Natasha Kaplinsky's Biography

Natasha Kaplinsky was born on 9 September 1972 in Brighton.

Natasha Kaplinsky studied English at Oxford University and then worked in the press offices of former Labour Party leaders Neil Kinnock and John Smith before moving into broadcasting.

Kaplinsky's first job in TV was presenting Talk TV on satellite with Paul Ross and Sacha Baron-Cohen.

Nine months later, Kaplinsky presented Meridian's evening news programme, and within a year, she moved to Carlton's London Today and London Tonight, as well as their political programme Seven Days.

In November 2000 Natasha Kaplinsky joined the BAFTA award-winning Sky News, but two years later, when Sophie Raworth left to become co-presenter of the BBC's Six o'clock News, Kaplinsky stepped into her role, presenting BBC's Breakfast alongside Dermot Murnaghan.

She used to get up before 4.00am to arrive at work by 4.30am to be ready for the 6.00am start.

Kaplinsky said that her most difficult moment on Breakfast News was interviewing her father:

"It was so bizarre starting a question with the word "dad" that I became quite flustered."

Kaplinsky has developed a new string to her bow. She and her dancing partner, Brendan Cole won the first series of Strictly Come Dancing, watched by seven million viewers.

Subsequently it was announced that Natasha Kaplinsky would co-host, with Bruce Forsyth, the second series of the dancing show.

However she is still happy to be seen as a newscaster. When she was named newscaster of the year in March 2005 at Tric (Television and Radio Industry) Awards, Natasha Kaplinsky said:

"Despite all the sequins and other exciting things I have done this year, I'm so thrilled to still be considered a newscaster."

In August 2005, Natasha Kaplinsky married investment banker Justin Bower.

Also in 2005 Kaplinsky presented BBC1's Saturday Swings.

In October 2007 it was announced that Natasha Kaplinsky was leaving the BBC to join Channel Five to take over the role that Kirsty Young used to have.

On 18 February 2008, Natasha Kaplinsky made her debut as host of Five News.

In April 2008, it was revealed that Natasha Kaplinsky was pregnant and she gave birth to a boy in September 2008.

In April 2010 she gave birth to a girl.

In July 2011, she became the presenter of Born To Shine on ITV1, which features the judges Denise van Outen and Jason Gardiner.

In August 2011, it was revealed that Natasha Kaplinsky had taken an interim role at ITV presenting London Tonight and national network news programmes to cover the maternity leave of newsreader Nina Hossain.

Natasha Kaplinsky's Family

• Natasha Kaplinsky was the subject of the BBC's genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are? on 6 September 2007.
• Natasha Kaplinsky's father, Raphael Kaplinsky was born in South Africa and is a lecturer in economics
• Raphael Kaplinsky was involved in student demonstrations in South Africa before he and his wife Catherine came to England
• In Who Do You Think You Are? it was revealed that Natasha Kaplinsky's family, were descendants from a British soldier marrying an Afrikaans girl.
• The Independent article, Natasha Kaplinsky: Ice Queen, revealed that Natasha's mother is a Jungian analyst.