Giada De Laurentiis is an Italian-American chef, writer, and television personality. She is best-known for hosting ‘Giada at Home’ on the Food Network and for contributing as a guest on NBC’s ‘Today’. Here are 15 facts you might not know about Giada De Laurentiis.
- She was born in Rome on August 22, 1970.
- Her grandfather had a restaurant called ‘DDL Foodshow’. Giada spent much of her youth there and it was where she developed her early cooking skills.
- She has won two awards. The first was the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lifestyle Host and the second was the Gracie Ward for Best Television Host.
- Giada De Laurentiis was inducted into the Culinary Hall of Fame in 2012.
- She was married to Todd Thompson, a fashion designer, between 2008 and 2015.
- De Laurentiis and Thompson have one daughter together. Jade Marie De Laurentiis-Thompson was born on March 29, 2008. She is named after her mother as ‘Giada’ is the Italian word for ‘Jade’.
- She has her own range of products that she sells exclusively through Target. This range includes utensils, stainless steel pots and pans, cooking tools and some food items.
- She has written eight cooking books.
- Her Food Network show ‘Everyday Italian’ premiered on April 5, 2003.
- De Laurentiis’ grandmother was Silvano Mangano, a British-Italian film star.
- She received her bachelor’s degree in social anthropology in 1996 after studying at the University of California in Los Angeles.
- She has one sister, Eloisa, and two brothers, Igor
and Dino Alexander II. - Her brother Dino was a film editor in Hollywood and he died in 2003 from
a melanoma . - She has been the voice of Paulette on the animated show ‘Handy Manny’ since 2009.
- Giada De Laurentiis has appeared regularly as a mentor on the Food Network show ‘The Next Food Network Star’ since 2010.
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