American journalist and TV personality, Ling was one of the co-hosts of “The View” a popular daytime TV talk show featuring Barbara Walters, Meredith Vieira, Star Jones and Joy Behar. She joined the cast of “The View” in 1999, and in October, 2003, she moved on, becoming host of National Geographic Ultimate Explorer, flagship TV series of National Geographic.
The lovely woman of Asian heritage began working in TV at age 16, when she was chosen to be one of the four hosts of “Scratch,” a nationally syndicated teen magazine show. At age 18, she was one of the youngest reporters for Channel One News, seen in high schools across the U.S., and by age 25, had become their senior war correspondent. At the same time, she attended the University of Southern California and produced eight documentaries for the Public Broadcasting System (PBS), several of which won awards.
In October 2000, while on “The View” she began to work as a contributing editor for USA Weekend, and in February 2001 hosted the TV special “Teen People’s 20 Teens who Will Change the World.” In April 2001, she completed the Boston Marathon with a time of 4:34, raising money and awareness for pediatric cancer and the “Ali& Dad’s Army” foundation. She hosted a forum for teens in September 2001, and was named “Hot Reporter” by Rolling Stones magazine and was included in Cosmopolitan magazine’s “Fun, Fearless Females.”
After eight months of being engaged to media enrepreneur Philip Levine, Ling called it quits in October 2005, citing as a cause their respectively busy schedules. She became engaged to a Chicago oncologist, Paul Song, “over the holidays,”(presumably Christmas 2006), it was announced in early January 2007. They married on May 26, 2007 in Los Angeles.
On March 17, 2009 her journalist sister Laura was taken into custody by North Korean soldiers. In early June Laura and a colleague who had been arrested at the same time were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor.
Link to Wikipedia biography