Booking Gail Simmons

Gail Simmons Biography

Canadian author and chef Gail Simmons was born in 1976 in Toronto. Today, audiences best know Simmons for her role as a judge on the Bravo reality competition Top Chef. But long before Gail rose to prominence in the culinary world, she learned to cook as a young child, mainly by watching her mother, a former food columnist, cook. Her mother was very well-respected in the community, and even held cooking classes in the family home; classes which young Gail observed with fascination.

As a young woman, Gail first attended McGill University as an anthropology and Spanish major, before deciding to enter the culinary world as a career. After graduation, Simmons began writing restaurant reviews, first at McGrill Tribune, and then later for Toronto Life and then the National Post. She enjoyed the culinary world so much that she decided to attend the Peter Kump New York Cooking School, serving as an apprentice at Vong restaurant after graduation.

Gail then returned to culinary publications, working for Food & Wine magazine in 2004. Two years later, she caught the attention of executives at the Bravo network, who invited her to join the judging panel on their newest reality competition show, Top Chef. The show premiered in 2006, and is currently in its fourteenth season.

In addition to her appearance on Top Chef, Gail Simmons is also featured in The Pantry Project, a video series of instructional cooking videos; the series appears on KitchenDaily.com. She also frequently appears at culinary food festivals such as the Pebble Beach Food & Wine Festival and the New York City Wine & Food Festival. Gail recently published her memoir, Talking With My Mouth Full: My Life as a Professional Eater (2012.)