Padma Lakshmi

Padma Lakshmi is an American television host, model, and author who came from India to America as a young child. She entered modeling at 21 after being discovered while studying in Madrid, then worked for designers including Emanuel Ungaro and Gianni Versace. Her hosting career took off with Top Chef, the Bravo cooking competition she hosted and judged from 2006 to 2023 and also executive produced; her other series, Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi, which she created, hosts, and executive produces, began on Hulu in 2020. Those programs brought her 16 Primetime Emmy nominations. She won three Critic's Choice Awards for her work on Top Chef in 2020 and a James Beard Foundation Award in 2022 for Taste the Nation: Holiday Edition. Her screen credits include Glitter (2001), The Mistress of Spices (2005), Sharpe's Challenge (2006), and The Ten Commandments (2006). She has also published cookbooks, a memoir, and a children's book.