Donna Hanover

Donna Hanover, born Donna Ann Kofnovec on February 15, 1950, in Oakland, California, is an American journalist, television and radio personality, television producer, and actress. Her father, Robert G. Kofnovec, was a United States Navy officer who retired at the rank of Lieutenant Commander, and her mother was Gwendolyn Dolores (Domas) Kofnovec. She grew up attending Fremont High School in Sunnyvale, California, before enrolling at Stanford University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science in 1972. She subsequently completed a master's degree in journalism at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. At Stanford in 1968 she met Harvard graduate Stanley Hanover, whom she married following her graduation in 1972; the couple relocated to New York City and later divorced sometime after October 1980, having had no children together.

Hanover launched her broadcasting career in 1973 at WKTV in Utica, New York, where she also served as an associate faculty member at Utica College. She moved on to WTVN-TV in Columbus, Ohio, and by 1977 was hosting and producing the Evening Magazine program at KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, working weeks of approximately 80 hours. By 1980 she had relocated to Miami, Florida, where she worked as an anchor at WCKT. She joined WPIX in 1983 and served as the lead anchor for the station's 7:30 pm weeknight newscast for much of the latter half of the 1980s, also appearing on the syndicated program The Wall Street Journal Report. She departed WPIX entirely in 1990 and subsequently did freelance work for WNYW in 1992 and 1993. During her tenure as First Lady of New York City, beginning in 1994, she worked as a features reporter on WNYW's Good Day New York, served as a rotating anchor on Good Day Sunday, and co-anchored the Food Network's Food News and Views. She also worked periodically as a radio disc jockey for New York's WYNY.

Hanover was married to Rudy Giuliani on April 15, 1984, in New York. The couple had two children: Andrew, born in 1986, who later served as Special Assistant to the President and Associate Director of the Office of Public Liaison during Donald Trump's first term, and Caroline, born in 1989. From 1994 through 2001, Hanover held the role of First Lady of New York City. Giuliani announced their separation at a press conference on May 10, 2000, without having informed Hanover in advance. He filed for divorce in October 2000, and Hanover counter-filed in June 2002. The divorce was finalized in July 2002; Hanover was awarded $6.8 million and custody of their two children. The couple ceased cohabiting at the end of Giuliani's mayoral term in December 2001.

Her acting career developed alongside her broadcasting work. In 1996 she portrayed real-life presidential sister Ruth Carter Stapleton in the film The People vs. Larry Flynt and appeared in the feature film Ransom that same year as a WNYW reporter. Beginning in 1997, she played the recurring role of Judge Deborah Bourke on the television series Law & Order, a role she continued through 2004, and also appeared on Family Law, The Practice, Sex and the City, and Ally McBeal. In April 2000 she accepted the lead role in Eve Ensler's stage production The Vagina Monologues. Her film credits include Superstar with Will Ferrell in 1999, Keeping the Faith with Edward Norton in 2000, Someone Like You with Ellen Barkin in 2001, and Interview, directed by Steve Buscemi, in 2007. She played a senator opposite John Goodman in an episode of Alpha House in 2014 and appeared in the television comedy Odd Mom Out in 2015 and 2016. In 2011 she appeared in the off-Broadway initial run of Picked, written by Chris Shinn and directed by Michael Wilson at The Vineyard Theatre.

Hanover made her Broadway debut in 2012 in Gore Vidal's The Best Man, directed by Michael Wilson. The production also starred James Earl Jones, Angela Lansbury, John Larroquette, and Candace Bergen.

In 2003, Hanover married attorney Edwin Oster, who practices in Newport Beach, California. The two had dated in high school and college but had not been in contact for more than 20 years before reconnecting after her divorce from Giuliani. In 2005 she published the book My Boyfriend's Back: 50 True Stories of Reconnecting with a Long-Lost Love. That same year she hosted the Fine Living cable channel program Famous Homes & Hideaways. After doing fill-in work for New York radio station WOR for several years, she joined the station full-time in February 2006, working first with co-host Ed Walsh and subsequently with Joe Bartlett; that pairing received an award for best broadcasting team. In May 2008 she transitioned to a role as film critic and fill-in host at WOR. Hanover also served as an adjunct professor in the Department of Journalism at New York University. She joined CUNY TV in 2011, where she continues her journalism work as a correspondent on programs including Arts in the City and Simply Science. She divides her time between New York and California.