Michelle Hunziker

Michelle Yvonne Hunziker, born on 24 January 1977, is a Swiss and Italian television presenter and former model. She speaks German, Italian, English, and Dutch, and acquired Italian citizenship through marriage. Over her multi-decade career, she has established herself as a prominent media personality across Italy, Germany, and Switzerland, hosting major national television broadcasts, entertainment series, and high-profile international events.

Hunziker was born in Sorengo, Lugano, located in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland. Her Dutch mother, Ineke, has distant Indonesian ancestry, and her father, Rudolf, was a German-speaking Swiss painter and hotel manager who passed away in 2001. In 1983, her family moved to Ostermundigen, near Bern, where she attended elementary school. She later relocated to Milan, Italy, with her mother and signed with fashion agent Riccardo Gay. By age 17, she was modeling for major fashion and apparel brands, including Armani, Rocco Barocco, La Perla, Colmar, Fuerte Ventura, Lovable, and Swish.

While engaged to Italian singer Eros Ramazzotti, Hunziker was discovered by an Italian television producer. She began her hosting career in 1996 on Rai Uno's I cervelloni alongside Paolo Bonolis and the summer comedy series Paperissima Sprint on Canale 5. Her early success led to hosting Colpo di Fulmine in 1997 and studying at the Music Art & Show professional academy in Milan under choreographer Susanna Beltrami. She transitioned into acting with roles in the 1998 TV series La Forza dell'Amore, the films Fammi stare sotto al letto and Alex l'Ariete, and the documentary The Protagonist. From 1999 to 2001, she hosted the late-night fashion program Nonsolomoda.

Hunziker expanded her television presence into German-speaking countries starting in the late 1990s. In 1999, she hosted the makeover show Cinderella on the Swiss channel TV3. In Germany, she co-hosted the Goldene Kamera awards in 1998, Michael Jackson & Friends in 1999, and the talk show Erstes Glück. From 2002 to 2004, she co-hosted the first two seasons of Deutschland sucht den Superstar. In October 2009, she joined ZDF's flagship show Wetten, dass..?, which was syndicated across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. She also participated in Series 3 of Last One Laughing Deutschland.

In Italy, Hunziker co-hosted major programs such as Zelig, Scherzi a parte, Festivalbar, Striscia la notizia, and Paperissima. She served as a co-host for the Festival di Sanremo in both 2007 and 2018. Beyond television, she starred as Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music and Sally Bowles in Cabaret, both directed by Saverio Marconi, and released an English-language pop album titled Lole in 2006.

Hunziker received the Italian TV Oscar for Discovery of the Year in 2001. She was married to Eros Ramazzotti from 1998 to 2009, with whom she has one daughter, and later became engaged to Tomaso Trussardi in 2013, with whom she has two daughters. Her recent hosting engagements include Andrea Bocelli 30: The Celebration on Canale 5 in 2024, as well as the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 in Basel alongside Hazel Brugger and Sandra Studer.