Curtis Stone

Having worked his way up to become one of Australia's top chefs, Curtis Stone joined the ranks of culinary celebrities when he began hosting his own series while making regular appearances on a variety of shows in the United Kingdom, the United States and his native country. Born on Nov. 4, 1975 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Stone began cooking alongside his grandmother when he was just five years old. At 18 years old, he attended Victoria University as a business major, only to leave shortly after starting to pursue his passion for food.

Stone gained his first professional experience cooking at the Savoy Hotel, where he soon developed into a qualified chef. From there, he went to London, where he offered to work for Chef Marco Pierre White gratis for a month in order to prove his worth. He did and was hired on staff at The Grill Room at Café Royal, where he spent the next two years as a cook before becoming a sous chef at Mirabelle. After another two years, Stone was made head chef at White's Quo Vadis, where he earned considerable acclaim before jumping over to the television world in 2003.

Stone made his first appearance on the small screen as the star of "Surfing the Menu" (ABC TV, 2004), which also featured Aussie chef Ben O'Donoghue. In the United Kingdom, he made several television appearances, including on "Dinner in a Box," "Good Food Live" (UKTV, 2007) and "Saturday Kitchen" (BBC One, 2002- ). Making his debut in the United States, Stone spent two seasons as the star of "Take Home Chef" (TLC, 2006-08), in which he pretended to pick up an attractive woman, usually at a grocery store, then proceed to cook a meal at her house, surprising her partner when they arrived home.

Meanwhile, he was seen regularly on "The Biggest Loser" (NBC, 2004- ), where he taught the overweight contestants how to cook healthy meals. He also released several cook books over the years, including Relaxed Cooking with Curtis Stone and Cooking With Curtis. Back on television, Stone joined the likes of Cyndi Lauper, Darryl Strawberry, Sharon Osbourne and disgraced former governor Rod Blagojevich on "Celebrity Apprentice" (NBC, 2004- ).