Maria De Filippi (born 5 December 1961) is an Italian television host and the owner of the television production company Fascino PGT. She is regarded as one of the most popular presenters in Italy.

Biography

De Filippi was born in Milan, Lombardy, but grew up in Pavia where her family moved when she was ten years old. Until his death in 2023, she was married to talk show host Maurizio Costanzo, with whom she had an adopted son.

Career

She has hosted numerous talk shows (mostly trashic) broadcast by Mediaset's Canale 5 such as Uomini e donne and C'e posta per te. From 1993 until the present day (2024), she has hosted on Canale 5 the talent show Amici (before was a simply talk show) which changed its name in 2002 to Amici di Maria De Filippi. Similar to the American series Fame, it features a school with groups of aspiring young singers and dancers, divided in teams, who compete against the other, performing live before an audience, and a panel of judges and instructors. Albanian-born dancer Kledi Kadiu was a regular performer on the programme. In 2001 she hosted Telegatto with Gerry Scotti. Since 2009, she has been one of Italia's Got Talent's judges and producers. Marco Carta, Valerio Scanu and Emma Marrone, three singers whose careers were launched through Amici, all subsequently went on to win first place in the prestigious Sanremo Music Festival in 2009, 2010, and 2012 respectively. Among the TV shows supported by Maria de Filippi and Fascino PGT's productions, there are: Amici, Uomini e donne, C'è posta per te, Italia's Got Talent, Coca-Cola Summer Festival, Temptation Island, Tú sí que vales, Pequeños gigantes, Maurizio Costanzo Show, L'intervista, Selfie – Le cose cambiano, House Party e Ultima fermata.

Filmography

Television programmes

Awards