Lester Don Holt Jr. was born on March 8, 1959, in Marin County, California. He attended California State University, Sacramento, where he studied government but left before graduating to pursue a career in radio journalism. He began working as a DJ and radio reporter in San Francisco in the late 1970s. 

Holt made his television debut in 1981 as a reporter for WCBS-TV in New York City. He also worked for KNXT, WBBM-TV, and MSNBC before joining NBC in 2003 as a substitute anchor for NBC Nightly News and Today. He later became the full-time co-anchor of Weekend Today before being named anchor of the weekend edition of NBC Nightly News in 2007. 

In 2015, Lester Holt took over as the anchor for NBC Nightly News, a role he held for ten years. He stepped down in 2025 to become the primary anchor and host for the investigative newsmagazine program, Dateline NBC. In addition to his NBC News duties, Holt has hosted specials, moderated the presidential debate, covered breaking stories such as the COVID-19 Pandemic and the January 6 Capitol Attack, and interviewed high-profile figures, including President Trump. 

In his personal life, Holt has been married to Carol Hagen, a real estate agent, since 1982. The couple has two sons, including Stefan Holt, who followed in his footsteps as a TV journalist. Holt plays bass guitar and upright bass and is in a band composed of video editors from Dateline NBC.