Ziya Tong | |
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Born | London, England |
Alma mater | University of British Columbia McGill University |
Occupation(s) | Television Personality and Producer |
Years active | 2004–present |
Employer | Bell Media |
Known for | Co-host of ZeD Co-host of Wired Science Co-host of Nova Co-host of Daily Planet |
Board member of | World Wide Fund for Nature Canada |
Website | ziyatong |
Ziya Tong is an English-born Canadian television personality and producer, formerly the co-host of Discovery Channel's long-running primetime science magazine, Daily Planet . [1]
Ziya Tong was born in London, England, of Chinese and Macedonian descent, [2] and later lived in Hong Kong. [3] She moved from Hong Kong to Canada when she was 11.
She received her B.A. degree from the University of British Columbia in psychology and sociology. [4] At McGill University, she graduated with an M.A. in Communications. [5] [6]
After university, she worked as a reporter, and as a senior producer for the news-portal Orientation Global Networks in New York.
Tong began hosting the CBC Television series ZeD in the 2004–05 season, succeeding Sharon Lewis. For this, she was nominated for a Gemini Award for Viewer's Choice for Lifestyle Host in 2005. [7]
After ZeD, Tong was hired by CTV to host the television series Island Escapes, which premiered on January 6, 2006. Critic Denise Duguay called her a "lively and game travel host". [1] In this position, she visited many exotic island locations, and highlighted the attractions of places such as New Caledonia, Bedarra Island and Fiji.
Starting in January 2007 she worked as a host and producer for two science shows, Wired Science on PBS [2] and The Leading Edge, a Canadian science series on The Knowledge Network. [8]
Tong has also written for Wired magazine [9] and blogged on the Wired Science site for PBS. [10] She also was a reporter for NOVA on PBS. [11]
After joining Discovery Channel's Daily Planet as a guest host for November and December 2008, she was named the new permanent co-host of the daily science program. [12]
For three years, Tong co-hosted Daily Planet with science journalist Jay Ingram. When Ingram retired from the program in June 2011, Tong was joined by co-host Dan Riskin and since, the show has generated record ratings as it completed its 18th season on Canadian television. [13] Tong also writes and produces Ziyology , a weekly column looking at wonder and science.
She appears regularly on Canada AM , CTV News Channel, CP24 and CTV National News .
Tong has travelled to more than 60 countries. She is fluent in English and Cantonese, she is working on her French, Mandarin and Arabic. [14]
She serves on the board of directors of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Canada. [15]
Her non-fiction book The Reality Bubble was published by Penguin Random House in May 2019. [16] The book was nominated for the 2020 RCC Charles Taylor Prize.
She defended Max Eisen's memoir By Chance Alone in the 2019 edition of Canada Reads . The book won the competition. [17]
In 2024 Tong and Ben Addelman codirected the documentary film Plastic People , [18] for which they won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Direction in a Documentary Program at the 13th Canadian Screen Awards in 2025. [19]