Cast Biography
Four-time Emmy® Award-winner and New York Times bestselling author Sunny Hostin has been a co-host of ABC's "The View" since 2016. Sunny previously served as a host and legal analyst at CNN, as well as a fill-in co-anchor for ABC News' "World News Now" and "America This Morning." In May 2021, Hostin released her debut novel, "Summer on the Bluffs" (William Morrow), which skyrocketed to No. 11 on The New York Times Bestsellers List. The success of this book led to the continuation of her summer trilogy with the release of "Summer on Sag Harbor" on May 2, 2023, which also became an instant New York Times bestseller. The series was completed with the release of "Summer on Highland Beach" in the summer of 2024. In the fall of 2020, Hostin released her memoir, "I Am These Truths: A Memoir of Identity, Justice, and Living Between Worlds," with HarperOne, featuring an introspective look into the challenges she faced while being raised by teenage parents in the Bronx housing projects, the many obstacles she overcame to become a federal prosecutor, and her ultimate path to becoming an incredibly successful television journalist.
Hostin is also the founder and CEO of Sunny Hostin Productions, a global multiplatform media company that produces and creates premium film and television content highlighting important social justice issues, meaningful stories and underrepresented groups. The company's first project is to develop her novel "Summer on the Bluffs" as a dramatic series alongside Octavia Spencer's Orit Entertainment for Amazon MGM Studios.
As a highly respected attorney and investigative journalist, Sunny has made a name for herself using her expertise in federal prosecution and true crime to bring a number of high-profile stories to light. In 2019, Sunny hosted and executive produced the six-episode documentary series "Truth About Murder with Sunny Hostin" for Investigation Discovery, which explored some of the most infamous homicides in the nation. In the series, Sunny delves into each case, meeting with forensic experts, law enforcement officials, prosecutors, defense attorneys and the families of each victim to provide a comprehensive view of how cases are solved. In 2021, Sunny was part of the groundbreaking ABC primetime newscast "Soul of a Nation," the first broadcast network newsmagazine aiming to put Black life in America front and center. Sunny moderated a provocative recurring conversational segment called "In the Kitchen," where a group of talkers and thinkers joined her for a candid discussion on current events.
After graduating from Notre Dame Law School, Hostin began her career as an appellate law clerk and went on to become a trial attorney and federal prosecutor with the United States Justice Department. During her time as an assistant U.S. attorney, she was awarded the Special Achievement Award by Attorney General Janet Reno for her prosecution of child sexual predators. An inescapable voice from the top echelons of news and entertainment, she continues using her platform to advocate for and give voice to the marginalized.
A gifted storyteller, Sunny's impressive depth of knowledge carries over to politics and the criminal justice system. She has brought clarity and context to some of the biggest stories of the past decade, including incisive political analysis of Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and subsequent presidency; the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol; the Derek Chauvin trial and verdict; the college admission scandal; the George Zimmerman trial; the unrest in Ferguson and Baltimore; and the AME church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina. In May 2020, Sunny and a group of Black female activists penned an authoritative op-ed for The Washington Post urging presidential candidate Joe Biden to select a Black female vice-presidential candidate, ultimately predicting his selection of Kamala Harris. Sunny has won two Emmys for her work as a correspondent for ABC's "Good Morning America," one for her work as a correspondent for the ABC News special "The President and the People," and one for her work on ABC's special event coverage of New York City's 2023 Puerto Rican Day Parade.
Sunny currently resides in New York with her husband Manny and two children.