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Cynthia Gouw

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Cynthia Gie-Kiok Gouw[1]
Born (1963-05-30) May 30, 1963 (age 61)
Pasadena, California
Occupation(s)Journalist, actress, model
Years active1984–present

Cynthia Gouw (born May 30, 1963) is an American actress, model, and TV news anchor and host.[2]

Biography

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One of Gouw's great grandfathers moved from Xiamen, China to Indonesia, where he started a department store chain.[3][4] Her parents, both Chinese immigrants from Indonesia, went to university in the Netherlands and moved to California in 1961.[5][4] In 1963, she became the first in her family to be born in the United States.[3]

She grew up with her parents and brother in El Cerrito, California and graduated from the high school there in 1981.[6][7][1] She then attended UCLA, where she majored in political science and international relations and minored in Asian American studies.[3][8] She also edited Pacific Ties, UCLA's Asian-American newspaper[2] and interned for Willie Brown.[2][9] In 1991, she graduated from UCLA School of Law.[7][8]

Career

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Modeling

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She entered Miss LA Chinatown on an assignment for Pacific Ties in 1984 but ended up winning the pageant and moving on to win Miss Chinatown USA the following year.[10][2][11][7] She won the Spokesmodel competition on Star Search in 1988, the first Asian American to do so.[4][12][13][3]

In 2005, she placed third in the More Magazine and Wilhelmina 40+Model Search.[14] She has been a spokesperson for L'Oréal.[3]

Acting

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She appeared as Romulan Ambassador Caithlin Dar in the movie Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.[15] She also appeared in China Beach and Matlock.[8][16]

Journalism and broadcasting

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Throughout her career, Gouw has worked as a reporter and/or news anchor for KTVU, E!, Channel 26, Continental Cablevision,[7] KXTV,[17] KDFW,[18] CBS,[19] KERO-TV, KABC-TV,[8] and NPR San Francisco. She was previously a reporter for Pacific Time[20] and was KDFW's first Asian-American news anchor.[21]

In 1996, while working for Channel 10 in Sacramento, she won a Regional Emmy for her feature Is Your Kid in a Gang?.[22][23][24] She won another award the following year with photographer Mike Garza for their work on The Promised Land, a feature about illegal immigration.[25]

In 1998, she won a third Emmy for Hong Kong: The California Connection in the current affairs programming category.[26] She has also won 4 Society of Professional Journalism Awards and was honored with a "Best TV Talk Show Series in the State" nod from the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters.[12] In Philadelphia, Gouw hosted Asian Outlook, a half-hour talk show focused on the affairs of the Pacific Rim for WYBE.[27]

Gouw was named Member of the Year by the Chinese American Council and Honoree of the Year by the Asian Bar Association of Sacramento. She has also been recognized by the California State Legislature, and is on the Advisory Board of Stanford University's "Grade the News".[27]

Personal life

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She has a daughter and two step-children.[16] Her husband Doug Alexander is a businessman and one of the original board members of Actua Corporation, and has been in senior management positions in a number of start-ups and Actua spinoffs.[28][3] She briefly dated Prince Andrew in the 2000s.[29][20]

Filmography

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Year Title Role Notes
1986 The Serpent Warriors Cult Extra
1988 Freddy's Nightmares Waitress Episode Saturday Night Special
1989 Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects Japanese hostess
1989 Big Man on Campus Reporter #3
1989 Matlock Tami Fields Episode The Model
1989 Star Trek V: The Final Frontier Caithlin Dar
1989 Man Against the Mob: The Chinatown Murders Lyn Chiang Television film
1991 China Beach Loretta Episode The Always Goodbye
1992 The Heart of Justice Airline clerk Television film
2019 KQED Newsroom Guest Anchor Episode October 25, 2019

References

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  1. ^ a b "El Cerrito High to graduate 243 seniors Tuesday night". The Berkeley Gazette. Berkeley, California. June 8, 1981. Retrieved August 12, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b c d Yeh, Chiou-ling. Making an American Festival Chinese New Year in San Francisco's Chinatown. p. 102.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Mariotti, Steve (December 6, 2017). "NFTE Philadelphia's Advocate, Cynthia Gouw: Actress, Journalist, Model and Community Activist". HuffPost. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
  4. ^ a b c Canilang, Miranda (April 9, 2017). "Cynthia Gouw". Bryn Mawr College. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
  5. ^ Behan, Tara (October 6, 2010). "Women on the move". Main Line Today. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
  6. ^ "Blog: My Mom was right. And how!". The Philadelphia Inquirer. April 12, 2009. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
  7. ^ a b c d "Former Miss Chinatown reigns on the air". The San Francisco Examiner. San Francisco, California. February 9, 1992. Retrieved August 12, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
  8. ^ a b c d Smith, Steven Cole (January 7, 1993). "Channel 4 hires weekend anchor". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Fort Worth, Texas. Retrieved August 13, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
  9. ^ Wong, Ken (January 2, 1985). "They're not alone". The San Francisco Examiner. San Francisco, California. Retrieved August 13, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
  10. ^ Wu, Judy Tzu-Chun (1997). "'Loveliest Daughter of Our Ancient Cathay!': Representations of Ethnic and Gender Identity in the Miss Chinatown U.S.A. Beauty Pageant" (PDF). Journal of Social History. 31 (1): 5–31. doi:10.1353/jsh/31.1.5. JSTOR 3789855. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
  11. ^ "San Francisco". The Daily Spectrum. Saint George, Utah. February 14, 1984. Retrieved August 12, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
  12. ^ a b Gilanyi, Amanda (January 4, 2010). "Cynthia Gouw". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
  13. ^ "5:00". Detroit Free Press. Detroit, Michigan. June 25, 1989. Retrieved August 13, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
  14. ^ Morales, Tatiana (July 28, 2005). "Contest Proves Beauty Is Ageless". CBS. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
  15. ^ "'Star Trek'". The Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. June 9, 1989. Retrieved August 12, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
  16. ^ a b "Catching Up with 'Star Trek: Trek Vs Caithlin Dar, Cynthia Gouw". Star Trek. June 9, 2019. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
  17. ^ "Tarrant". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Fort Worth, Texas. March 31, 1993. Retrieved August 13, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
  18. ^ Vierria, Dan (August 8, 1995). "Good morning, Sacramento". The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento, California. Retrieved August 13, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "A Look Back at 70 Years of KPIX Broadcasting". KPIX5 CBS SF BayArea. San Francisco. December 24, 2018. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
  20. ^ a b "Prince romances Star Trek star". The Province. Vancouver, British Columbia. August 15, 2002. Retrieved August 13, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
  21. ^ "Buzz". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Fort Worth, Texas. January 7, 1993. Retrieved August 13, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
  22. ^ "25th Annual Northern California area Emmy Awards" (PDF). Emmy San Francisco. May 11, 1996. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
  23. ^ DeHuff, Jenny (October 7, 2015). "Power of diversity, and Gouw, in Philly". Philadelphia Daily News. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Retrieved August 13, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
  24. ^ Vierria, Dan (May 14, 1996). "Broadcasting". The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento, California. Retrieved August 13, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
  25. ^ Vierria, Dan (May 24, 1997). "Broadcasting". The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento, California. Retrieved August 13, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
  26. ^ Vierria, Dan (May 19, 1998). "Broadcasting". The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento, California. Retrieved August 13, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
  27. ^ a b Trirahmi, Melly (January 19, 2015). "Cynthia Gouw, Artis Multitalenta dengan Segudang Prestasi" (in Indonesian). Kabari News. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
  28. ^ "Doug Alexander". Amkor Technology. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
  29. ^ Schorr, Melissa (February 4, 2008). "Hit singles". SanFran. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
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