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Hunziker was born at Sorengo
(Lugano), in the southern, Italian speaking part of Switzerland. Her
mother Ineke is Dutch; her father Rudolf, who died of a heart attack in
the fall of 2001, was a German speaking Swiss national. He was a painter,
but worked as a hotel manager. In 1983, the family moved to Ostermundigen,
a suburb of Berne in the German speaking part of Switzerland, where
Hunziker attended elementary school. After her parents' separation,
Hunziker's mother moved to Zuchwil/Solothurn. This caused a crisis in
Hunziker's life. In 1993, when Hunziker was 16 years old, she moved to
Bologna with her mother. Wanting to become an interpreter, she studied
Italian, French, German, English and Dutch at a local college. After
moving to Milan with her mother, she decided to become a fashion model and
was hired by Riccardo Gay, a renowned agent. Although considered to be
both too heavy and short, at 17 she posed as a photomodel.
Being Eros Ramazzotti's fiancé, she was discovered by a TV-producer. In
1996, she co-hosted the RAI Uno-show I cervelloni with Paolo Bonolis. In
summer she presented the prime time comedy show Paperissima Sprint (Canale
5) with Gabibbo. Because of her popularity she hosted the afternoon show
Colpo di Fulmine (Italia 1) in 1997. At the same time she wanted to extend
her artistic abilities. Therefore she attended the professional academy
M.A.S. in Milan with her choreographer Susanna Beltrami.
In 1998, the Italian film director Vincenzo Verdecchi offered Hunziker her
first film role in the TV series La Forza dell'Amore (Canale 5). After she
took the female main role in Fammi stare sotto al letto. She can also be
seen in the documentary film The Protagonist and in another film, Alex
l'Ariete, where she acted with ex ski star Alberto Tomba. Then she
co-hosted with Pippo Baudo the Canale 5 show La festa del Disco. From
1999-2001 she presented the late night show Nonsolomoda (Canale 5) where
she reported about fashion and lifestyle.
In 1999, TV3, the first Swiss private television station, was founded in
Zürich, and Hunziker presented a show called Cinderella, where a hair and
make-up artist as well as a styling adviser helped both a prominent person
and a viewer of the program to get a new look. After the first episode,
Hunziker was caught in the crossfire. The Swiss newspaper Blick even
wrote: "Cinderella, TV3's new lifestyle show is not bad. It is
catastrophic". Later, Hunziker was interviewed by the Swiss German
magazine Schweizer Illustrierte and she told that she couldn't speak
German anymore after having lived in Italy for many years. After TV3 had
changed the concept, the show became more popular.
After having hosted the Swiss show Cinderella, Hunziker was discovered by
German TV producers. In 1998, she presented the awarding of the Goldene
Kamera with Thomas Gottschalk (a very well-known presenter in Germany). A
year later, she co-hosted the show Michael Jackson & Friends (ZDF) in
Munich. After having attended different talk shows, she presented her
first show in Germany: Erstes Glück (SWR/Das Erste). She co-hosted the
show with Thomas Elstner and interviewed prominent people about their
first love. The show wasn't very popular though, and was finally
suspended. When she got back to Italy, she presented the shows Donna sotto
le stelle and Piazza di Spagna (Canale 5) with Gerry Scotti and Tacchi a
spillo (Italia 1) with Claudio Lippi. In 2002-2004 she presented with
Carsten Spengemann the first and second season of Deutschland sucht den
Superstar, the German version of the British TV show Pop Idol.
In 2001, Hunziker co-hosted the Italian comedy shows Zelig (Italia 1) and
Scherzi a parte (Canale 5). Zelig is one of the most famous Italian TV
shows. Later that year, she got the Italian TV Oscar in the category
Discovery of the year. Besides, she co-hosted the famous Italian open air
music show Festivalbar with Daniele Bossari and Alessia Marcuzzi.
In 2007, Michelle Hunziker co-hosted with Pippo Baudo the most popular
Italian show, the Festival di Sanremo. |
