Melissa Francis

Melissa Francis spent the last few decades chasing breaking news around the globe, from Caracas to Vienna to an aircraft carrier in the hostile waters off Iran, before settling into the anchor chair, first at CNBC and MSNBC, then crossing over to FOX News Channel where she hosted Money with Melissa Francis, After the Bell, and the often bloody political debate show, Outnumbered.

During her tenure at FOX, Francis penned articles for print outlets, such as The Wall Street Journal, and authored two best-selling books, Lessons from the Prairie and Diary of a Stage Mother’s Daughter, which received praise from The Washington Post, USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, People Magazine, The New York Post, Kirkus Reviews, and Publisher’s Weekly.

Before embarking on her journalism career, Francis earned her BA from Harvard with a concentration in Economics, though she started life as a child actor in Hollywood, earning her SAG card on the set of a Johnson & Johnson Baby Shampoo commercial when she was six months old. Over the next eighteen years, she starred in three motion pictures, was a regular on three television series, and appeared in countless other television productions, and more than one hundred commercials. She is best known as an actress for her role as Michael Landon’s daughter, Cassandra Cooper Ingalls, on Little House on the Prairie.

She now heads her own production company, Sailfish Productions.