documentary filmmaker journalist
Perri graduated from The Dalton School in New York City and received a bachelor’s degree from Brown University in 1982. She earned a Master of Public Health from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and later received a Doctor of Public Health from Columbia University in 2023. She has remained involved with the Mailman School as a member of its Board of Advisors.
Perri Peltz began her television career at WNBC in New York in 1987. She worked as a reporter and later co-anchored Weekend Today in New York and the weekend editions of News 4 New York. She remained at WNBC until 1996, when she joined NBC News and Dateline NBC. She also anchored live news coverage for MSNBC during its early years.
In 1998, Peltz joined ABC’s 20/20, where she worked as a correspondent until 2000. Her reporting included health-related stories, including coverage of the misdiagnosis of melanoma. She subsequently joined CNN, where she worked until 2002 and reported and anchored programs including CNN.com.
While at CNN, Peltz reported on a middle-school chess team from the South Bronx that became national champions. She subsequently produced the television film Knights of the South Bronx, starring Ted Danson, based on the team’s story. The film aired on the A&E Network in 2005.
Peltz then worked with the Robin Hood Foundation in New York, where she developed volunteer programs supporting organizations working to address poverty. She returned to WNBC in 2005 as co-anchor of Live at Five with Sue Simmons. In 2007, she began hosting News 4 You, a half-hour program covering consumer, health and entertainment stories. After the program ended, she continued reporting for WNBC and NBC.
Peltz subsequently focused increasingly on documentary filmmaking and public health. She directed and produced documentaries including Warning: This Drug May Kill You, about the opioid addiction epidemic, and Risky Drinking, about alcohol use disorder. Her other documentary work includes Remembering the Artist: Robert De Niro, Sr., Prison Dogs, Alternate Endings: Six New Ways to Die in America and A Conversation About Growing Up Black, produced as part of The New York Times Op-Docs series.
Together with Matthew O’Neill, Peltz co-created and directed the Emmy-winning documentary news series Axios on HBO, which ran on HBO from 2018 through 2021. The series combined documentary reporting, interviews and coverage of major developments in politics, business, technology and public affairs.
In 2024, Peltz and O’Neill directed the HBO documentary Surveilled, produced by Ronan Farrow, about the commercial spyware industry.
Her later documentary work includes She Runs the World, about Olympic sprinter Allyson Felix, which was selected for the 2025 Tribeca Festival, and The Last Twins, which she directed and produced with Matthew O’Neill. The Last Twins was released on PBS and received the 2026 Christopher Award.
Peltz also hosts The Perri Peltz Show on SiriusXM and continues to work at the intersection of journalism, documentary filmmaking and public health.
