Serena Altschul

I was born in New York City to Siri von Reis, an author and botanist and Arthur Altschul, a member of the Lehman banking family. My mother was of half-Finnish and half-Swedish ancestry and my father was of German Jewish ancestry. After my parents divorced, two-year-old Serena and two of my siblings, Arthur Goodhart Altschul Jr. and Emily Altschul (Miller), grew up living with our mother. My half-brothers are Charles Altschul and Stephen Altschul from my father's previous marriage. I attended Scripps College for a few years; I studied English literature but did not graduate. In 1993, while still in college, I was the associate producer of The Last Party, a political documentary. After school, I worked for two years at Channel One News, a channel which was seen nationwide in high schools, as an anchor/reporter. In 1987 I landed a job at MTV and in January 1996 I started working for MTV News. I also hosted shows such as MTV News: UNfiltered, Breaking it Down and hosted and produced True Life. From 2002 to 2003 I worked at CNN. I was the host and producer of a CNN special about the return of PCP. I continued to work for MTV News while at CNN. On December 23, 2003, I was named a CBS News contributing correspondent. Since 2013 I appeared on CBS Sunday Morning. I played herself on Jay-Z's 1999 song, "Dope Man". I appeared as myself in the films Light It Up, Queen of the Damned, and Josie and the Pussycats.