Tuned In to Talk TV

A glamorous gig built on hard work

When the school day fi nished, Maddie Kirshenblatt’05 would run home from school to watch The Oprah Winfrey Show before doing her homework.

“I was an avid TV watcher and fascinated by talk shows,” she says. During Bialik’s annual Learn In program, Maddie would spend the day learning about work in the entertainment industry.

Now living in Los Angeles, Maddie has translated her passion into real life. She has spent the last seven years working in publicity for The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Ellen Digital and Ellen’s prime-time shows, including Game of Games. When the talk show ended this past spring, she moved on to launch The Jennifer Hudson Show in September 2022.

“My role is to create, maintain, and elevate the profi le and image of the show,” says Maddie. “I secure and execute interviews for talent and executives and identify the best moments from every episode.”

It’s work that Maddie loves, saying it never feels like a job and it’s where she’s made many friends. Despite her hectic career and distance from Toronto, Maddie’s Bialik friendships also continue to this day.

“We’re a very tight-knit group,” she says, adding that some friendships date back to JK. “I think it’s an environment that Bialik fostered. Our experiences outside the classroom, like trips to Quebec City and New York, helped solidify those connections.”

Maddie has also benefitted from the school’s education on core Jewish values and traditions. She continues to celebrate the High Holidays and has occasional Shabbat dinners with friends she has made in LA.

“I’ve always thought it’s so impressive that we learned several languages,” she says. “My grandmother was from Poland and spoke Yiddish, so it was very special for me to keep the language alive.”

After graduating from Bialik, Maddie spent a year at TanenbaumCHAT, then switched to The Bishop Strachan School where she could pursue fi lm studies and other creative programs. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Television, Radio and Film from Syracuse University, which offered a career-oriented semester in LA as part of the program.

“I interned at Conan, the late-night talk show. It was so much fun because every day was different, the guests were always different,” she says. She moved to LA after completing her degree, eventually landing with Ellen.

As glamorous as a career in television may seem, it does involve long hours, and Maddie sometimes works late into the night. She thanks Bialik, in some ways, for her ability to manage it all.

“Bialik gave me a strong foundation for hard work. We juggled a lot in school and it was challenging, but it set me up well for the future. I don’t think I’d be where I am today without my Bialik education,” says Maddie. “Every time I travel home, as I drive in from the airport, I pass Bialik and have the best memories. I truly feel a sense of home whenever I drive by.”

SARA MITCHELL’97