Padma Parvati Lakshmi (; born September 1, 1970) is an Indian-American author, activist, actress, model, philanthropist, and television host. She hosted the cooking competition program Top Chef on Bravo continuously from 2006 to 2023. For her work, she received a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Reality Host in 2009 and 2020 through 2022. She is also the creator, host, and executive producer of the critically acclaimed docuseries Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi, which premiered in June 2020 on Hulu and explores the food and culture of immigrant and indigenous communities across America. In 2022, Taste the Nation: Holiday Edition won a James Beard Foundation Award in the Visual Media - Long Form category.
She has published six books: two cookbooks, Easy Exotic and Tangy, Tart, Hot & Sweet; an encyclopedia, The Encyclopedia of Spices & Herbs: An Essential Guide to the Flavors of the World; a memoir, Love, Loss, and What We Ate; a children's book, Tomatoes for Neela illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal, and guest-edited The Best American Travel Writing 2021.
In 2023, Lakshmi was named to Time Magazines 100 Most Influential List. She also appeared in Sports Illustrated magazine's Swimsuit Edition.
Early life and education
Padma Parvati Lakshmi was born in Madras (now Chennai), India. Her mother Vijaya is a retired oncology nurse. Her parents divorced when she was two years old.
Lakshmi emigrated to the United States at age four and was raised in New York City before moving to La Puente, California with her mother and stepfather. As a teenager growing up in Los Angeles, she stated that she was bullied and endured racism and anti-Indian sentiment, which caused her to struggle to overcome "internalized self-loathing."
In 1984, when Lakshmi was 14 years old, she was hospitalized for three weeks and eventually diagnosed with Stevens–Johnson syndrome, a rare illness caused by hypersensitivity to an infection or a potentially fatal reaction to certain kinds of medications.
Two days after her discharge from the hospital, she was injured in a car accident in Malibu, California, which left her with a fractured right hip and a shattered right upper arm. The arm injury required surgery, from which she retained a seven-inch scar between her elbow and shoulder.
Lakshmi graduated from William Workman High School in City of Industry, California, in 1988.
In a 2018 essay for The New York Times, Lakshmi revealed that she was raped by her older boyfriend when she was 16, which she did not report. She stated that her decision to keep silent about the rape resulted from her stepfather's relative assaulting her when she was seven years old. After she told her mother and stepfather about his assault, they sent her to live with her grandparents for a year. She wrote, "The lesson was: If you speak up, you will be cast out." She said, "I am speaking now because I want us all to fight so that our daughters never know this fear and shame and our sons know that girls' bodies do not exist for their pleasure and that abuse has grave consequences."
Career
Modeling
In effect, Lakshmi began her modeling career at age 21, when a modeling agent discovered Lakshmi while she was studying in Madrid. She has said, "I was the first Indian model to have a career in Paris, Milan, and New York. I'm the first one to admit that I was a novelty." Lakshmi was able to pay off her college loans by working as a model and actress.
She has modeled for designers including Emanuel Ungaro, Giorgio Armani, Gianni Versace, Ralph Lauren, and Alberta Ferretti and appeared in ad campaigns for Roberto Cavalli and Versus. She was a favorite model of the photographer Helmut Newton, whose photographs of her often highlighted the large scar on her right arm.
Lakshmi has appeared on the covers of Redbook, Vogue India, FHM, Cosmopolitan, L'Officiel India, Asian Woman, Elle, Avenue, Industry Magazine, Marie Claire (India Edition), Harper's Bazaar, Town & Country, and Newsweek. She also posed nude for the May 2009 issue of Allure.
She has done shoots for photographers Mario Testino and Helmut Newton.
Film, television, and hosting
Lakshmi is the current host and one of the judges on the television show Top Chef. The show has been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program from season 2 through season 19, with season 6 winning the award in 2010.