How Did Padma Lakshmi Get Famous?

Padma Lakshmi entered the field that would eventually make her a household name when she published her first cookbook, Easy Exotic: A Model’s Low Fat Recipes from Around the World, in 1999.

Lakshmi has hosted the cooking competition program, Top Chef on Bravo continuously since season 2. For her work, she received a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Reality Host in 2009 and 2020 through 2022.

Lakshmi 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.

Lakshmi is the current host and one of the judges on the television show Top Chef. She also serves as an executive producer of the show. She starred in the 2003 Bollywood film Boom, alongside Katrina Kaif and Madhu Sapre, as one of three supermodels accused of stealing diamonds. She has also made a guest appearance on the NBC series, 30 Rock in 2009 and appeared on Whose Line Is It Anyway? in 2014.