Life Undercover (Fox) - Author Bio

Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1980-81
• Where—New York, New York, USA
• Education—B.A., Oxford University; M.S. (?), Georgetown University
• Currently—lives in Los Angeles, California


Amaryllis Fox was born in New York City to an English actress and American economist. Due to her father's work in the developing world, the family moved yearly to places in Africa, South East Asia, Europe, and the former Soviet Union. Those childhood experiences instilled in Fox both a calling and a feeling of being at home in far flung corners of the world.

Before heading to college, Fox volunteered in the Mai Laa refugee camp on the Thai-Burmese border; she ended up deferring her entrance to school, remaining in Burma to work with the Burmese democracy movement. A BBC interview she conducted with Burmese human rights activist (and 1991 Nobel laureate), Aung San Suu Kyi, landed her in prison at the age of 18.

In 1991, Fox entered Oxford University where she studied international law. She spent much of the following three years in East Timor, helping to settle displaced persons in the world's newest country. She also worked in war-torn Bosnia, helping to rebuild community trust in the aftermath of the 1995 massacre.

In 2002, Fox began graduate work in international security at Georgetown University. There she developed an algorithm to predict terrorist activity. Learning of her work, the CIA asked her to share the algorithm with the Agency.

Soon after, Fox began work as a political and terrorism analyst for South East Asia, requiring her to commute between Langley and Georgetown to finish her degree. Following graduation (with honors) in 2004, she moved into the CIA's operational training program, eventually serving as a Clandestine Service officer overseas until 2009.

Her work with the CIA became the subject of her 2019 memoir, Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA.

Following her CIA career in the field, Amaryllis Fox has covered current events and offered analysis for CNN, National Geographic, Al Jazeera, the BBC, and other global news outlets. She speaks at events and universities around the world on the topic of peacemaking.

She is the co-host of History Channel's series American Ripper and lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband and daughter.  And, yes, she married a Kennedy. (Adapted from the publisher and WME Speakers.)