Rachel Maddow (born April 1, 1973, in Castro Valley, California, U.S.) is an American political commentator, television host, and radio personality best known as the host of "The Rachel Maddow Show" (2008– ) on the cable news channel MSNBC. Maddow grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area with her father, an attorney, and her mother, a school administrator. She attended Stanford University, where she earned a B.A. in public policy in 1994. As a senior she received the John Gardner Fellowship for public service, which allowed her to work with the …