Alessandro Cattelan (Tortona, 1980) is a showman and television and radio presenter.
Since September 5th 2025, he has been sitting at the judges’ table on Italia’s Got Talent, broadcast on Disney+, immediately overturning the rules of the “classic judge” by awarding his precious golden buzzer to the first contestant in the first episode.
After his theatre debut in 2023 with the one-man show Salutava Sempre – La Spettacolare Fine di Alessandro Cattelan (He Always Said Hello – The Spectacular End of Alessandro Cattelan), which took him to the stages of Italy’s leading theatres, in autumn 2025 Alessandro Cattelan returns to the theatre with a new show entitled Benvenuto nell’AI (Welcome to AI): an honest and sincere discussion with his audience about the potential of AI, which we both recognise and fear, a light-hearted reflection on human weaknesses, which perhaps remain our most distinctive and least replicable feature.
The dates in Alessandria (Teatro Alessandrino), Varese (Teatro di Varese), Trieste (Politeama Rossetti), Milan (Teatro degli Arcimboldi), Turin (Teatro Colosseo), Padua (Gran Teatro Geox) went sold out.
Since 2024, he has been the creator and presenter of Supernova, his very own podcast of interviews or, as Alessandro himself ironically prefers to call it, yet another podcast. Available on all audio/video streaming platforms, Supernova is a place for direct and informal conversations with leading figures from the worlds of entertainment, culture, sport and science, ranging from the most insignificant details of everyday life to reflections on the meaning of life. Italian and international personalities who have participated in the podcast include Robbie Williams, Jeff Goldblum, Roberto Saviano, Antonella Clerici and Carlo Conti.
Since 2013, he has been the host of Catteland, a Monday to Friday radio programme on Radio Deejay.
As a creator and presenter of entertainment programmes, he has presented international shows and interviewed some of the world’s biggest stars during his 20-year television career.
In 2022, he was one of the presenters, alongside Laura Pausini and Mika, of the Eurovision Song Contest, a television show broadcast in 41 countries with an audience of over 200 million viewers.
Since the autumn of the same year, he hosted the late-night show Stasera c’è Cattelan on Rai 2, which has been confirmed for the 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 seasons. In the spring of 2024, he hosted three episodes of the prime-time programme Da vicino nessuno è normale on the same channel.
Between November and December 2024, he hosted Sanremo Giovani on Rai 2 and, alongside Carlo Conti, the final on Rai 1, as well as Hot Ones Italia on RaiPlay, the Italian version of the US YouTube format.
He hosted the DopoFestival and the final evening of the Sanremo Festival 2025, again alongside Carlo Conti.
Alessandro was also the creator, writer and host of One Simple Question, a six-episode docu-show available in 190 countries, which debuted on Netflix in March 2022: a journey, together with his guests, in search of an answer to his daughter Nina’s question, “Dad, how do you find happiness?”.
Autumn 2022 also saw the launch of Accento, an independent publishing house founded by Alessandro, whose main objective is to bring to light new and original voices in fiction, placing the emphasis on them as well as bringing back to bookshops significant volumes that have long since disappeared from the shelves.
Cattelan’s television career began as a presenter on Play.it (a music programme on All Music Channel), Music Zone (Disney Channel) and Ziggie (a popular children’s programme on Italia 1/Mediaset). He joined MTV in 2004, where he immediately became one of the most popular VJs and presenters. On the music channel, he hosted talk shows such as Most Wanted (2004) and, the following year, Viva Las Vegas, a show inspired by road trip culture. In 2006 and 2007, he was also a correspondent for the weekly satirical entertainment programme Le Iene (Italia 1/Mediaset). On MTV, he hosted Total Request Live (TRL) from 2005 to 2008, a daily show broadcast live from Milan; a real point of reference for the younger generation, which gave Alessandro the opportunity to interview the biggest national and international stars. Alessandro’s collaboration with MTV continued with Lazarus, an on-the-road show based on an idea by Alessandro himself, who wanted to retrace the footsteps of the biggest pop icons with Francesco Madelli, searching for the link between premature death and eternal fame through a journey across the USA. From 2009 to 2011, he was part of the cast of Quelli che il calcio (Rai2). In addition, from 2011 to 2020, he was the host of the Italian edition of X Factor, the most famous musical talent show. After 10 seasons, Alessandro decided to leave the programme with a touching and surprising monologue during the live final.
From 2014 to 2020, Alessandro created his first late-night show, E Poi C’è Cattelan, on SkyUno, during which he interviewed high-profile personalities.In September 2021, he hosted Da Grande on Rai1 in prime time, a two-part one-man show with numerous famous guests.
As an actor, he played the lead role in Ogni maledetto Natale (2014), a successful Christmas film. He also voiced Chuck in both Angry Birds films and Max in Pets for the Italian market.
Alessandro Cattelan has always played football. Until 2019, he played for Derthona, the Tortona team he left after their promotion to Eccellenza. In 2018, he made his Champions League debut with La Fiorita (a San Marino club) during a qualifying match.
During his career, he has also written three successful novels and, at Christmas 2020, he published Emma Libera Tutti, a children’s book written together with his daughter Nina, followed the following year by Emma Detective and then Emma e la fantasia, all for charity.
