Sandra Maischberger

She grew up in middle-class circumstances in Frascati near Rome and in Garching near Munich. As a child, Maischberger attended school in Italy for five years, so her first language is Italian. After her return to Germany, she attended high school in Garching near Munich until 1985. Her brother Martin became an archaeologist. After graduating from school, Maischberger completed the Munich School of Journalism from 1987 to 1989. After graduating from high school and during her training, she worked as a freelance journalist in the Bavarian Radio program. There she took care of the editing, moderation, reports and interviews. She carried out this activity until 1993, where she most recently took on the role of head of the service. From 1988 to 1989, Maischberger worked for the private broadcaster Tele5, where, among other things, she was employed as a presenter. From 1989, the twenty-three-year-old hosted the weekly youth program "Live from the Schlachthof" for Bayerischer Rundfunk. In 1992, the weekly live program "Talk im Turm" followed for the SAT.1 station. Maischberger had long since made a name for herself as a proven presenter and talker. The lively conversation and persistent interview became her preferred journalistic medium, which also made her popular among listeners and viewers in Austria and Switzerland. In 1992, Maischberger took over the interview program "0137" on the Premiere channel. From 1993 to 1994, Maischberger was involved in the conception of "Spiegel TV Interview" and also moderated the program. After this activity, she stayed abroad for a long time. She then worked as a freelancer for "Spiegel TV", for which she contributed articles, interviews and reports. In 1994 she married the cameraman Jan Kerhart. They became parents to a son together in 2007. In the period from 1996 to 1997, Maischberger took over the moderation of the live program "Freitag Nacht", which was broadcast on Spiegel TV on Vox and at the same time the program title "Greenpeace TV" on RTL. This was followed by freelance work for the broadcasters WDR, ZDF, Amica and others. Since 2000, viewers have seen the talk show host on the talk show "Maischberger" on n-tv, which was broadcast five days a week. She became a regular talker on German television. Maischberger was honored with important awards. She received the Hanns Joachim Friedrich Prize in 2000. In the same year Maischberger was awarded the German Television Prize. The following year, Maischberger shared the award for "TV Producer of the Year 2001" with the entertainer Günther Jauch. In 2002 Maischberger was awarded the Golden Camera. In addition to her talk on n-tv, the presenter started a new talk show "People at Maischberger" on September 2, 2003, which is broadcast on Tuesday evenings on ARD. The resigned TV presenter Alfred Biolek acted as producer, and Maischberger's talk was now placed on his former ARD slot ("Boulevard Bio"). On n-tv, Maischberger was spared from the station's program cancellations, which took place in November 2003 for financial reasons. On the occasion of the 200th birthday of the Danish poet Hans Christian Andersen in 2005, Maischberger was appointed fairy tale ambassador, as which she promoted the ABC Foundation's fight against illiteracy. In October 2004, Sandra Maischberger published "You have to know them - people make history", a reference work for children with over 250 of the most important scientists, artists and politicians from antiquity to the present. On March 21, 2005, Maischberger celebrated her 1,000th birthday. Broadcast on n-tv. For the anniversary, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder was a guest at "Maischberger". In 2007 she settled in Berlin. In 2008 she was awarded the Golden Camera in the "Best Information" category. In addition to numerous TV documentaries, she presented the program "Helmut Schmidt and Valéry Giscard d'Estaing - A Male Friendship" in 2013. In the same year she was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit with Ribbon. On January 13, 2016, her talk show was renamed just "Maischberger". She was also awarded the "Romy" media prize in the information category in 2016.