Jaime Bayly

Early life

Bayly was born to an Anglo-Peruvian family of upper class. He was the first son and the second of the ten children of James Bayly Llona and his wife, Doris Letts Colmenares.

A student at Markham College, a British private school in Lima, and later at Colegio San Agustin of Lima. In his early youth he was coerced by his mother to work at daily newspaper La Prensa of Lima in order to become more responsible through a part-time job. He spent every afternoon after school working in journalism until late.

In 1982 he was accepted to the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru. After studying for four years, he had to leave the university as he could not pass a mandatory subject.

Career

His first television appearance was in 1983 during Peruvian municipal elections, interviewing candidates and politicians. Later on, he began a career as a late show host interviewing celebrities.

Bayly's first late-night show, '1990 en America', got the attention of TV audiences and critics. The following year he hosted a copy of David Letterman's Late Show called 'Que hay de nuevo?', also highly popular.

During the 1990s Bayly hosted late-night shows in the United States at CBS Telenoticias Network Latin America and Telemundo for six years.

After President of Peru Alberto Fujimori sought asylum in Japan in 2001 following a ten-year term in order to avoid prosecution on charges of corruption, independent news media found itself in a better position. Bayly was able to host political program 'El Francotirador' ('The Sniper'), interviewing candidates to the 2001 presidential election. In that program, he apparently offended several personalities with his political opinions, and finally had to quit. Inspired by the experience, Bayly wrote a book, taking the title from the show. Later he resumed the program. His interviewing style is somewhat incisive, irreverent & controversial leaving him looking calm & collected but reflecting poorly on his guests.

In 2006, he supported right-wing Lourdes Flores for presidency. In 2010, Bayly announced he intended to run for president in the Peruvian general election, 2011 to succeed Alan Garcia. Later that year, he supported leftist candidate Susana Villaran in her successful campaign to become mayor of Lima. As a consequence, broadcasting company Frecuencia Latina cancelled his show.

On his U.S. program which airs on the Miami-based MegaTV channel, Bayly is well known for his views which have included sharp criticism of the Venezuelan government of Hugo Chavez.

Run for the Presidency

Bayly returned to Peru in July 2013 for an interview hosted by Jaime de Althaus in his program of Channel N (8). In the interview, he made a statement that he will run for the Presidency under de banner of the party Popular Action. In 2011, he intended to run under various parties like the Christian People's Party. He thought once about the Peruvian Aprista Party, but only thinking that is a monarchy because Alan Garcia is sitting there. A week later, old leaders Popular Action (Peru) agreed on Jaime Bayly candidacy for the party. But it needs to be approved by the bases of the party.

Books

His novel No se lo Digas a Nadie (Don't Tell Anyone) inspired a screenplay in 1998 directed by Francisco Lombardi starring Santiago Magill and Christian Meier. He wrote other novels, all of them on politics, sexual freedom and friendship. Several of his books contain recurring semi-autobiographical elements (e.g. bisexual cocaine using Peruvian newscaster who moves to Miami). The character for "El Cojo" is supposedly based on his father who was also crippled. His characters are often heartless, and reflect moral ambivalence, which makes it difficult to identify with them.