A student of a local prestigious school, Bayly never achieved good
grades. Spending too much time in soccer games at school, his low
academic performance forced his mother to send him to 'La Prensa'
newspaper in order to get more responsibility with a part-time job.
Every afternoon after school classes he went to the office until late
at night. Since then, journalism became a passion for him.
In 1982 he was admitted to study at PUCP (Universidad Católica del
Perú) with the determination to become a lawyer and then a politician,
but the Soccer World Cup in Spain was taking place and got his
attention and he was absent from classes because he wanted to watch
every game. After four years of mediocre studies he left the college.
His first TV appearance occurred in 1983 during the municipal elections
nationwide, interviewing candidates and politicians. That job was
boring for him, so he began a successful career as a late show host
interviewing flamboyant and celebrity personalities.
Bayly's first Late Show, '1990 en America', got the attention of TV
audiences and critics; the next year he hosted a copy of David
Letterman's Late Show - 'Que hay de nuevo?', which was ranked as the
most popular TV Show.
His novels are also popular and 'No se lo digas a Nadie' (Don't tell
Anyone) inspired a screenplay in 1998 directed by Francisco Lombardi
and starring Santiago Magil and Christian Meier. He wrote five more
novels, all of them with smart arguments about politics criticism,
sexual freedom and friendship.
Bayly made Late Shows abroad in CBS Network Latin America and Telemundo
Network during six years. After the president of Peru, Alberto
Fujimori, ran away to Japan (after a ten-years term in government) in
order to avoid an imminent trial for charges of corruption; independent
news media got over their difficult situation and Bayly hosted a new TV
program 'Francotirador, El' as a political journalist, interviewing
candidates for the new Presidential Elections. In that program, he
bothered several 'respected' personalities with his political opinions
and finally he had to quit from that. Inspired by that experience Jaime
wrote a book with the same title.
