Petra Maria Mede (; born 7 March 1970) is a Swedish comedian, dancer, actress and television presenter. She was born in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, and grew up in

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

. Mede is known for her several roles in comic shows and as a television presenter. She is best known outside of Sweden for hosting the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

in and , as well as co-hosting ''

Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits ''Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits'' (also known as ''Eurovision's Greatest Hits'') was a live television concert programme organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to ...

'' in 2015.

Career

In 2009, she hosted

Melodifestivalen 2009 Melodifestivalen 2009 was a Sweden, Swedish song contest held between February and March 2009. It was the selection for the 49th song to represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest, and was the 48th edition of Melodifestivalen. Five heats were ...

, where the Swedish entry for the

Eurovision Song Contest 2009 The Eurovision Song Contest 2009 was the 54th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Moscow, Russia, following the country's victory at the with the song "Believe (Dima Bilan song), Believe" by Dima Bilan. Organised by the Euro ...

was chosen and was voted Sweden's best female comedian the same year. In May 2013, Petra hosted the

Eurovision Song Contest 2013 The Eurovision Song Contest 2013 was the 58th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Malmö, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Euphoria" by Loreen. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EB ...

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...

, Sweden after

Loreen Loreen may refer to: *Loreen (singer), Swedish singer *Loreen Rice Lucas (1914–2011), a Canadian author * "Loreen" (song), 1986 song by German singer Sandra See also *Loren (disambiguation) *Lorene *Loreena Loreena is a female given name. It may r ...

's win in

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

in the previous year's competition. Her performance was widely acclaimed by TV critics and journalists around Europe and she performed an interval act during the Grand Final. She was the first solo presenter in nearly 20 years after

Mary Kennedy Mary Kennedy ( ga, Máire Ní Chinnéide; born 4 October 1954) is an Irish television personality and former newscaster, and writer. She presented the Eurovision Song Contest 1995 from the Point Theatre in Dublin. She has also presented her own ...

hosted solo in Dublin back in 1995. However, in 1995 the contest consisted of only one show, whereas there were three shows (two semi-finals and a final) in 2013 which were all hosted by Mede by herself, although in the final was assisted by

Eric Saade Eric Khaled Saade (; ar, إريك سعادة, ʾĪrik Saʿāda, ; born 29 October 1990), is a Swedish singer and songwriter. He spent two years with the boy band What's Up!, leaving the band in February 2009 to pursue a solo career. After winn ...

as green room host. In 2015, Mede, along with

Graham Norton Graham William Walker (born 4 April 1963), better known by his stage name Graham Norton, is an Irish actor, author, comedian, commentator, and presenter. Well known for his work in the UK, he is a five-time BAFTA TV Award winner for his comedy ...

, hosted the ''

Eurovision's Greatest Hits ''Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits'' (also known as ''Eurovision's Greatest Hits'') was a live television concert programme organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and produced by the BBC, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC ...

'' EBU/BBC 60th anniversary concert show recorded on 31 March at the

Eventim Apollo The Hammersmith Apollo, currently called the Eventim Apollo for sponsorship reasons, and formerly known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Palace. Located in Ham ...

, in

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. ...

, London and broadcast in 27 countries. In 2016, Mede was the co-host the first semi-final of the Swedish

Melodifestivalen 2016 Melodifestivalen 2016 was the 56th edition of the Swedish music competition Melodifestivalen, which selected Sweden's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016. The competition was organised by Sveriges Television (SVT) and took place over the s ...

with

Gina Dirawi Gina Dirawi ( ar, غنا ديراوي; born 11 December 1990) is a Swedish television presenter, singer-songwriter, radio personality, blogger, comedian and actress. While she is best known as the first woman ever to host Melodifestivalen on thre ...

at the

Scandinavium Scandinavium () is an indoor arena located in Gothenburg, Sweden. Construction on Scandinavium began in 1969 after decades of setbacks, and was inaugurated on 18 May 1971. Scandinavium has been selected as a championship arena at least fifty t ...

in Gothenburg. On 14 December 2015, SVT announced in a press conference that Mede and

Måns Zelmerlöw Måns Petter Albert Sahlén Zelmerlöw (; born 13 June 1986) is a Swedish pop singer, songwriter and television presenter. He took part in '' Idol 2005'', eventually finishing fifth, won the first season of '' Let's Dance,'' and scored a hit w ...

would co-host the

Eurovision Song Contest 2016 The Eurovision Song Contest 2016 was the 61st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Stockholm, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Heroes" by Måns Zelmerlöw. Organised by the European Broadcasting ...

. It was Mede's second time hosting the contest, joining

Katie Boyle Caterina Irene Elena Maria Boyle, Lady Saunders (née Imperiali dei Principi di Francavilla; 29 May 1926 – 20 March 2018), usually known as Katie Boyle, was an Italian-born British actress, writer, radio announcer, television personality, gam ...

and

Jacqueline Joubert Jacqueline Joubert (29 March 1921 – 8 January 2005), born Jacqueline Annette Édith Pierre, was a French television continuity announcer, producer and director. Alongside Arlette Accart, Joubert was one of the first two in-vision continuity an ...

as the only people to host the contest more than once.

Personal life

Mede is a

polyglot Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingualism, monolingual speakers in the World population, world's pop ...

, speaking Swedish, English, Spanish, Italian and French. Together with her former partner Mattias Günther, she has a daughter born in 2012. However, in 2015, it was confirmed that she and Günther had split.

Filmography

Television

Film

*' (2014)

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mede, Petra Swedish television hosts Swedish women comedians Swedish women television presenters 21st-century Swedish comedians 1970 births Living people Entertainers from Stockholm Stockholm University alumni