Chef Graham Elliot is a creative culinary wizard with an innate ability to successfully juxtapose four-star cuisine with humor, wit and out-of-the-box artistry. As a current co-host and judge on Fox Network's hit cooking competitions, MasterChef and MasterChef Jr., Elliot offers his expert advice to show contestants. Combining his passion for food with a love of music, Elliot will return to Lollapalooza in 2015 as the culinary director, an honor he's held for the past 7 years.
Along with regular TV appearances on Good Morning America, Access Hollywood, The Today Show and Nightline, Elliot has also seen his share of competition in the culinary ring having participated on both Iron Chef and Top Chef Masters. In addition to his regular TV work, Elliot also oversees his eponymous restaurant, Graham Elliot Bistro located in his hometown of Chicago.
In recent years Elliot, who is a self-proclaimed "Navy brat" who has traveled the world and all fifty US states, has accrued many prestigious accolades including multiple James Beard Foundation Nominations, as well as being named one of Food & Wine Magazine's "Best New Chefs" in 2004. To top it off, Graham Elliot was also awarded two Michelin stars, making it one of only to fifteen in the United States to have that distinction.
At the age of 27 he was the youngest Four Star Chef to be named in any city, also earning himself a spot on Crain's Chicago Business list of "40 Under Forty", putting him in an elite club that includes luminaries such as Preseisent Barack Obama, who Elliot had the privilege of cooking for on his 49th birthday.
When he is not cooking, Graham enjoys traveling the world in search of new flavors, techniques and inspiration. He resides in Chicago with his wife Allie and his three boys, Miylo, Conrad and Jedediah.