Cenk Uygur

Cenk Uygur
Uygur in June 2016
Born	Cenk Kadir Uygur (1970-03-21) March 21, 1970 (age 47) Istanbul, Turkey
Residence	West Los Angeles, Los Angeles, United States
Citizenship	Turkey United States
Alma mater	University of Pennsylvania (B.S.) Columbia University (J.D.)
Occupation	Activist, columnist, entrepreneur, and political pundit
Known for	The Young Turks
Television	MSNBC (2010–2011) Current TV (2011–2013)
Political party	Republican (before 1992) Independent (1992–2016) Democratic (2016–present)
Movement	Progressive
Spouse(s)	Wendy Lang
Children	2
Awards	The Humanist Media Award Emperor Has No Clothes Award

Cenk Kadir Uygur (/ˈdʒɛŋk ˈjuːɡər/, Turkish pronunciation: [ˈdʒɛɲc ˈujɡur]; born March 21, 1970) is an American activist, businessman, columnist, and political commentator. Uygur is the main host and co-founder of the The Young Turks (TYT), an American liberal/progressive political and social commentary program. Before beginning his career as a political commentator, he worked as an attorney in Washington, D.C. and New York City. As a young man, Uygur espoused socially conservative views, criticizing abortion, affirmative action, and feminism. He is now a progressive.

In addition to hosting TYT, Uygur appeared on MSNBC as a political commentator. From January to June 2011, he hosted a weeknight commentary show on the network; Uygur was replaced by Al Sharpton. After leaving MSNBC, he secured another weeknight commentary show on Current TV, which aired from December 5, 2011 to August 15, 2013. From 2012 to 2013, Uygur was the chief news officer at Current TV, succeeding Keith Olbermann.

Uygur was born in Istanbul, Turkey, and emigrated with his family when he was eight years old. He spent his adolescence in East Brunswick, New Jersey, and graduated from East Brunswick High School. Raised as a Muslim, Uygur became an agnostic later in life. He graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where he majored in management and was on the Student Activities Council representing the Turkish Students Association. He then received a Juris Doctor degree from Columbia Law School and worked as an associate attorney at the law firms of Drinker Biddle & Reath in Washington, D.C. and Hayes & Liebman in New York City.