Career
De Laurentiis studied at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, France, with aspirations of becoming a pastry chef; she is a self-proclaimed chocoholic. After returning to the United States, she became a professional chef working in several Los Angeles restaurants, notably the Wolfgang Puck-owned Spago. She later worked as a food stylist and was contacted by the Food Network after styling a piece in Food & Wine Magazine in 2002.
Starting in 2003, her Emmy Award-winning daytime cooking show, Everyday Italian, featured quick, healthy and satisfying Italian dishes. On her Chefography (a Food Network biography program), she admitted that she never wanted to be in her "family business" of show business. She felt very uncomfortable in front of the camera when she first began hosting Everyday Italian, but has since become more relaxed and open on air. When the program first aired, the Food Network received mail accusing the network of hiring a model or actress pretending to cook instead of a real chef. She has since become well known for her 'trademark' over-enunciation of Italian words within English sentences.
De Laurentiis began hosting Behind the Bash in October 2006. The program examines the catering process behind big event extravaganzas such as the Grammy Awards. In January 2007, a third De Laurentiis-hosted show, Giada's Weekend Getaways, debuted on Food Network. On this show, De Laurentiis travels to a featured locale (such as Seattle, South Beach, San Francisco, Napa, and Jackson Hole, Wyoming) and visits her favorite local culinary destinations. On a November 2006 episode of Iron Chef America, De Laurentiis and Bobby Flay competed against, and were defeated by Rachael Ray and Mario Batali.
In 2007, De Laurentiis appeared as a presenter on the inaugural Food Network Awards. In June 2007, she hosted a two-part Food Network special entitled Giada in Paradise, featuring the two locales of Santorini, Greece and Capri, Italy. De Laurentiis also made several appearances as a guest judge on the third season of The Next Food Network Star, which aired in 2007. In 2008, she won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lifestyle Host.
Giada at Home premiered in 2008 and shows Giada in her kitchen, where she plans and prepares meals and parties for family and friends. The show is actually shot on a set. But, she claims that the house (in Malibu, CA) they film in is very similar to her own home. Giada joined fellow chef Bobby Flay as a judge in season 7 of Food Network Star and took on a new role in season 8 as a team leader of five cooks competing against Bobby Flay’s and Alton Brown’s respective teams.
De Laurentiis is a spokesperson for the pasta manufacturer Barilla.
In early 2010, she came out with a line of kitchen supplies, exclusively for Target.
In 2010, CafeMom ranked her as #6 in their yearly "Sexiest Moms Alive" list.
She is also the voice of "Paulette", a character on the animated children's show Handy Manny.
In June, 2010 De Laurentiis became a regularly appearing mentor to the finalists on the popular Food Network competition show The Next Food Network Star.
Read more about this topic: Giada De Laurentiis
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