Emeril Lagasse - Popular cable TV chef who appeared on EMERIL LIVE and THE ESSENCE OF EMERIL on the Food Network. The show reaches over 50 million homes daily. When Emeril puts the finishing touch on his food preparations he spouts his explosive trademark catchphrase "Bam!" In the fall of 2001, Emeril starred on his own short-lived sitcom called EMERIL playing himself on a fictionalized cable TV show and interacting with the audience and staff of the program. Besides starring on his own successful cable shows, Emeril owns several restaurants in New Orleans, Las Vegas and Orlando and acts as a food correspondent for Good Morning America. Emeril has authored a number of successful books including Emeril's New New Orleans Cooking, Louisiana Real and Rustic, Emeril's Creole Christmas, Emeril's TV Dinners, Every Day's A Party and Prime Time Emeril. As Emeril once said "I love people and I love food, and I think that comes across." Emeril grew up in the small town of Fall River, Massachusetts, worked at a Portuguese bakery where he mastered the art of bread and pastry baking, and earned his Doctorate degree through the culinary program at Johnson and Wales University. Emeril fine-tuned his skills in the art of French Cuisine in Paris and Lyon and then returned to America to work in a number of fine restaurants in New York,  Boston and New Orleans where he became the executive chef at the legendary restaurant Commander's Palace. In 1991, Emeril was named "Best Southeast Regional Chef" by the James Beard Foundation. Time magazine voted Emeril's cable TV show one of the "Top 10 TV Shows" during 1996.