Mo Rocca Bio, CBS, Food, Parents, Broadway, Author, Film
5 min readMo Rocca Biography
Born on January 28, 1969, Mo Rocca (Maurice Alberto Rocca) is an American comic, journalist, and actor. He is an anchor and creator of My Grandmother’s Ravioli on the Cooking Channel, a journalist for CBS Sunday Morning, and the host of The Henry Ford’s Innovation Nation on CBS. From 2016 until the National Geographic Society National Geographic Bee’s final competition in 2019, which followed the cancellation of the competitions in 2020 and 2021, he served as the competition’s moderator. He also serves as the host of the CBS News podcast Mobituaries. He frequently appears on the panel of the radio game show Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!
Mo Rocca began his career in television by creating and producing a number of children’s TV programs. From 1998 until 2003, he served as a correspondent for the news parody program The Daily Show, which was his first job in front of the camera. From 2004 to 2008, he performed a similar function as a humorous reporter for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Subsequently, he transitioned into more serious (but still lighthearted) duties with CBS News, where he still works today. Additionally, he has written two books and occasionally appeared in tiny roles in theater, film, and television.
Mo Rocca Family: Parents & Siblings
Rocca was born in Washington, D.C.; his mother moved there in 1956 at the age of 28 from Bogotá, Colombia, and his father was an Italian-American of the third generation from Leominster, Massachusetts. He went to North Bethesda, Maryland’s Georgetown Preparatory Institution, a Jesuit boys’ school. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in literature from Harvard University in 1991. Rocca co-wrote one burlesque and performed in four of Hasty Pudding Theatricals’ infamous productions while serving as its president (Suede Expectations). Mo also played Seymour in a Little Shop of Horrors production at Harvard, which also starred current Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
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Mo Rocca Career Timeline
Writing and producing
Rocca began his stage playing career with the 1993 Southeast Asia tour of the musical Grease and the South Pacific production at Paper Mill Playhouse (1994).
As a writer and producer for the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning children’s television series Wishbone, he made his debut in the television industry. He also contributed to Pepper Ann on the ABC television network and The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss on the Nickelodeon television network. He earned an Emmy in 2011 for his writing at the 64th Annual Tony Awards.
Satire and journalism
Rocca got his start on television as a frequent correspondent for The Daily Show from 1998 until 2003. His work included “That’s Quite Interesting,” a regular feature, and coverage of the Indecision 2000 campaign.
He covered the Democratic and Republican national conventions in 2004 for Larry King Live from the convention floor. He covered the 2008 election for NBC while serving as a frequent reporter for The Tonight Show on the NBC television network from 2004 to 2008.
Rocca is a consistent correspondent for Jane Pauley’s CBS Sunday Morning program. His writing focuses on presidential history and includes cover stories, features, and profiles (of people like Chris Rock and Amy Schumer).
He frequently participates as a commentator on the NPR radio program Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! Rocca started contributing often to the then-new CBS This Morning in 2012. Rocca created the Mobituaries podcast, which is currently in its second season, out of his fascination with obituaries.
Mo Rocca Author
All the Presidents’ Dogs: The Story of One Reporter Who Refused to Roll Over, written by Rocca and published by Crown Books in 2004, is a satirical book about American presidents, their pets, and reporters. In 2019, Rocca published Mobituaries, a book on historical figures like Elizabeth Jennings Graham who aren’t given enough credit. Rocca drew inspiration for the book from his Mobituaries podcast.
Mo Rocca CBS | Food
In order to produce and host the show My Grandmother’s Ravioli on the Cooking Channel from 2012 to 2015, Rocca traveled all across the country, cooking in the kitchens of his grandmothers and grandfathers. He previously served as the host of Food(ography) on the Cooking Channel and a frequent panelist on the Food Network’s Iron Chef America.
Rocca provided commentary for I Love the 70s and I Love the 80s on VH1. Whoa! Sunday, which debuted in 2005 on the Animal Planet TV channel, and Bravo’s Things I Hate About You channel both featured him as the anchor. Additionally, in the 2008 Law & Order television series episodes “Authority” (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit) and “Contract” (Law & Order: Criminal Intent), he had cameo appearances.
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Additionally, since 2014, he has served as the host of Henry Ford’s Innovation Nation, a weekly program that has been a member of the CBS Dream Team on Saturdays. Rocca performed the role of Lector during the Pope Francis Mass held at Madison Square Garden in New York City on September 25, 2015.
Mo Rocca Broadway
Rocca performed on Broadway in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee as Vice Principal Douglas Panch.
Mo Rocca Film and other media
Rocca co-starred with fellow Daily Show alum Ed Helms in the 2007 science fiction family comedy I’ll Believe You and the 2005 movie Bewitched. The documentary Electoral Dysfunction, which satirically examines the American electoral system and was broadcast on PBS in 2012 and 2016, featured Rocca as the narrator in 2012. He posted a scripture reading (in Spanish) that he gave during Pope Francis’s 2015 Mass at Madison Square Garden on social media.
Mo Rocca 180°: Only Half as Tedious as the Regular News was the title of his post for AOL News bloggers. Rocca competed in a celebrity Jeopardy! the episode on May 13, 2015, and lost to CNN contributor John Berman, winning a total of $41,600.
In 2016, Rocca started moderating the National Geographic Bee finals. He was preceded by Alex Trebek and Soledad O’Brien. From 2016 until the bee’s final competition in 2019, he presided over it. In the second season of The Good Fight, Rocca portrayed a conservative morning TV show host.