Peter Overton


Peter John Overton is an Australian television journalist and news presenter.

Career

Overton joined the Nine Network as a reporter for Nine News and later was appointed weekend sports presenter on Nine News in Sydney and fill in presenter for Ken Sutcliffe. He also filed weekday news updates from the newsroom during Brian Henderson's tenure as presenter of Nine News in Sydney.
Overton occasionally presented weekend news bulletins, and substituted on National Nine Early News and Today news for Sharyn Ghidella. He also co-hosted Nine's coverage of the Thredbo disaster with Tracy Grimshaw.
He was a reporter for the current affairs program 60 Minutes for eight years and also held positions at 2UE, Sky News Australia and the Seven Network in Adelaide.
In January 2009, Overton was appointed presenter of Nine News Sydney replacing Mark Ferguson following poor ratings. Ratings did not improve in his first week, with Nine dropping to fourth behind then-leader Seven, the ABC and Ten. However, after years of steady progress, Nine would later regain the ratings lead in the Sydney market.
Overton had a cameo role as himself in the 2011 Australian horror film The Tunnel.

Personal life

Early life

Overton grew up in Longueville, a suburb on the Lower North Shore of Sydney. He went to Lane Cove Public School and North Sydney Boys High School. He graduated with a Bachelor of Economics from Macquarie University. He also played the tuba whilst at Lane Cove Public School.

Family

His father, Dr John Overton, was an Associate Professor of Anaesthesia at the University of Sydney and worked at the Children's Hospital at Westmead.
In the mid-1990s, Overton married his childhood sweetheart, but their marriage ended in divorce in 2000.
In mid-2001, Overton began dating then Ten News presenter, Jessica Rowe. Overton and Rowe married in 2004 and have two daughters.

Community roles

Overton is a patron of the MonSTaR Foundation, a charity raising money and awareness of motor neurone disease. He is an ambassador for Special Olympics Australia, a not-for-profit organisation that supports children and adults with an intellectual disability.