Padma Parvati Lakshmi (Tamil pronunciation: [ˈpɐd̪maː ˈlɐkʂmi]; née Vaidynathan; born September 1, 1970) is an American television host, model, author, entrepreneur, and activist. She rose to prominence by hosting the Bravo cooking competition program Top Chef (2006–2023). Lakshmi is the creator, host, and executive producer of the docuseries Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi, which premiered in 2020 on Hulu. For her work with these two series, as an executive producer and as a host, she has received 16 Primetime Emmy Award nominations.
Born in India, Lakshmi immigrated to the United States as a child. She became a model before embarking on a career on television. She has written five 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; and a children's book, Tomatoes for Neela illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal, the latter two appearing on The New York Times's best-seller list. Lakshmi has formed and produced sales for five different businesses. She co-founded the Endometriosis Foundation of America in 2009. She was appointed United Nations Development Programme Goodwill Ambassador in 2019. Lakshmi was listed among Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world in 2023.
Lakshmi was born Padma Parvati Lakshmi Vaidynathan on September 1, 1970, in Madras (now known as Chennai), Tamil Nadu, India. Her mother, Vijaya Lakshmi, is a retired oncology nurse. Vijaya and Lakshmi's father separated in 1971 and divorced the next year, after which the former immigrated to the United States alone. Lakshmi lived with her maternal grandparents before joining Vijaya two years later. She lived in Queens, New York City, before moving to La Puente, California, with her stepfather, Anand Prasad – a Fijian-born ethnic Indian – and Vijaya. Lakshmi has stated that, as a teenager, she was bullied due to her Indian heritage, which caused her to struggle to overcome "internalized self-loathing".
At the age of 14, Lakshmi was hospitalized for three weeks and was eventually diagnosed with Stevens–Johnson syndrome. 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 1988. In 1992, she graduated from Clark University, earning a bachelor's degree in theatre arts and American literature.
In a 2018 essay for The New York Times, Lakshmi revealed that, at the age of 16, she was raped by her then boyfriend, which she did not report; Lakshmi stated that she made the decision because, at the age of seven, she was molested by her step-uncle, and Vijaya and Anand sent her back to India for a year after she told them about the molestation; Lakshmi wrote, "The lesson was: If you speak up, you will be cast out. [...] 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." When she became a naturalized US citizen, Lakshmi officially changed her name to simply Padma Parvati Lakshmi to honor Vijaya.
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. In 2023, at age 53, she appeared in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.
Lakshmi served as a host of Domenica In, an Italian program, in 1997. She hosted the Food Network series Padma's Passport, which was part of the larger series Melting Pot in 2001, where she cooked recipes from around the world. She also hosted two one-hour specials in South India and Spain for the British culinary tourism show Planet Food, broadcast on the Food Network in the U.S. and internationally on the Discovery Channels. Lakshmi was also an official contributor for season 19 of The View from 2015 to 2016.
Lakshmi was a host and judge on the television show Top Chef. She also serves as an executive producer of the show. Lakshmi was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program in 2009 and in 2020 through 2022 for Top Chef. In 2020, Lakshmi won three Critic's Choice Awards for Top Chef. In 2023 she departed from the show following the twentieth season.
Lakshmi is also the creator, host, and executive producer of Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi, which premiered on Hulu on June 18, 2020, and received the Gotham Award for Breakthrough Series and Critic's Choice Awards for Best Culinary Show in 2021 and 2022. Taste the Nation received 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. In 2021, Hulu released a 4-episode special, Taste the Nation: Holiday Edition. In June 2022, Lakshmi received her first James Beard Foundation Award for Taste the Nation: Holiday Edition.
Her first film roles were in the Italian pirate movies The Son of Sandokan and Caraibi (Pirates: Blood Brothers). She had a comical supporting part as the lip-synching disco singer Sylk in the 2001 American movie Glitter, starring Mariah Carey. In 2002, Lakshmi made an appearance as alien princess Kaitaama in "Precious Cargo," of the TV series Star Trek: Enterprise. She portrayed Madhuvanthi in the TV movie Sharpe's Challenge (aired 2006). In 2006, she appeared in ABC's Biblical TV series The Ten Commandments as Princess Bithia. In 2009, Lakshmi appeared in the video for the Eels song "That Look You Give That Guy."
She starred in the 2003 Bollywood film Boom, alongside Katrina Kaif and Madhu Sapre, as one of three supermodels accused of stealing diamonds. She played the role of Geeta in Paul Mayeda Berges's 2005 film The Mistress of Spices. Lakshmi also made a guest appearance on the NBC series 30 Rock in 2009 and appeared on Whose Line Is It Anyway? in 2014.
Lakshmi's first cookbook, Easy Exotic, a compilation of international recipes and short essays released in 1999, was awarded the Best First Book at the 1999 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in Versailles. Her second cookbook, Tangy, Tart, Hot and Sweet, was released on October 2, 2007, and was reissued in March 2021. Her first memoir, Love, Loss and What We Ate, was released on International's Women's Day, March 8, 2016, and was a The New York Times best-seller. Also in 2016, Lakshmi's third culinary book, an encyclopedia and reference guide, The Encyclopedia of Spices and Herbs: An Essential Guide to the Flavors of the World, was released on October 4. Her first children's book Tomatoes for Neela, released on August 31, 2021, and illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal, debuted fourth on The New York Times best-seller list.
Lakshmi guest edited The Best American Travel Writing 2021, a collection of essays from renowned travel writers. Lakshmi wrote a syndicated column in The New York Times and has written articles on style for the American edition of Vogue, at editor Anna Wintour's request. She also wrote a column on style for Harper's Bazaar (UK and US editions), following a commission from editor Glenda Bailey.