Who Is Savannah Guthrie? Get To Know The New Today Show Co-Host - Access Hollywood

First Published: June 29, 2012 5:39 PM EDT Credit: NBC

NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Caption Savannah GuthrieShe was known until Friday as NBC’s Chief Legal analyst. Now, Savannah Guthrie has officially been named a “Today” show co-host alongside Matt Lauer.

Born in Melbourne, Australia, (where her father was working at the time according to The Hollywood Reporter), Savannah, the newest co-host of NBC’s “Today” show, grew up in Tuscon, Arizona.

After graduating from the city’s Ampitheater High School, Savannah went on to study at the University of Arizona, where she graduated with a degree in journalism in 1993.

She returned to her alma mater in 2011, to give the commencement address, where she explained how she fell in love with journalism, the discipline she pursued.

“When I started, I enrolled as a business major, but that’s basically because I didn’t know what else to do. And about halfway through college, my mom actually suggested I take some journalism classes and once I did, I really got hooked on it. I loved to write and I was encouraged by the professors,” she said at the event, in a video provided by U of A.

Not long after college, a 24-year-old Savannah honed her skills in 1994 and 1995, reporting for Columbia, Missouri’s KMIZ.

By 2001, Savannah was reporting for WRC in Washington, D.C., covering the Pentagon attack on September 11.

She eventually earned her law degree from Georgetown University, graduating Magna Cum Laude in 2002, and, later, she served as NBC’s White House Correspondent from 2008-2011.

Last June, on the same day Ann Curry began co-anchoring, Savannah was named co-anchor of the third hour along with Al Roker and Natalie Morales. She’s also NBC News’ Chief Legal Analyst.

Savannah was married for three years, to Mark Orchard, a journalist for the BBC, but is currently single.

She’s also over 6-feet tall in heels.

“You take off your shoes behind the newsdesk?” Access Hollywood’s Jill Martin previously asked Savannah.

“That’s true, because I’m too tall for that set,” she said.

Copyright 2012 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.