Maïtena Biraben (born 2 July 1967) is a French-

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces or hosts television show, television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. It is common for people ...

and producer. She has notably presented on

France 5 France 5 () is a French free-to-air public television channel, part of the France Télévisions group. Principally featuring nonfiction and educational programming, the channel's motto is ''la chaîne de la connaissance et du savoir'' (the knowl ...

the program ''Les Maternelles'' and on

Canal+ Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...

''La Matinale'' and ''Le Supplément''. From September 2015 to June 2016, she presented on the same channel '' Le Grand Journal'', succeeding

Antoine de Caunes Antoine de Caunes (born 1 December 1953) is a French television presenter, comedian, actor, journalist, writer and film director. He is the son of two prominent French personalities, television journalist-reporter Georges de Caunes and televis ...

Early life and education

Maïtena Biraben was born in Saint-Denis in the department of

Seine-Saint-Denis () is a department of France located in the Grand Paris metropolis in the region. In French, it is often referred to colloquially as ' or ' ("ninety-three" or "nine three"), after its official administrative number, 93. Its prefecture is Bobi ...

. Her father worked in

photogravure Photogravure (in French ''héliogravure'') is a process for printing photographs, also sometimes used for reproductive intaglio printmaking. It is a photo-mechanical process whereby a copper plate is grained (adding a pattern to the plate) and ...

and is of Basque origin. Her mother was an advertiser, before becoming an executive secretary. She moved with her family to the department of Landes and attended a

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

run by religious sisters. After her high school final exam, she returned to Paris to study history at the Pantheon-Sorbonne University.

Career

During the 1990s, Biraben presented several programs on Télévision Suisse Romande, in addition to being an artistic producer. Despite great popularity in Switzerland, she left the channel and moved to Paris. In 1997, Biraben joined M6 to present a program broadcast during primetime titled ''Télé Casting'', which was not very successful. The same year, she quickly switched to

France 2 France 2 () is a French free-to-air public television channel. The flagship channel of France Télévisions, it broadcasts generalist programming including news, entertainment (such as dramas, films, and game shows), factual programmes, and sp ...

where she presented ''Vue sur la mer'' and ''Emmenez-moi'' between 1998 and 2000, and a movie review segment on ''Télématin'' between 1999 and 2001. In 2001, Biraben joined

La Cinquième France 5 () is a French free-to-air public television channel, part of the France Télévisions group. Principally featuring nonfiction and educational programming, the channel's motto is ''la chaîne de la connaissance et du savoir'' (the knowl ...

(which has since become

) and presented the program ''Les Maternelles'' between 2001 and 2004. The program obtained the

7 d'Or 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has symbolic associations in religion, mythology, super ...

for best educational program. She also presented in 2003 on the same channel the program ''Psychologies : un moment pour soi''. In 2004, Biraben joined

, where she presented ''Nous ne sommes pas des anges'' from 2004 to 2006 and ''Les Nouveaux Explorateurs'' from 2007 to 2008. From September 2008 to June 2012, she presented ''La Matinale'' and from September 2012, she presented ''Le Supplément'' every Saturday and Sunday until June 2015. In February 2013, Biraben replaced

Cyril Hanouna Cyril Valéry Isaac Hanouna (; ; born 23 September 1974) is a French radio and television presenter, writer, author, columnist, producer, singer and occasional actor and comedian of Tunisian origin. He hosts the French TV show '' Touche pas à mo ...

as host of ''Touche pas à mon poste'' on D8, the latter presenting ''

Nouvelle Star ''Nouvelle Star'' (; also known as '' À la Recherche de la Nouvelle Star'' for the first season) is a French television series based on the popular Pop Idol programme produced by FremantleMedia. It was broadcast by M6 in seasons 1–8 befor ...

''. During the summer of 2013, Biraben became a presenter for the ''News Show''. She was one of the favourites on Canal+ to replace

Michel Denisot Michel Maurice Daniel Denisot (; born 16 April 1945)Michel Denisot
on ''premiere.fr''. is a F ...

as presenter of '' Le Grand Journal'' for the 2013-14 season, a position which was finally awarded to

. However, she presented a few programs as a substitute. She finally succeeded him in September 2015 as presenter of ''Le Grand Journal''. But the season was tough, with low audience figures and some controversy due to some comments she made. In June 2016, Biraben left

Personal life

Biraben has been married three times. She lives with her partner and her two sons (born in 1996 and 2006) in a suburb of Paris. Biraben is a

dual citizen Multiple citizenship (or multiple nationality) is a person's legal status in which a person is at the same time recognized by more than one sovereign state, country under its nationality law, nationality and citizenship law as a national or cit ...

of France and Switzerland.

Publication

References

External links