Stephen Colbert’s 3 Children Have All Been on TV – What We Know about Madeleine, Peter, & John Colbert

Stephen Colbert is a family man, and even his neighbors know it. He raised three children with his wife, Evelyn McGee Colbert, all of whom made their onscreen debuts when they were young. Now, all three of them are pursuing professional careers in media.

Comic writer and host Stephen Colbert dedicated decades to building a career onscreen. His mark in film and television is indelible, but beyond his work, Stephen is a doting husband and father of three. He met his wife, Evelyn McGee Colbert, in a twist of fate.

The pair had grown up in the same town in South Carolina but had never known each other. They attended different schools and encountered each other at a fraternity party, but they only had their first conversation when they happened to be at the same festival.

Stephen Colbert's Close-Knit Family of Five

After Stephen (one of ten siblings) knew Evelyn was the one, he married her in 1993, and the couple first welcomed a daughter, Madeleine Colbert, followed by two sons, John Colbert and Peter Colbert. The family of five lived in Montclair, New Jersey, and were a close-knit unit.

"Stephen and his family are very happily entrenched. You can always see him with his family. Family and community have always been important to him," one of their neighbors once observed.

Over the years, Stephen has shared insight into how he raised his children. He rarely let them watch his former show, "The Colbert Report." Since they had yet to understand satire and sarcasm, he didn't want them to see him say things he didn't believe with "a very straight face."

And while he took measures to expose his kids to the right things, Stephen also took some lessons from being their dad. He learned to love the difficult parts of parenting, to lighten the mood with a joke even in the most dire situations, and to get to know his kids better through conversation.

Madeleine Colbert Is a News Producer

Madeleine graduated magna cum laude with a BA in History from Yale University in 2018. She was an active student throughout her studies, working for The Yale Herald, the school's Mock Trial Team, Broadcasting Company, and its Undergraduate Prison Project.

She joined The Politic, Yale's political journal (since 1947), as a freshman Staff Writer and worked her way up to Editor-in-Chief by 2016. The following year, she was a Production Intern for CBS News' "60 Minutes," where she now serves as the show's Associate Producer.

Before filling her current role, Madeleine worked as a Politics Editorial Fellow for The Atlantic and as a Reporter and Staff Writer for TIME. She recently received a GLAAD award for covering the harassment of pediatricians who serve trans youth.

John and Peter Colbert: The Colbert Brothers Appeared in a Cult Classic

John and Peter appeared in 2013's "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug," playing Laketown Spies and sharing the screen with Hollywood stars Ian McKellen and Martin Freeman. Their sister, Madeleine, also has a few onscreen credits, but they have fully ventured into TV and film.

In 2018, Peter directed a short film titled "At the Crossroads Down Yonder." The following year, he produced four episodes of the comedy series, "Where's Noah?" A short hiatus passed afterward, but according to his IMDb, he's slated to appear in another short called "The Virgin."

On the other hand, John has primarily focused on acting. In 2019, he starred in several movie shorts, including "Egg Evan" and "Cardboard By Your Name." He's currently studying Theater at Yale College Arts and is set to graduate in 2025.