Clayton Sandell

Clayton Sandell is an American journalist and ABC News correspondent based in Denver, Colorado.^[1]

Sandell covers a wide range of hard news and feature stories, and is known as ABC's "resident 'Star Wars' fan." ^[2][3][4]

In January 2017, Sandell took viewers inside Lucasfilm's Industrial Light & Magic for an exclusive look at how visual effects artists created digital versions of Grand Moff Tarkin and Princess Leia for "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story". ^{[5] [6][7][8]}

From his home base in Denver, Sandell files for all ABC News broadcasts, including "Good Morning America", "World News Tonight with David Muir", "This Week" and "Nightline".^[9] He is also a frequent contributor to ABC News Radio and ABC News Digital.^[10]

Sandell joined ABC News in 2000 and has been based in Denver since July 2009,^[11] previously working as a producer in the network's Washington, D.C. bureau.^[12] In 2010, he won a national Emmy award as part of the ABC News team covering the inauguration of President Barack Obama.^[13]

In 2014, Sandell spent several weeks overseas covering the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 from Malaysia and Australia.^[14] He was one of the first journalists to arrive at the 2012 Aurora shooting that left 12 moviegoers dead and 70 wounded or injured, and covered the trial and conviction of gunman James Holmes.^[15]

Prior to ABC, Sandell worked as a radio reporter covering the Riverside-San Bernardino region for Los Angeles news radio station KFWB. He was also a producer at Finley Holiday Films in Whittier California, writing and editing award-winning space and science documentaries.^[16]

Sandell grew up in Riverside, California, graduating from John W. North High School and the University of California, Riverside with a degree in political science. His first professional broadcasting job was working as a disc jockey at KRTM radio in Temecula, California later joining KCKC radio (now KTDD) in San Bernardino as a reporter and anchor.

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