Ralph Caspers

Ralph Caspers (born 18 January 1972 in Pasir Panjang, Borneo, Indonesia) is a German television presenter, author, screenwriter, and actor.

Biography Ralph Caspers was born in the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo, where his parents had emigrated before his birth to help the relief organization Orangutan Foundation International (OFI) raise orangutans in Tanjung Puting National Park. When his mother got pregnant again, they moved back to Germany in 1975. After his parents divorced in 1977, he and his sister first lived with their father, and later with their mother. When Caspers was 15 years old, his father died. He grew up in Berlin-Spandau, Caracas (Venezuela), on the Amazon, in Ehrenfeld, and in the Rhein-Sieg-Kreis. After graduating from the Antoniuskolleg in Neunkirchen-Seelscheid in 1991, Caspers, who originally wanted to become a designer, worked in pathology, in an advertising agency, as well as in various TV production companies. He did his community service in Bonn-Tannenbusch, where he worked in individual care for severely disabled children. From 1997 to 2002, he studied at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne.

Caspers is married to film editor Nina Caspers, with whom he lives in Cologne. He is the father of two sons and a daughter. In a video for the television program Quarks, it was revealed that Caspers suffers from face blindness and, as a result, was afraid that he would not recognize his newborn child.

Caspers has been one of the German ambassadors of the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity since November 2011. Furthermore, he supports the U18 election project as an ambassador. The U18 project aims to introduce children and adolescents to the topics of politics, elections and democracy by allowing them to symbolically cast their vote before state or federal elections.

Caspers is also a brand ambassador for Klexikon, which is an online encyclopedia for children. At the 2022 re:publica, a conference that deals with the Web 2.0, he stated that he "appreciates Klexikon as a Wikipedia for Kids, because some articles there are really complex."

Career

After completing his civilian service in pathology and working in a slaughterhouse and a marketing agency, he completed several internships in TV production. Later Caspers participated in the Sat.1 production "Geh aufs Ganze!", where he created the games for the show. During that time Caspers' talent was discovered by Super RTL and with "Muuh – Das Tiermagazin" he was given his first own show in 1995.

Caspers started to work for the WDR (Westdeutscher Rundfunk) in 1996 and hosted the "Maus Club" alongside Shary Reeves and Tina Halverscheid until 2000. From 1997 to 2002 Caspers studied at the Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln (KMH). His diploma thesis dealt with the development of a television series and aired under the name "Late Morgen" on 16. Februar 2003 at Das Erste. "Late Morgen" was the first and only late-night show for kids that aired in the morning.

In 1999, Caspers started hosting the popular and educational children's tv show Die Sendung mit der Maus ("The show with the mouse") and in September of that year also took part in its production in rotation with Armin Maiwald and Christoph Biemann. On the occasions of the show's birthday, Caspers has often gone abroad. Locations include Japan (Tokyo) in 2005, Turkey (Ankara) in 2008, India (New Delhi) in 2009, South Africa (Pretoria/Tshwane) in 2010, Brazil (Brasília) in 2012, Greece (Athena) in 2023, Iceland (Reykjavík) in 2014, Poland (Warsaw) in 2016, the UK (London) in 2017, France (Paris) in 2019, and Denmark (Copenhagen) in 2020. He also visited the Aardman Studios in Bristol (England), where the tv-series of Shaun the Sheep is produced, that is also part of the show Die Sendung mit der Maus. While going on these journeys, Caspers kept diary about his experiences, which is still available on the show's website (https://www.wdrmaus.de/extras/ralphs_tagebuecher.php5 ).

From 1999 to 2002, Caspers ran his own talk show for kids on the children's channel KiKA called QuasselCaspers. From 2001 to 2022, he moderated the popular children's science magazine Wissen macht Ah! and sometimes scripted it as well.

Since April 2024, he has been part of the expert trio, alongside Marwa Eldessouky and Jens Riewa, on the quiz show Frag mich was Leichteres!.

Awards Prix Jeunesse International 2002 for „Können Schweine schwimmen?" from Sendung mit der Maus. Emil (Kinderfernsehpreis) 2008 for presenting several shows For the Goldener Spatz, Ralph Caspers and Alina Freund were awarded best presenters in 2009 Erich-Kästner-Fernsehpreis 2010 for the South Africa-Special in Sendung mit der Maus. Silver Screen Award in Los Angeles. Kinderfernsehpreis of the Robert-Geisendörfer-Preises 2011 together with Katja Engelhardt the South Africa-Special in Sendung mit der Maus Grimme-Preis 2012 for Du bist kein Werwolf Emil (Kinderfernsehpreis) 2012 for Du bist kein Werwolf Brillenträger des Jahres 2017 Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his commitment to education in 2019 Journalistenpreis 2023 of the German Mathematical Society for the Video „Kann die Natur Mathe?" (with Jens Hahne and Ingo Knopf)