Rachael Ray

Growing up in a family steeped in culinary tradition, Rachael Ray was exposed to a wide range of cooking techniques, from her maternal grandfather who grew and cooked everything his family of 12 ate, to her dad's family, which embraced the food-rich traditions of Louisiana.

The Ray family owned several restaurants on Cape Cod, Mass., before relocating to upstate New York, where her mother worked as the food supervisor for a restaurant chain. "I was surrounded by all different styles of cooking and worked in the food service industry in just about every capacity you can imagine," Rachael says.