Early Life and Education 

George Alexander Trebek was born July 22, 1940 in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. Trebek grew up in a bilingual home: His father George Trebek was a hotel chef and Ukraine immigrant, while his mother Lucille Lagace had French roots. "My dad drank pretty heavily, and he never missed a day of work in his life," Trebek recalled in an interview for Bio.com. "His basic philosophy was don't throw out something because someday it'll come in handy," he says about his father. 

Trebek went to Jesuit schools till age 12 and finally he completed his graduation from Lisgar Collegiate institute in 1957. After his graduation, he chose to attend Ottawa University to get a degree in philosophy. During this period, the Society of English Debating made him a member. Mr. Trebek was already looking forward to build his career in the sector of broadcasting news from the start, planning to go that route instead of philosophy. In 1961 Trebek graduated and immediately started off his career by working for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, CBC TV as a sportscaster and newscaster and covering special events. 

Career  

Trebek's on-screen demeanor helped him quickly rise in popularity, but he saw game shows as a more lucrative option. In 1966 he got his first hosting stint on the high school quiz show Reach for the Top. For 7 years he hosted this and a few other shows until deciding to pursue a career in the states. 

The start of his US hosting career was a NBC game showed called Wizard of Odds in 1973. Lasting only one season, Trebek then hosted NBC's High Rollers, its replacement show until 1980. Though, he did host a few other shows during these years, including The $128,000 Question in 1977-1978 and Pitfall in 1981-1982. Over those years, Trebek became very popular as a show host and was invited to make several guest appearances as a panelist or player on several other shows including NBC’s ‘Card Sharks’ and ‘The Magnificent Marble Machine" 

Jeopardy Host 

Trebek was picked to host a ABC game show that was to be created by famed creator Merv Griffin. In 1984 the pilot of Jeopardy (which was already a revival of an old trivia competition of the same name) was picked up by ABC and Tebek has been the host ever since. Jeopardy was unique at the time because contestants were givven clue and the answers and had to come up with the question for it. This may have been the idea of creator Merv Griffin's wife, Julann.  Trebek said in an interview, "He was trying to come up with a game show and she said: "Why don't you give them the answers? "And she said, "The answer is 5,280."And he said, "How many feet are in a mile? "And she said, "That's right. Ding!" and that was the beginning of Jeopardy!"