David Muir's Incredible Teenage Years Uncovered in a Rare Candid Interview.Linh

The World News Tonight and 20/20 anchor recently marked a decade as primetime’s leading news anchor

david muir on the red carpet

David Muir has already had quite a big year, and we still have nearly three months left before it ends!

Between marking milestones on the air and his moderation of the presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, the 50-year-old TV anchor’s profile has grown quite a bit.

Back in September, David marked ten years to the day he started anchoring World News Tonight, the leading primetime news show on ABC News and one of the highest rated programs in its category nationwide.

“I was a total nerd,” he admitted to the hosts. “In the backyard, everyone was playing. And I’d be out there too, but then I’d be like, ‘I gotta go inside, it’s time for the news!’ So I’d go in and watch the news.”

David Muir and his father Ronald Muir sit at a news desk in a throwback photograph shared on Instagram — David marked ten years of hosting World News Tonight with a childhood throwback

He recalled then that his drive and ambition was strong even in his early teens, revealing that he’d started visiting a local TV station soon after and even began interning there, a really early start.

“I started visiting the station at 13 years old, I started interning at 14,” he shared. “Obviously, my dad and my mom would take me, so I’m grateful to them.”

MORE: David Muir shares glimpse of personal life in NYC after marking emotional milestone

“And I’m grateful to everybody in that newsroom because, this is what we all have to remember, this was just a kid with a dream, and they let me show up. And there was a new news director, I got in when there was no boss. That was the only reason a kid at that age could get in.”

“They convinced the new boss to let me keep coming, so I’m grateful to them. And I always try to remember that, when people write to us or reach out to us,” he concluded.

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Alongside the photo on social media, David penned: “Ten years ago today I started anchoring World News Tonight. I’m so grateful to this team and to the viewers. I’ve been at this for a bit — my Dad and me, 1987 — our on-air chemistry was off the charts.”

David Muir as a child with his dad and sister — His dad Ronald Muir was very supportive of his passion for journalism

David grew up interning and working with local news stations in his native Syracuse, anchoring the college news program at Ithaca College. He graduated with a journalism degree in 1995.

MORE: David Muir shares rare personal update during time away from ABC studio as fans send praise

He was a full-time reporter for WTVH-TV from 1994-2000, and worked for three years after with the ABC-owned WCVB before joining ABC News full-time in 2003.

ABC News Anchor DAVID MUIR reporting on the Mitt Romney event. Mitt Romney Campaigns in South Florida On His Bus Tour For A Stronger Middle Class IN The Cuban Area Of South Florida — David in 2012, just before making his debut as the co-anchor of 20/20 the year after

After years serving as the lead anchor of the weekend editions of the primetime news show, he was made co-anchor of ABC’s 20/20 in 2013 alongside Elizabeth Vargas (who was succeeded by Amy Robach, and now Deborah Roberts). He officially was named lead anchor and Managing Editor of World News Tonight in 2014.