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.