Alton Brown

TV personality and cookbook author Alton Brown's flair for food came early with guidance from his mother and grandmother. He says he put those skills to good use in college as a way to get dates. He decided that he could make a better cooking show than the ones he was currently watching and in 1999 the Food Network agreed and Alton Brown's first show, "Good Eats," was born. The show was nominated for the James Beard Foundation's Best TV Food Journalism Award one year later and won the Peabody Award in 2006. In between writing, producing and starring in "Good Eats," Alton Brown published his first cookbook, I'm Just Here for the Food in 2004, which won the James Beard Foundation's Award for Best Reference Cookbook. Author Alton Brown has gone on to write five more bestsellers since then, including a planned trilogy of cookbooks showcasing all of his recipes and the culinary wisdom explored in his very popular show "Good Eats." But just writing bestselling cookbooks isn't enough for this Los Angeles native; he also appears regularly as the resident food historian on the Food Network series "Iron Chef America" and is the host and judge on the cooking competition reality show "The Next Iron Chef." In-between being the busiest TV show host, food historian, reality show judge, and cookbook author, Alton Brown is also a husband and father. He lives with his family near Atlanta where they get the lucky privilege of his extensive kitchen wisdom.