Idol-ized
"When I was 10, 11, 12 years old, I would pretend to be on the radio," Seacrest has said. He got his big break in 2002: Co-hosting Fox's American Idol with Brian Dunkleman (who is no longer on the show).
"When I was 10, 11, 12 years old, I would pretend to be on the radio," Seacrest has said. He got his big break in 2002: Co-hosting Fox's American Idol with Brian Dunkleman (who is no longer on the show).
"On Idol, I'm the traffic cop," Seacrest (here, with former Idol judge Paula Abdul) once told L.A.'s Daily News. "I'm the mouthpiece."
In 2005, he received a star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame.
He co-hosted the 60th annual Primetime Emmy Awards in 2008 with Project Runway's Heidi Klum, Dancing with the Stars' Tom Bergeron, Deal or No Deal's Howie Mandel and Survivor's Jeff Probst.
Since 2005, Seacrest has been executive producer and co-host of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. (He is the producer-host's eventual successor.)
Seacrest once told USA Today he loves the NYE party scene in NYC's Times Square. "There are times that it's almost an out-of-body experience," he said. "When you put together your must-do list, this is definitely on it."
In 2010, he participated in the Stand Up To Cancer benefit.
Seacrest has been nominated three times for an Emmy in the Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program category. In 2010, he took home a Creative Emmy in the best reality program category for ABC’s Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, which his production company created.
Another side-job: He has hosted the Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade. Seacrest has said he's "frightened by the thought of being out of work. Growing up, there were people on shows like Diff'rent Strokes, Facts of Life and Love Boat that you thought would be huge stars for the rest of their lives, and they've just vanished. You never want to be that person."
In January 2004, Seacrest became the new host of the radio program American Top 40 (created and formerly hosted by Casey Kasem). That same year, he landed a job hosting popular Los Angeles radio station KIIS's morning show, which is now called On Air With Ryan Seacrest.
He appeared in the 1995 syndicated TV show Reality Check about a man who is stuck in a computer mainframe.
Seacrest hosted the short-lived 90s TV show, Wild Animal Games. Merv Griffin, who produces the children's series Click (another project that starred Seacrest), told The New York Times that Seacrest's energy "just baffled me. I couldn't keep up with him…He had this spiky haircut, and we knew all the little girls in the audience would love him, and they did."