Julie Banderas

Julie Banderas was born as Julie E. Bidwell on September 25, 1973 in Hartford, Connecticut, USA to mother Fabiola R. and father Howard D. Bidwell. Her mother was a Colombian. She has a sister named Melissa.

She was interested in journalism from an early age, and her father encouraged her to take up a career in the field. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism from Emerson Collegein 1996.

On August 29, 2009, she married Andrew J. Sansone, who is a member of the board of directors of Habitat for Humanity, and the founding president of both Old Rock Media and Big Apple Channel. Their first daughter, Addison Melissa, was born on April 21, 2010 and second daughter, Avery Julie, was born on November 13, 2012. They also have a son, Andy Harrison.

Julie Banderas began her career in journalism with the channel WLVI-TV in Boston. In 1997, she joined the local channel WHSV-TV (ABC 3) in Harrisonburg, Virginia, as a local news anchor. After working there for one year and ten months, she joined WBRE-TV (NBC 11) in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, in 1999 as a news anchor and reporter. She also worked at WFSB-TV (CBS 3) in Hartford, Connecticut. She was the weekend anchor at WNYW-TV (FOX 5) in New York.

In March 2005, she joined the Fox News Channel (FNC) as a general assignment reporter. Over the years, she rose to the position of a New York-based correspondent. During her tenure at FNC, she became well known for reporting on big issues like the Hurricane Dennis in 2005, and the disappearance of the US student Natalee Holloway, who went missing from Aruba in 2005. She also reported on the legal case of Terri Schiavo from Florida and the murder of 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford by a sex offender.

In June 2006, she drew international media attention for her on-air clash with Shirley Phelps-Roper, an American lawyer and former spokeswoman for Westboro Baptist Church, which is known for spreading hatred against LGBT people, Catholics, Muslims, Jews, and US soldiers.

In 2008, she became the anchor for Fox Report Weekend after replacing Laurie Dhue. She also became the rotating anchor for America's News Headquarters, aired on Saturdays. In 2010, she rose to the position of general news correspondent. In 2013, her live coverage of the New York City mayoral race, the crash landing of Southwest Flight 345 at LaGuardia Airport, the inauguration of Pope Francis, and Hurricane Sandy were highly appreciated. She also contributed stories on health and wellness for the network.