Nazan Eckes

Nazan Eckes — Biography

Born Nazan Üngör, the German television presenter Nazan Eckes, of Turkish descent, has hosted everything from news bulletins to dance contests. She grew up in Cologne in a family that had emigrated from Eskişehir in the 1960s. Her work earned her the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, received in 2017 from then-President Joachim Gauck, and the Order of Merit of North Rhine-Westphalia.

After finishing school in Leverkusen in 1995 she did an internship at the music channel VIVA, completed her journalistic training there and in 1998 began working as a reporter; for a time she also wrote for the Turkish-language paper Haftalık Posta. In 1999 she moved to RTL to present the weather. From 2003 she regularly presented the RTL II news, then moved on to lifestyle programmes such as Formel Exklusiv, Life! and Bosporus Trend. In 2006 she hosted the dance contest Let's Dance with Hape Kerkeling, and in 2008 the Echo awards with Oliver Geissen. From 2007 she also fronted RTL's midday show Mittagsmagazin. In 2019 she returned to Let's Dance, the show she once hosted, as a contestant.

She has also done advertising partnerships with brands such as Pantene and Clinique. Married since 2012 to the painter and former model Julian Khol, she has two sons; the couple were reported to have separated in 2024.