Padma Lakshmi

Padma Lakshmi is the host of the Bravo reality TV series Top Chef. She is also a successful model, actress, and cookbook author.

Padma was born Padma Parvati Lakshmi, on September 1, 1970, in Madras, India. She spent many years of her childhood in India before her family moved to the United States. Her parents divorced when she was very young, and both have since remarried.

While studying at Clark University in Massachusetts, Lakshmi spent a semester as an exchange student in Spain. It was there that she was discovered by a modeling agent while she was sitting in a café.

Padma Lakshmi has stated that the success in her modeling career was due to the fact that there were no other highly visible Indian models on the scene when she first began modeling. Her past modeling clients include many of the top names in fashion, such as:

• Ungaro
• Prada
• Armani
• Ralph Lauren
• Versace
• Alberta Ferretti

Lakshmi has also graced the covers and pages of many fashion magazines. From Cosmopolitan to Vogue, her photos appear in a number of features as well as advertising campaigns. She has been called the first internationally successful Indian supermodel.

Traveling around the world has many advantages, one of which is the ability to sample a wide variety of international cuisines. Lakshmi developed a love of cooking early on in her life and enjoyed using international flavors in her cooking. She also loves the cooking techniques and ingredients from Italy, where she lived while modeling. In 1999, she wrote her first cookbook, called Easy Exotic.

Her second book, Tangy, Tart, Hot, and Sweet, released in 2007, expanded on the simple recipes provided in the first cookbook. The book includes 120 recipes, along with stories and reflections on the places where the ingredients originated, and how the flavors were developed.

Padma has written articles and contributed recipes to several magazines as well, including Gourmet, Vogue, and Harper's Bazaar.

Padma Lakshmi played small roles in Italian television movies and mini-series' before picking up the role of Sylk in Mariah Carey's film Glitter in 2001. This led to an appearance in the series Star Trek Enterprise, where she played Kaitaama. She has gone on to star in a handful of movies, including:

• The Mistress of Spices
• The Ten Commandments (ABC mini series)
• Sharpe's Challenge (BBC America)

In addition to her acting roles, Lakshmi has also hosted several television shows. These include:

• Dominica In – An Italian variety show
• Padma's Passport – A cooking show on the Food Network
• Planet Food – A documentary that aired on the Food Network as well as Discovery
• Top Chef – A competition reality TV series on Bravo

When Lakshmi was 14 years old she was involved, along with her parents, in a terrible car accident. Their car was thrown from the freeway and careened down a 40-foot embankment. All three passengers survived, but Padma Lakshmi ended up with a shattered right arm and a fractured hip.

As a result of her arm injury, she was left with a seven-inch long scar. The scar initially caused problems for her in her modeling career, but eventually became accepted as a personal and interesting part of her. After photographer Helmut Newton featured Padma's scar in his photos it was no longer hidden in her photos.

• In 2004, Padma married controversial author Salman Rushdie. They divorced in 2007.

• She has been a guest and also guest-hosted the daytime talk show, The View.

• Lakshmi speaks five languages, including Italian and Spanish.

• Her book, Easy Exotic, won the Best Cookbook by a First Time Author award at the International Versailles World Cookbook Awards in 1999.

• She gains between 12 and 15 pounds each season while Top Chef is taping.

• She is launching a variety of new products, including a line of jewelry as well as her own branded cooking sauces.

To learn more about Padma Lakshmi, visit her official website. You can also see photos of Padma and learn more about Top Chef at the Bravo TV website.

• Jillian Michaels Photos
• Kirstie Alley Gallery
• Janice Dickinson Gallery

• What Couples are Still Together from The Bachelor
• Rock of Love Bus
• CBS Survivor Application
• Kate Gosselin
• Jon and Kate Plus Eight

• Dancing with the Stars Results
• Bravo Reality TV Shows
• Bravo Top Design
• Food Network Chopped
• Game Show