Charissa Thompson

Charissa Jean Thompson is an American television host and sportscaster known for her work with media outlets including Fox Sports, Amazon Prime Video, and ESPN. Born on May 4, 1982, she has reported on and hosted coverage for various college sports, professional sports leagues, and entertainment television programs throughout her broadcasting career.

Thompson was raised in Seattle, Washington, as the youngest of three children, and attended Inglemoor High School in Kenmore, Washington. Aiming to pursue a career in broadcasting from an early age, she moved to California to attend community college before transferring to the University of California, Santa Barbara. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 2004 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Law and Society.

Early in her sports media career, Thompson appeared on college sports programming and served as a sideline reporter for college football and basketball games on the Big Ten Network and Fox Sports Net (FSN). Her early television work included co-hosting FSN's The Best Damn Sports Show Period as well as appearing on programs such as Big Ten's Best, Friday Night Tailgate, and Toughest Cowboy. In 2008, she completed her first stint as a National Football League (NFL) sideline reporter for NFL on Fox. She subsequently expanded her reporting to major international and domestic sporting events, covering the 2010 Winter Olympics, the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Super Bowl XLV, and various all-star games for platforms including Yahoo! Sports, GSN, and Versus.

In June 2011, Thompson joined ESPN, where she co-hosted the show Numbers Never Lie alongside Michael Smith and later hosted SportsNation starting in July 2012. She departed ESPN in June 2013 to rejoin Fox Sports for the launch of Fox Sports 1 (FS1), where she debuted as a host on Fox Sports Live. Her ongoing work with Fox Sports included presenting roles on Fox NFL Kickoff and hosting NFL Films Presents starting in 2018. In 2022, Thompson became the host of Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime Video, anchoring pregame, halftime, and postgame coverage for the streaming platform.

Beyond sports journalism, Thompson has hosted various entertainment and reality programs. From 2014 to 2017, she served as a co-host on the syndicated entertainment news show Extra. She also co-hosted ABC's reality series Splash in 2013 and served as an American host on the Netflix series Ultimate Beastmaster. Since 2021, Thompson has co-hosted the podcast Calm Down alongside fellow sportscaster Erin Andrews.