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Ananda Lewis

Biography

Ananda Lewis (born March 21, 1973) was an American television host, carpenter, former model, and social activist. She was an MTV veejay from the late 1990s until 2001, when she left the network to host her own broadcast syndicated television talk show, The Ananda Lewis Show. She was a correspondent for The Insider from 2004 to 2005. She then became a carpenter and later, hosted the 2019 revival of While You Were Out on TLC. She also hosted the true crime series Shattered Hearts.

While a student at Howard University in 1993, she was featured prominently in the hit R&B video by fellow HU alumni Shai, "Baby, I'm Yours", filmed on campus. She portrayed the love interest of vocalist Carl "Groove" Martin.

She was considering attending graduate school to pursue a master's degree in education when she learned that auditions were going to be held for the job of on-screen host of BET's Teen Summit. For three seasons she discussed serious issues affecting teenagers for a television audience of several million. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) presented Lewis with an Image Award for her work on Black Entertainment Television (BET).

Soon afterward the cable network MTV offered her a position as a program host and video jockey, which she accepted. She hosted and VJed a variety of shows including Total Request Live, a daily top ten video-countdown show, and Hot Zone, which offered both music videos and her interviews of musicians and others. MTV also called upon her to host other topical programs including two MTV forums on violence in schools, which aired after the Columbine High School massacre and several memorial tributes for the singer Aaliyah, who died in a plane crash in 2001. In 2001, she earned another NAACP Image Award, for her hosting of the MTV special True Life: I Am Driving While Black.

In 2000, People included Lewis on its list of the world's "50 Most Beautiful People". In 2001, she decided to leave MTV in order to start her own talk show. The Ananda Lewis Show, which was canceled after one season.

In 2004, she became the chief correspondent on celebrity subjects for the nationally syndicated, nightly entertainment program The Insider, a spin-off of the popular Entertainment Tonight. In the same year, she also appeared on the ABC network's reality show called Celebrity Mole: Yucatán. She has also made guest appearances on several sitcoms.