BBC California correspondent
David Willis was appointed as BBC California correspondent in January 2000.
He is currently based in Los Angeles, reporting on a range of stories from the region including the Academy Awards.
David first joined the BBC in 1983 as a Radio Producer at BBC Radio Devon in Exeter before moving into regional television in Plymouth as a BBC News Reporter in 1985.
In August 1994 David was appointed Asia business correspondent, based in Singapore.
During his six years in Asia, he broke a series of exclusive reports relating to the story of Singapore based 'rogue trader' Nick Leeson.
David obtained exclusive pictures of Cambodian dictator Pol Pot's 'trial' by fellow Khmer Rouge cadres.
He filed reports on the death of Chinese leader Deng Xioping, reported first hand on the downfall of Indonesia's president Suharto, and in the subsequent bloodbath in East Timor.
In 2000 he spent 6 weeks in Florida covering the presidential election.
On the day of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US, he travelled to New York city with a producer and cameraman, filing stories as he went.
David unearthed exclusive and disturbing material of child soldiers on the front line in Colombia as part of a special investigation for the Six O'Clock News.
He has covered the rioting in Argentina directly after the economic collapse, where he was tear-gassed on the streets of Buenos Aires.
In 2002 David covered the football World Cup from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
David Willis is currently working at the Reuters Fellowship at Oxford until end of January 2004, before returning to LA.
David was educated at St Joseph's College, Ipswich and after completing his A levels, he undertook a one-year college course in newspaper journalism at Harlow Technical College in Essex.