Maria Elisa Domingues, known as Maria Elisa (born 4 June 1950) is a Portuguese

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and

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 ...

Early years

Maria Elisa was born in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. After attending the Medical School of the

University of Lisbon The University of Lisbon (ULisboa; ) is a public university, public research university in Lisbon, and Portugal's largest university. It was founded in 1911, but the university's present structure dates to the 2013 merger of the former Universit ...

for two years and the

Drama School A drama school, stage school, or theatre school is an undergraduate and/or graduate school or Academic department, department at a college or university, or a free-standing institution (such as the drama section at the Juilliard School) that ...

for another two (1967–1972), she trained as a professional

at the ''Centre de Formation des Journalistes'', in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

(1974–1977).

Career

As a journalist with RTP, the Portuguese Public Television, she was the author and hostess of her own political and cultural talk shows since 1977. She received and interviewed most of the Presidents, Prime Ministers and other politicians, writers, painters and many other relevant cultural Portuguese personalities as well as business men and union leaders, among many others. She was the hostess of '' The Greatest Portuguese'', a BBC format (October 2006 to March 2007). In her life Maria Elisa Domingues had other professional experiences: she was the Press Counselor to Prime Minister

Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo Maria de Lourdes Ruivo da Silva de Matos Pintasilgo (; 18 January 1930 – 10 July 2004) was a Portuguese chemical engineer and politician. She was the first and to date only woman to serve as Prime Minister of Portugal, and the second woman to ...

(1979/1980); Program Director of RTP (1980–1983 and 1998–1999); Press Counselor with the Portuguese Embassy in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

(1986–1987); Director of Communication of the

Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (), commonly referred to simply as the Gulbenkian Foundation, is a Portuguese institution dedicated to the promotion of the arts, philanthropy, science, and education. One of the wealthiest charitable founda ...

(1995–1998) and Cultural Counselor with the Portuguese Embassy in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

(2004–2006). Maria Elisa nowadays is the President of ''Associação dos Jornalistas Europeus'' (the Portuguese association of European Journalists) and also a regular contributor to some of Portugal's largest newspapers and news magazines, such as ''

Diário de Notícias () is a Portuguese weekly newspaper published in Lisbon, Portugal. Established since 1864, the paper is considered a newspaper of record for Portugal. History and profile ''Diário de Notícias'' was first published in Lisbon on 29 December 1 ...

, Público,

Expresso Expresso may refer to: * Espresso, a coffee beverage * eXpresso, a hosted workspace for Microsoft Office communities * Expresso (Donkey Kong), a character in the ''Donkey Kong Country'' series * ''Expresso'' (newspaper), based in Lisbon, Portug ...

'' and ''

Visão ''Visão'' is a Portuguese news magazine published weekly in Lisbon, Portugal. History and profile ''Visão'' was first published on 25 March 1993. The magazine is the successor to the weekly newspaper ''O Jornal'' which was published between 197 ...

''.

Honours and decorations

She received the '' Ordem do Mérito'' from President

Mário Soares Mário Alberto Nobre Lopes Soares (; 7 December 1924 – 7 January 2017) was a Portugal, Portuguese politician, who served as prime minister of Portugal from 1976 to 1978 and from 1983 to 1985, and subsequently as the List of Presidents of P ...

in 1987.

Personal life

In January 2001, Maria Elisa was diagnosed with

fibromyalgia Fibromyalgia (FM) is a functional somatic syndrome with symptoms of widespread chronic pain, accompanied by fatigue, sleep disturbance including awakening unrefreshed, and Cognitive deficit, cognitive symptoms. Other symptoms can include he ...

. She is a member of ''Myos—Associação Nacional Contra a Fibromialgia e Síndrome de Fadiga Crónica'' (Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue National Association).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elisa, Maria 1950 births Living people Portuguese television presenters Lisbon Theatre and Film School alumni University of Lisbon alumni Portuguese women television presenters 20th-century Portuguese journalists 20th-century Portuguese women journalists 21st-century Portuguese journalists 21st-century Portuguese women journalists