Ask American Profile

Connie Chung, Jamie O'Neal, Tom Berenger

Is Connie Chung still in news broadcasting?
—Betty C., Missouri

Since 1997, Connie Chung has been an anchor/correspondent for ABC’s 20/20 and Prime Time Thursday. She’s married to talk show host Maury Povich. They have a son, Matthew, 5. Chung, 55, graduated from the University of Maryland and began her career in 1969 in her hometown of Washington, D.C. She joined CBS as a national correspondent in 1971 and moved to Los Angeles in 1976 to work for what is now KCBS. She joined NBC in 1983 and began anchoring several news shows and serving as substitute anchor for NBC Nightly News. She rejoined CBS in 1989 as an anchor and correspondent. From 1993 until 1995, she was co-anchor of CBS Evening News With Dan Rather and Connie Chung, as well as anchor/correspondent of Eye to Eye With Connie Chung. During 1997, the three-time Emmy winner was a fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.

I just love Jamie O’Neal’s song There is no Arizona. What can you tell me about her? Where is she from?
—Renee W., Arizona

Born in Sydney, Australia, Jamie O’Neal’s family moved to Las Vegas when she was 7 to perform in such places as the Golden Nugget and MGM Grand. O’Neal, 32, performed onstage with her parents, Julie and Jimmy Murphy, and sister Samantha. After Las Vegas, they spent the next few years touring America in a motor home, opening for acts such as Dolly Parton and the Oak Ridge Boys. “We did gospel songs, country songs, and we had a family act,” she says. “We were kind of like the Partridge Family. My mom made our outfits.” She spent her high school years at Beverly Hills High, where actors David Schwimmer and Jonathan Silverman were among her classmates. She returned to Australia after graduating and sang backup with pop singer Kylie Minogue and performed in a play with Russell Crowe. Her mother sent Jamie’s demo tape to a music executive in Nashville, Tenn., and publishing and record deals soon followed, as did a move to Nashville. She married singer Rodney Good last year.

My favorite actor is Tom Berenger, but I never hear anything about him. Can you give any details about his life?
—Bonnie B., Florida

Perhaps best known for playing a policeman in Someone To Watch Over Me, Berenger, 51, has worked steadily since that role in 1987. He has three roles lined up this year: Training Day with Denzel Washington; a Western miniseries called Johnson County War; and Dark Eagle for A&E, in which he plays Benedict Arnold. He appears to be partial to historic movies, as evidenced by his roles in Rough Riders and Gettysburg. Born in Chicago, he lives in South Carolina with his wife, Patricia. He studied journalism at the University of Missouri, but was bitten by the acting bug after he landed a role in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? He moved to New York in the mid-70s and studied acting while performing in regional and touring theater productions. The father of six co-starred in The Big Chill in 1983 and was nominated for an Oscar for his 1986 performance in Platoon. He’s appeared in Born on the Fourth of July, Major League, and Major League II, as well as the television shows Cheers and Law and Order.

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