Cat Cora's Main TV Roles Show Character(s) Iron Chef America Cat Cora Celebrity Cooking Showdown Cat Cora Kitchen Accomplished Chef

Main Movie Roles

BIOGRAPHY:

Cat Cora was raised in a small Greek community in Jackson, Mississippi by a family who held strongly to their Greek and Southern heritage. Both her grandfather, father, and godfather were restaurateurs and by the time she was fifteen she had already presented a business plan to them for her very own restaurant. During college she cooked at an Italian bistro and a private dining club preparing classical French cuisine. After graduating from college, Cat backpacked through Europe for four months in search of good food and wine.

Leaving Mississippi for New York with a Bachelor of Science degree in exercise physiology and biology under her belt, Cat got the education of her dreams at The Culinary Institute of America, in Hyde Park. While in New York, she apprenticed with and then worked for Chef Anne Rozenweig at Arcadia and worked at the Beekman tavern under Chef Larry Forgione of An American Place. Her culinary education continued in Europe with apprenticeships with two of France's three-star Michelin chefs: George Blanc and Roger Verge.

After returning to New York, Cat worked as a sous chef at The Old Chatham Shepherding Company under Chef Melissa Kelly before heading west to Northern California. She was offered the position of Chef de Cuisine in Napa Valley's Bistro Don Giovanni.


TRIVIA:

• She says her alternate dream job would be an actress or a novelist.
• Cat and her partner, Jennifer Cora, are each expecting a boy. Cat is due in July, 2009 and Jennifer is due in April, 2010 [March 10, 2009].
• Son, Nash Lemuel, born July 19, 2009. He weighed 7 lbs. 5 oz.
• Receiving her Bachelor of Science in Exercise Physiology and Biology at the University of Southern Mississippi, she enrolled (at the urging of 'Julia Child' (qv)) at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York.
• Executive chef for Bon Appetit magazine.
• Son, Thatcher Julius, born April 4, 2009, by Jennifer.
• Her father, Spiro, is Greek.
• President and co-founder (in January 2005) of Chefs for Humanity.