Elizabeth Vargas was born on September 6, 1962, in Paterson, New Jersey. An army brat, she spent her childhood overseas, including Okinawa, Belgium, and Germany, where she discovered her passion for journalism at an American high school in Heidelberg. She later attended the University of Missouri, where she studied journalism and worked at the campus station, KOMU-TV. 

After college, Vargas worked at various local TV stations in Reno, Phoenix, and Chicago. She then joined NBC News in 1993 as a Dateline NBC correspondent. In 1996, she moved to ABC and became a newsreader for Good Morning America. Her profile rose quickly as she anchored weekend editions of World News Tonight before becoming co-anchor of 20/20. 

In 2005, Vargas was named co-anchor of World News Tonight, alongside Bob Woodruff were named co-anchors of World News Tonight. She stepped back from the role in 2006 before returning to 20/20, where she remained for over a decade. She left ABC in May 2018 and later joined A&E Networks as lead investigative anchor. In 2021, she hosted Fox’s revival of America’s Most Wanted, and in 2023, she launched Elizabeth Vargas Reports on NewsNation, a weeknight news program she continues to anchor.