Who Is Zuri Hall? Her Career From the Indianapolis Local News to American Ninja Warrior

Hall was born June 2, 1988 and raised in Toledo, Ohio.

She graduated from The Ohio State University in 2010 after getting her Bachelor's degree in strategic communication with a minor in theatre. According to a 2016 interview with OSU, Hall was an active member of the Black Student Theatre Network and the Ohio Union Television during her senior year of college.

Hall hit the ground running in her career career after called, winning a competition that crowned her as the official face of MyINDY-TV in Indianapolis, according to her LinkedIn. The year following her college graduation, Hall scored a Regional Emmy Award for Outstanding Host and Talent for her work on WNDY.

"Things just kind of took off," Hall told Yahoo! while looking back at her career. "The momentum really built in an incredible way. And not long after I landed in Indy, they were asking me to audition to emcee for the Indiana Pacers"

In November 2010, Hall became an on-air emcee for Pacers Sports & Entertainment, a job at which would continue working for nearly two years. During that time, she also worked as a host and producer for Living Dayton on WDTN-TV. In December 2012, Hall hopped aboard the Tribune Company to host Nightcap on KDAF-TV, an evening news show based in Dallas. According to her NBC profile, Hall earned an Emmy nomination for her investigative reporting.

Hall moved to New York City in 2013 to join Fuse Media Inc. as their their host of Trending 10 and then caught the attention of Viacom and MTV Networks, who recruited her as a host and TV personality for MTV and MTV2. She first began hosting the reunion specials for the smash reality competition The Challenge.

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She joined E! in August 2015 as their on-air news correspondent and moved to Los Angeles, where she created and co-produced What’s Good with Zuri Hall, an original series that celebrated diversity in Hollywood, and was a regular guest on Fashion Police. In 2017, Hall's expert insight earned E! a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Entertainment News Program.

"Every day is different. Some days I do stand-ups and traditional host reads in the newsroom or in-studio, on the E! News set," Hall told OSU during her time there. "Other evenings I'm covering film premiere red carpets (like The Revenant and The Big Short). I also do one-on-one sit-down interviews with musicians, actors, and entertainers. During awards season, I'm a special correspondent/co-host for E!'s popular Live from The Red Carpet shows."

Hall has also hosted dozens of other high-profile events throughout her career, she says on her website, including for NBC’s livestream of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and as the on-stage host of the Super Bowl Village for Super Bowl XLVI.

She had also worked as a correspondent on dozens of red carpets, including the Academy Awards, the Golden Globe Awards, the Emmy Awards, the Grammy Awards, the SAG Awards, and the Academy of Country Music Awards, just to name a few. 

In May 2024, Hall added the Met Gala to her roster and celebrate the exciting milestone on social media. "Magical night hosting 3.5 hours of LIVE Met Gala coverage on E!," Hall captioned the Instagram post. "Thank you to all of our incredible panelists — and our all-star glam, crew + production teams for jobs well done."

Unlike some red carpet reporters who delight in tearing down celebrity looks at events, Hall has strongly embraced a "kindness is cool" mentality with her commentary.

"I think as we evolve as a society, we're just so fatigued by the criticism. And I get that some people want, like, the fun of the snark, but it's a delicate dance," Hall told Yahoo! in 2023. "And there are few people who can do it really well, who can toe the line of, like, just enough shade to where it's fun, but it's not mean-spirited. And I think there's a world where we can land there."

Hall has been killing it on the ANW course sidelines since April 2019, and has watched dozens of dedicated Ninjas take the stage throughout the years, expertly weighing in on their performances and catching up with the folks after their runs.

"There's just so much excitement [on American Ninja Warrior], it's palpable," Hall told Yahoo! "It does kind of feel like I'm back on the court or the fields like I was in my earlier hosting days."

"When I joined the team it was the biggest opportunity of my life, I was so excited. I'd never been a part of a production of that magnitude," Hall told NBC Insider in May 2024. "Not only does the course get bigger, and better, and harder, but I am just overwhelmed with gratitude for the opportunity to be a part of the show at all let alone telling such incredible stories."

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"I think the thing that really sets Ninja apart for me is the sense of community that comes with being a part of this show. Like I covered the Oscars and the Grammys and Met Gala, and it's all fun, and the gowns are gorgeous, and the red carpet interviews are really exciting. But there's something about coming back from Ninja every season looking forward to seeing familiar faces looking forward to getting to know new rookies on the scene..."

Hall continued, "We have Ninja engagements, we have people falling in love on the course, we have Ninja newborns. We've got babies on the sidelines at this point! I can't say that about any other show that I've ever been a part of, so just to be a part of the community, the family that is Ninja is really special for me."

Hall became the host and correspondent for NBC's Access Hollywood and All Access in October 2019 — shortly after she joined ANW teams as its high-energy sidelines reporter.

As part of the team, Hall spearheaded a partnership between Access Hollywood and the Black and Missing Foundation. Hall's mission is to highlight "cold cases of missing people of color, Black and Brown people of color," Hall explained to Yahoo! "Talking to local authorities, talking to the family and friends of those loved ones who are missing."

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Hall helped NBC score a 2024 Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Entertainment News Series for Access Hollywood.