Sandra Maischberger

Sandra Maischberger studied at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München and Werner-Heisenberg-Gymnasium Garching. The recorded working language is German. Places of work recorded in the authority are Berlin. Employment is recorded with Westdeutscher Rundfunk. Distinctions recorded are Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, Hanns-Joachim-Friedrichs-Award, Romy and Golden Schlitzohr.

Born in Munich, Maischberger spent five years of her childhood in Frascati, near Rome, Italy, and also grew up in Garching, near Munich. Her father was a physicist for the Max Planck Society and her mother was a tour guide. She is the sister of German archeologist Martin Maischberger. Maischberger's initial career choices while growing up were to become a veterinarian or a detective. She later attended LMU Munich's School of Journalism but dropped out after 3 days in order to start her media career directly.

Maischberger started her career at the Bayerischer Rundfunk and has since been working for various television stations including Premiere, RTL, VOX, n-tv, and ARD. From 1992, she moderated 0137, a live-broadcast talk show, in rotation with Roger Willemsen. Maischberger has written several books including Hand aufs Herz (an interview with Helmut Schmidt) and Die musst Du kennen — Menschen machen Geschichte, an encyclopaedia of the most prominent scientists, artists and politicians from classical times to the present. Since 2003, Maischberger has been moderating the talk show maischberger. die woche on Das Erste. In 2009, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Federal Republic of Germany, she interviewed Chancellor Angela Merkel. Alongside Maybrit Illner, Peter Kloeppel and Claus Strunz, Maischberger later moderated the only TV election debate between Merkel and her competitor Martin Schulz ahead of the 2017 elections, which was aired live on four of Germany's most-watched television channels during prime-time. In her talk show, she has also interviewed international guests, including Minister of Finance Yanis Varoufakis of Greece (2016), Chancellor Sebastian Kurz of Austria (2018) former President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker (2020) and Bill Gates (2021). Maischberger co-hosted the annual German Television Award ceremony in 2002, 2010 and 2014. She served on the award's jury in 2001, 2002 and 2006.

Maischberger has been awarded numerous prizes, including the Golden Camera from German magazine Hörzu for her Helmut Schmidt interview. 2000: Hanns-Joachim-Friedrichs-Award 2001: Bavarian TV Award 2002: Ernst Schneider Prize 2002: Goldene Kamera 2004: Medienpreis für Sprachkultur, Association for the German Language (GfdS) 2008: Goldene Kamera 2013: Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 2016: Romy 2024: Deutscher Fernsehpreis (National German Television Award)

Maischberger is married to cameraman Jan Kerhart. After 12 years of marriage, their first child, son Samuel, was born on 24 February 2007. The family has homes in Hamburg and in Berlin. Maischberger likes to travel and also enjoys mountain climbing and diving. She speaks Italian, Spanish, English and French.