Emily Maitlis

Emily Maitlis

Emily Maitlis (born 6 September 1970) is a Canadian-born British journalist, documentary filmmaker and newsreader for the BBC. She presents BBC Two's news and current affairs programme Newsnight, and also covers elections for the BBC in UK, US and Europe.

In January 2014, she became acting political editor of Newsnight when she temporarily replaced Allegra Stratton, who took maternity leave until later that year, and in 2019 led an all-female line-up

Maitlis was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada to British Jewish parents; her paternal grandmother was a Jewish refugee who fled Nazi Germany. She is the daughter of Professor Peter Maitlis FRS, Emeritus Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Sheffield, and Marion Maitlis, a psychotherapist.

Maitlis was brought up in Sheffield, Yorkshire, and was educated at the King Edward VII School and Queens' College, Cambridge. She speaks fluent Spanish, Italian and French, as well as some Mandarin. As of 2019 she is the only Newsnight presenter not to have attended a private school