List of Famous TV Chefs

Reference
Updated December 11, 2018 440.9K views77 items

This list of famous TV chefs includes photos, bios, and other information, when available. Who are the top TV chefs in the world? This includes the most prominent TV chefs, both living and dead, from America and abroad. The notable TV chefs below are ordered by their level of prominence, and the list can be sorted for various bits of information, such as where these famous chefs on TV were born and what their nationality is. These popular chefs are also found on most entertaining celebrity chefs, famous pastry chefs, and the best cooking TV shows of all time. The top celebrity chefs on this list are from different countries, but what they all have in common is that they're all well known chefs, famous for their television cooking shows and appearances.

This list is made up of a variety of famous cooks on TV, including Anthony Bourdain, Mario Batali, and Julia Child. When perusing a list of famous chefs, you're sure to find many names of chefs you're already a fan of, but you'll also discover some famous Asian chefs, and other famous TV cooks you are soon to be a fan of.

From reputable, prominent, and celebrity TV chefs to the lesser known TV chefs of today, these are some of the best professionals in the TV cooking show world. Who are the most famous TV chefs ever? What are the names of the best TV chefs? Just take a look below!

Ranked by
  • Gordon Ramsay
    Gordon James Ramsay (born 8 November 1966) is a British chef, restaurateur, writer, television personality and food critic. He was born in Johnstone, Scotland, and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. His restaurants have been awarded 16 Michelin stars in total and currently hold a total of seven. His signature restaurant, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea, London, has held three Michelin stars since 2001. Appearing on the British television miniseries Boiling Point in 1998, by 2004 Ramsay had become one of the best-known and most influential chefs in the UK.As a reality television personality, Ramsay is known for his fiery temper, strict demeanour, and frequent use of expletives. He often makes blunt and controversial comments, including insults and wisecracks about contestants' cooking and restaurant facilities. He combines activities in the television, film, hospitality, and food industries and has promoted and hired various chefs who have apprenticed under his wing. Ramsay is known for presenting TV programmes about competitive cookery and food, such as the British series Hell's Kitchen, The F Word, and Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, the American series MasterChef, MasterChef Junior, and Hotel Hell, and the American versions of Hell's Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares. In 2018, Forbes listed his earnings at $62 million for the previous 12 months, and ranked him the 33rd-highest-earning celebrity in the world.
  • Julia Child
    Julia Carolyn Child (née McWilliams; August 15, 1912 – August 13, 2004) was an American chef, author and television personality. She is recognized for bringing French cuisine to the American public with her debut cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and her subsequent television programs, the most notable of which was The French Chef, which premiered in 1963.
  • Anthony Bourdain
    Anthony Michael Bourdain (; June 25, 1956 – June 8, 2018) was an American celebrity chef, author, and travel documentarian who starred in programs focusing on the exploration of international culture, cuisine, and the human condition. Bourdain was a 1978 graduate of The Culinary Institute of America and a veteran of a number of professional kitchens in his long career, which included many years spent as executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles in Manhattan. He first became known for his bestselling book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (2000). His first food and world-travel television show, A Cook's Tour, ran for 35 episodes on the Food Network in 2002 and 2003. In 2005, he began hosting the Travel Channel's culinary and cultural adventure programs Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations (2005–2012) and The Layover (2011–2013). In 2013, he began a three-season run as a judge on The Taste, and concurrently switched his travelogue programming to CNN to host Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown. Though best known for his culinary writings and television presentations, along with several books on food and cooking and travel adventures, Bourdain also wrote both fiction and historical nonfiction. On June 8, 2018, Bourdain died of suicide while on location in France for Parts Unknown.
  • Rachael Ray
    Rachael Domenica Ray (born August 25, 1968) is an American television personality, businesswoman, celebrity chef, and author. She hosts the syndicated daily talk and lifestyle program Rachael Ray, and three Food Network series (30 Minute Meals, Rachael Ray's Tasty Travels, and $40 a Day). Other programs to her credit include Rachael Ray's Week In A Day and the reality format shows Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off, and Rachael Ray's Kids Cook-Off. Ray has written several cookbooks based on the 30 Minute Meals concept, and launched a magazine Every Day with Rachael Ray, in 2006. Ray's television shows have won three Daytime Emmy Awards.
  • Jamie Oliver
    James Trevor Oliver (born 27 May 1975) is a British chef and restaurateur. He is known for his approachable cuisine, which has led him to front numerous television shows and open many restaurants. Born and raised in Clavering, Essex, he was educated in London before joining Antonio Carluccio's Neal Street restaurant as a pastry chef. While serving as a sous-chef at the River Café, he was noticed by Patricia Llewellyn of Optomen; and in 1999 the BBC aired his television show, The Naked Chef. This was followed by a first cook book, which became a No. 1 UK bestseller. His television work included a documentary, Jamie's Kitchen, which gained him an invitation from Prime Minister Tony Blair to visit 10 Downing Street. In June 2003 Oliver was awarded a Member of the Order of the British Empire. In 2005 he opened a campaign, Feed Me Better, to introduce schoolchildren to healthier foods, which was later backed by the government. He was the owner of a restaurant chain, Jamie Oliver Restaurant Group, which opened its first restaurant, Jamie's Italian, in Oxford in 2008. The chain went into administration in May 2019. His TED Talk won him the 2010 TED Prize.
  • Giada De Laurentiis
    Giada Pamela De Laurentiis (born August 22, 1970) is an American chef, writer, and television personality. She is the host of Food Network's Giada at Home. She also appears regularly as a contributor and guest co-host on NBC's Today. De Laurentiis is the founder of the catering business GDL Foods. She is a winner of the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lifestyle Host and the Gracie Award for Best Television Host.