for many years, that she had a miscarriage 15 years ago, and will always regret not having children.[13] Kennerley received several nominations for the Australian Skeptics' annual Bent Spoon Awards due to her uncritical acceptance of psychics and psychic phenomena.

In June 2012, Kennerley revealed in an interview in New Idea magazine that she has breast cancer.[14]

Kennerley is a keen golfer with a handicap of 17. In 2013, she was elected to the board of Golf Australia.[15] In March 2016, her husband was paralysed after injuring his neck in a fall at Coffs Harbour.[16]

Kennerley lives in the Sydney suburb of Woollahra.

Awards and honours

Kennerley has been nominated on numerous occasions for a Logie. She was nominated for the Gold Logie in 1997, 1998 and 1999 for her role as host of Midday. She has also been nominated for many other awards.

Kennerley was awarded a star on the Caloundra Walk of Stars in 1988, between Leo Sayer and Lucky Grills.

In 2017, she was inducted into the Logie Hall of Fame. In 2018, she was honoured by having her portrait on a series of Australia Post stamps, as part of the "Legends of Television" series[17]

TV and radio work

References

  1. ↑ "Kerri-Anne Kennerley". rateyourmusic.com. Archived from the original on 19 July 2012. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  2. ↑ "Kerri-Anne Kennerley wants a Melbourne morning wake-up" by Siobhan Duck, Herald Sun (27 February 2008)
  3. ↑ John Stamos was 'plastered' on Kerri-Anne Kennerley lounge in TV interview, Daily Telegraph (19 October 2009)
  4. ↑ "Kerri-Anne Kennerley's 'strays' barb". The Age. 6 October 2010. Retrieved 7 October 2010.
  5. ↑ Davies, Rebecca (9 April 2012)"Kerri-Anne Kennerley lands new Seven Network TV show?". digitalspy.com.au. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
  6. ↑ "Kerri-Anne Kennerley joins Foxtel". TV Tonight 9 September 2013. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  7. ↑ "Pete Helliar, ready for segues and Kerri-Anne". TV Tonight. 14 January 2014. Retrieved 16 January 2010.
  8. ↑ "Kerri-Anne Kennerley says size doesn't matter". Starts at 60. 2017-05-26. Retrieved 2018-09-04.
  9. ↑ Hoyer, Melissa (20 July 2015). "Gabi Grecko, Geoffrey Edelsten, Mel Greig sign up for Celebrity Apprentice". news.com.au. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  10. ↑ "Kerri-Anne Kennerley to return to morning TV". Sydney Morning Herald. 3 September 2018. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  11. ↑ "On with the show" by Matthew Fynes-Clinton, The Courier-Mail (21 July 2007)
  12. ↑ Moran, Rob (2017-10-09). "'I think I'll be dead': Kerri-Anne Kennerley reveals past domestic abuse". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2018-03-25.
  13. ↑ "Kerri-Anne's Baby Blues", "The Courier Mail" (22 October 2006)
  14. ↑ Staff Writers (11 June 2012). "Kerri-Anne Kennerley's shock cancer news". news.com.au. Retrieved 1 June 2012.
  15. ↑ Golf Australia (10 April 2013). "Kerri-Anne Kennerley joins Golf Australia Board". Golf Australia. Retrieved 10 April 2013.
  16. ↑ Willis, Charlotte (7 April 2016). "KAK 'paid $350k' by Seven for TV tell-all". NewsComAu. News Limited. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  17. ↑ "Australian Legends 2018".
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