Catherine Elizabeth Deeley (born 23 October 1976) is an English television presenter and actress. She began her career as a co-presenter for the ITV children's show SMTV Live (1998–2002), for which she won a BAFTA Children's Award, and its spin-off chart show CD:UK (1998–2005). In 2003, she presented the talent competition show Fame Academy on BBC One, and became the presenter of the ITV talent show Stars in Their Eyes, presenting until 2005. Since 2006, Deeley has been the host of So You Think You Can Dance in the United States, for which she has been nominated five times for a Primetime Emmy.
Since 2003, Deeley has been a patron of London's Great Ormond Street Hospital for sick children. In December 2009, she was made a UNICEF UK ambassador.
Early life
Deeley was born on 23 October 1976 at Sandwell General Hospital in West Bromwich, West Midlands, and grew up in Birmingham in nearby Sutton Coldfield and Great Barr. She attended Grove Vale Junior School and Dartmouth High School in Great Barr, where she played the clarinet in the Sandwell Youth Concert Band. She then joined Bishop Vesey's Grammar School in Sutton Coldfield.
Career
At age 14, Deeley entered a regional edition of a BBC competition for The Clothes Show, in which she reached the national finals. She was signed as a model under her nickname of "Cat" to make it easier for clients to re-book her. She left full-time fashion modelling in 1997, following changes in her contract with Storm. She moved on to co-present the MTV chart show, Hitlist UK, with close friend Edith Bowman. From 1998 until 2002, she was co-host with Ant & Dec of the Saturday morning children's programme SM:TV Live and hosted its spin-off programmes CD:UK (1998–2005) and CD:UK Hotshots. On SM:TV Live she often acted as an apparently slightly unwilling assistant whenever the show featured a guest appearance by a magician, participating in a number of different illusions including being sawn in half in a version of the illusion called Clearly Impossible.
In 2001, she won a Children's BAFTA award and appeared in an episode of the BBC's Happiness. In 2002, Deeley appeared in a television advert for Marks and Spencer. Other programmes she hosted include The Record of the Year, Fame Academy, The 2004 Brit Awards and Stars in Their Eyes, as well as a weekly broadcast on London's Capital FM and BBC Choice series Roadtripping, both with former MTV colleague Edith Bowman. In March 2003, it was announced that Deeley would take over from Matthew Kelly as host of the kids series of Stars in Their Eyes. Following Kelly's departure from the main series in March 2004, Deeley became host of the main show until its demise in December 2006.
In 2003, Deeley interviewed Kylie Minogue for a television special about her one-off concert, Money Can't Buy, which was broadcast in the United Kingdom on ITV on 22 November and in Australia on Network Ten on 24 November. In 2005 she played herself in an episode of Little Britain, provided the voice of "Loretta Geargrinder" in the UK version of the film Robots replacing Natasha Lyonne, and presented a countdown of ITV's 50 Greatest Shows alongside Phillip Schofield as part of ITV 50.
In 2006, she began hosting the second season of American reality show So You Think You Can Dance, replacing newsreader Lauren Sánchez, who was pregnant. Deeley again interviewed Kylie Minogue for another television special which was broadcast in the United Kingdom on Sky One on 16 July, in Australia on Channel Nine on 17 July, and BBC America on 9 September. Deeley was a guest reporter on NBC's The Tonight Show. She presented Fox's New Year's Eve Special from Times Square in 2006 and 2007.
On 1 July 2007, Deeley was one of many presenters at the Concert for Diana, a tribute concert to the late Diana, Princess of Wales, with proceeds from the concert going to Diana's charities, as well as to charities of which her sons Princes William and Harry are patrons. The event, watched by an estimated 500 million people, was held at Wembley Stadium. In September 2007, Deeley presented Soundtrack to My Life, a music series produced by Hamma & Glamma Productions for ITV London that looks at the work and influences of an eclectic band of musicians. In January 2006, a new season of So You Think You Can Dance started its auditions, with Deeley in the role of host. She has been the host of the show ever since. In 2011, Deeley was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Programme.