Leila McKinnon

Leila McKinnon has reported for Network Nine’s A Current Affair and was co-host of the Today Show on Saturday and Sunday mornings. An accomplished journalist and presenter, she is intelligent and friendly – the perfect host for a corporate event or celebration.

Leila McKinnon has interviewed a myriad of prominent figures in Australian and international life – from former Prime Minister Julia Gillard to former Wiggle Geoff Page and singing star Delta Goodrem to Tom Hanks, Beyonce and Pierce Brosnan.  She famously scolded bad boy Cory Worthington on A Current Affair in an interview that went viral and became a YouTube sensation.

Unafraid to tackle hardline issues, Leila McKinnon has extensively reported on topics that include increasing gang problems, drug issues, and the controversial Gordon Wood trial. As a foreign correspondent for the Nine Network, based in Los Angeles, she was the first journalist to track down and confront the notorious doctor Jayant Patel, who was later extradited to Australia to face charges of negligence due to deaths in a McKay hospital. She also reported extensively from Guantanamo Bay on the David Hicks affair.

Leila McKinnon’s career in the media began with the completion of her journalism degree in Queensland and her first role on television in Rockhampton in 1993 with WIN television. She moved to Cairns to work with the WIN network in 1995.

In early 1996 Leila moved to the Nine Network to report and present the weather for the newly created Nine Gold Coast News. She went on to report for A Current Affair and read the National Nine News with Karl Stefanovic in Brisbane before moving to Sydney in 2001 and returning to the news department.

Joining Today as news presenter in 2005, she later returned to presenting the morning National Nine Morning News bulletin.

In 2007, Leila McKinnon travelled extensively through the United States to report for the first two seasons of the hit prime time show What’s Good For You.

On her return to Australia she was announced as co-host of Weekend Today, appearing on Australian screens on weekend between 2008 to 2014. She also co-hosted Nine’s award-winning coverage of the 2012 London Olympic Games, and conducted the first live interview with Princes William and Harry.

She’s also an avid cook, and edited the best-selling cookbook Australia’s Favourite Recipes (2012), which raises money for the Legacy charity.