Anjali Rao

Anjali Rao is a multi-award-winning journalist, broadcaster and event host with more than two decades of experience at the highest levels of international news and current affairs. Since moving to Australia in 2012, she has hosted SBS’s Dateline and appeared as a guest host on prime-time programmes including The Project and Studio 10. Before that, she anchored CNN International’s weekday breakfast programme and hosted Talk Asia, broadcast to 220 million households worldwide, following earlier roles with Sky News UK and Channel 5 News in London. Renowned for her warm, incisive interview style, Anjali has interviewed global figures including the Dalai Lama, President Bill Clinton, Rihanna and Roger Federer, and reported on major world events ranging from 9/11 and the 2004 Asian tsunami to the London bombings and Japan’s 2011 earthquake and tsunami. A long-time AADA Convention host, she returns once again in 2026, bringing her trademark poise, intelligence and on-stage presence to the event. Beyond journalism, Anjali has also shown a more unpredictable side to Australian audiences, with a memorable and much-discussed appearance on The Real Housewives of Melbourne, followed by a stint on Australian Survivor: Heroes v Villains. Based in Melbourne, she is also currently studying for a Master of Laws, adding yet another chapter to an already remarkably varied career.