Jaime Bayly

A student of a local prestigious school, Bayly never achieved good grades. Spending too much time in soccer games at school, his low academic performance forced his mother to send him to 'La Prensa' newspaper in order to get more responsibility with a part-time job. Every afternoon after school classes he went to the office until late at night. Since then, journalism became a passion for him. In 1982 he was admitted to study at PUCP (Universidad Católica del Perú) with the determination to become a lawyer and then a politician, but the Soccer World Cup in Spain was taking place and got his attention and he was absent from classes because he wanted to watch every game. After four years of mediocre studies he left the college. His first TV appearance occurred in 1983 during the municipal elections nationwide, interviewing candidates and politicians. That job was boring for him, so he began a successful career as a late show host interviewing flamboyant and celebrity personalities. Bayly's first Late Show, '1990 en America', got the attention of TV audiences and critics; the next year he hosted a copy of David Letterman's Late Show - 'Que hay de nuevo?', which was ranked as the most popular TV Show. His novels are also popular and 'No se lo digas a Nadie' (Don't tell Anyone) inspired a screenplay in 1998 directed by Francisco Lombardi and starring Santiago Magil and Christian Meier. He wrote five more novels, all of them with smart arguments about politics criticism, sexual freedom and friendship. Bayly made Late Shows abroad in CBS Network Latin America and Telemundo Network during six years. After the president of Peru, Alberto Fujimori, ran away to Japan (after a ten-years term in government) in order to avoid an imminent trial for charges of corruption; independent news media got over their difficult situation and Bayly hosted a new TV program 'Francotirador, El' as a political journalist, interviewing candidates for the new Presidential Elections. In that program, he bothered several 'respected' personalities with his political opinions and finally he had to quit from that. Inspired by that experience Jaime wrote a book with the same title.