Nancy Giles

Actor • Humorist • Cultural Commentator • Emmy Award-Winner

Videos

CBS Sunday Morning contributor Nancy Giles is a humorist, actress, emcee and social commentator. Since 2002, her work on the Peabody Award-winning CBS News Sunday Morning has earned her 5 Emmy Awards for her unique blend of common-sense wisdom, laugh-out-loud humor, social and political commentary, and memorable interviews. A funny, perceptive, and provocative observer of today’s world, Giles examines topics ranging from politics and race to pop culture and body image. She has been a guest on MSNBC’s The Eleventh Hour with Stephanie Ruhle, The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, and The Beat with Ari Melber.

Giles is a veteran of Chicago’s esteemed Second City improv troupe, appeared Off-Broadway in Nora & Delia Ephron’s Love, Loss, and What I Wore, and won the Theatre World Award for the musical satire Mayor. She was one of the stars of the acclaimed series China Beach and the sitcom Delta. Other TV credits include The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Spin City, Law & Order and Law & Order SVU. She was featured in the films Big, Working Girl, True Crime, and Irrational Man. Her solo shows include Notes of a Negro Neurotic, Things My Afro Taught Me and The Further Adventures of the Accidental Pundette, which The New Yorker called “the surprise of (this) annual festival… a rocking standup comedy.”

An accomplished voiceover and radio artist, Giles’ credits include network promos for Food Network, Logo, USA Network, Lifetime, and ABC Daytime; and national spots for The New York Times, Tide, True Value, Yoplait, and countless pharmaceuticals. Her cartoon voices have been heard on shows on Nickelodeon, The Disney Channel, and VH-1. Giles also won back-to-back Gracie Awards from the Alliance of Women in Media for Giles and Moriarty, a CBS Radio talk show with CBS correspondent Erin Moriarty. And her podcast The Giles Files takes a lively spin on trending topics — from pop culture to politics, with interviews, commentaries, song parodies, and more.

For more than 30 years, Giles has been a volunteer with The 52nd Street Project, helping at-risk kids take part in acting, playwriting, filmmaking, poetry, dance, and art workshops, classes, and performances.

For more information, please visit her contributor page at CBS News.

CBS Sunday Morning contributor Nancy Giles is a humorist, actress, emcee and social commentator. Since 2002, her work on the Peabody Award-winning CBS News Sunday Morning has earned her 5 Emmy Awards for her unique blend of common-sense wisdom, laugh-out-loud humor, social and political commentary, and memorable interviews. A funny, perceptive, and provocative observer of today’s world, Giles examines topics ranging from politics and race to pop culture and body image. She has been a guest on MSNBC’s The Eleventh Hour with Stephanie Ruhle, The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, and The Beat with Ari Melber.

Giles is a veteran of Chicago’s esteemed Second City improv troupe, appeared Off-Broadway in Nora & Delia Ephron’s Love, Loss, and What I Wore, and won the Theatre World Award for the musical satire Mayor. She was one of the stars of the acclaimed series China Beach and the sitcom Delta. Other TV credits include The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Spin City, Law & Order and Law & Order SVU. She was featured in the films Big, Working Girl, True Crime, and Irrational Man. Her solo shows include Notes of a Negro Neurotic, Things My Afro Taught Me and The Further Adventures of the Accidental Pundette, which The New Yorker called “the surprise of (this) annual festival… a rocking standup comedy.”

An accomplished voiceover and radio artist, Giles’ credits include network promos for Food Network, Logo, USA Network, Lifetime, and ABC Daytime; and national spots for The New York Times, Tide, True Value, Yoplait, and countless pharmaceuticals. Her cartoon voices have been heard on shows on Nickelodeon, The Disney Channel, and VH-1. Giles also won back-to-back Gracie Awards from the Alliance of Women in Media for Giles and Moriarty, a CBS Radio talk show with CBS correspondent Erin Moriarty. And her podcast The Giles Files takes a lively spin on trending topics — from pop culture to politics, with interviews, commentaries, song parodies, and more.

For more than 30 years, Giles has been a volunteer with The 52nd Street Project, helping at-risk kids take part in acting, playwriting, filmmaking, poetry, dance, and art workshops, classes, and performances.

For more information, please visit her contributor page at CBS News.

The Struggle Makes You Stronger: Lessons Dr. King Taught Me
With American public discourse increasingly tense and polarized, it is more important than ever to honor the legacy of this civil rights leader who inspired so many around the world to work peacefully for equality and unity. In this talk, join Giles, the Accidental Pundette, as she brings her experiences, her unique wisdom, and her sharp wit to demonstrate the relevance of Dr. King’s legacy today. In sharing how the great Dr. King influenced her personally, and how his legacy strengthened her own resilience in the face of life’s challenges, Giles demonstrates why we must continue to recognize his impact not just every January, but every day.

What 60 Looks Like
Your period stops, and the question marks begin, all while you’re sweating profusely. This is a quirky timeline of stories from the life of a single, neurotic, exhausted, working, thinking, personally perplexed, dating-while-menopausal American black chick who grew up smack dab between the feminist and Black Power movements (not fitting into either), and lives in the no-spinster zone, grooving to Barry White and Barry Manilow. Old school? Wild? Mood swings? You bet!

How I Found My Voice
From her short stint in children’s theatre as a singing bag of garbage to touring with Chicago’s famed Second City (where improvisation lessons taught her how to roll with it, baby), Giles tells all from her world of small parts, bit feet, public schools, progressive colleges, bad auditions and more. Her work in film and TV (“China Beach,” “Fox After Breakfast,” and “CBS News Sunday Morning” among others), writing solo comedy shows, and doing voiceovers for everything from pharmaceuticals to plus-size department stores prepared her for anything. (She’ll even perform a medley of her voiceover “greatest hits.”) And strangely, as she found her voiceover “voice” she also found her authentic voice as a funny black chick who, among other things, was taller than most of her bosses. Note: This program can also be presented as a workshop to encourage students to prepare and present their own stories/solo works. It could also work as a corporate presentation or seminar with improvisation about re-energizing one’s creative juices)

From “Sunday Morning” to “Accidental Pundette”
She was always opining, during recess with her friends and in dozens of journals through the years. So “Sunday Morning” commentaries turned out to be a perfect fit for Nancy Giles (with five Emmys for her interviews and TV essays). So how did she transition from humor pieces on high heels and stretch fabrics to weighing in on presidential politics, race, and culture? Chris Matthews and “Hardball” started it, and when a memorable episode of “Larry King Live” derailed, her fan mail took a wild turn. True stories! Authentic letters and emails! Fascinating exchanges!

2021 Daytime Emmy Award, Outstanding Morning Program, CBS Sunday Morning (Contributing Correspondent)
2019 Daytime Emmy Award, Outstanding Morning Program, CBS Sunday Morning (Contributing Correspondent)
2016 Daytime Emmy Award, Outstanding Morning Program, CBS Sunday Morning (Contributing Commentator)
2015 Daytime Emmy Award, Outstanding Morning Program, CBS Sunday Morning (Contributing Commentator)
2013 Daytime Emmy Award, Outstanding Morning Program, CBS Sunday Morning (Contributing Commentator)
2010 Gracie Award, Alliance of Women in Media
2009 Gracie Award, Alliance of Women in Media
1985 Theatre World Award, “Mayor”

Giles brings a strong, provocative and humorous take to topics ranging from politics and race to pop culture and the tyranny of high heels….. Her sharp social commentary, leavened with wit, has made her a respected and popular voice in nearly every medium.

Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters citation, Grinnell College