Markus Lanz


Markus Lanz is a German-Italian television presenter and producer.

Early life

Lanz is a member of the German speaking majority in the Italian province of South Tyrol. He grew up in Geiselsberg, a village located 1,344 metres above sea level in the central Alps. Lanz stated that his family was poor, and that his father died at an early age, leaving his mother to care for three children. His good school grades earned him a scholarship to the monastery of Neustift, where he went to private Catholic secondary school. He finished high school at the Humanistischem Gymnasium in Bruneck and completed military service as a radio operator in the alpine division of the Italian army before working at the radio station Radio Holiday. In 1992, Lanz graduated from the Bayerische Akademie für Werbung und Marketing in Munich with a degree in Business Communications.

Early career

In 1992 he started a two-year trainee program at Radio Hamburg in Hamburg. In 1995, he became the news announcer at the regional TV station RTL North, and in 1997, started as presenter of a regional evening news show in Schleswig-Holstein.

Today

Since 2008, Lanz has hosted the weekly cooking show Lanz kocht!.
Since October 2009, he has hosted the talkshow Markus Lanz three evenings a week.
Between October 2012 and 2014, he presented the monthly German TV show Wetten, dass..? as successor to Thomas Gottschalk.

Private life

Lanz plays the piano and played in a band with his brother. He has a son from a previous relationship with TV presenter Birgit Schrowange. In July 2011, Lanz married Angela Gessmann.

Books