Antony John Blinken was born on April 16, 1962, in Yonkers, New York. Known as Tony, Blinken was the son of Jewish parents, Judith and Donald Blinken, and lived in New York City until 1971 when he moved to Paris following his mother’s remarriage. In Europe, he lived with his mother and her husband, Samuel Pisar, an attorney and Holocaust survivor. Blinken graduated from the École Jeannine Manuel and return to the United States to receive his bachelor’s degree in social studies from Harvard University and his JD law degree from Columbia University.

After practicing law in both New York and Paris, Antony Blinken transitioned into a career in politics, beginning with his involvement in Michael Dukakis’s 1988 presidential campaign. He later joined the administration of President Bill Clinton from 1994 to 2001 and served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Speechwriting. He was also a member of the National Security Council.

In 2002, Blinken transitioned to the US Senate as the Democratic staff director for the Foreign Relations Committee, where he worked closely with Senator Joe Biden. During the Barack Obama administration, Blinken served as National Security Advisor to Vice President Biden and Deputy Assistant to the President, where he was involved on shaping US foreign policy in the Middle East. In 2014, President Obama nominated Blinken as Deputy Secretary of State. Blinken was influential in many foreign policy decisions, such as the US response of the Russian annexation of Crimea, the military intervention in Libya, and the Osama Bin Laden raid. 

Blinken also had a career in the private sector, which included his role as co-founder of the political strategy advising firm, WestExec Advisors, which started in 2017 and focuses on facilitating relationships between tech companies and the Defense and Justice Departments. Blinken also served as a partner of the Pine Island Capital Partners, a private equity firm that specializes in government service and aerospace industries.

In 2020, Joe Biden nominated for Antony Blinken as Secretary of State in his incoming administration. On January 26, 2021, the US Senate confirmed Blinken with a vote of 78 to 22 vote.