40 Fun Facts About Giada De Laurentiis

In which Italian city was Giada De Laurentiis born, before her family moved to Southern California?

Rome was her home until she was seven, when the family left Italy for the United States. She has said she arrived at school in Los Angeles without a word of English.

Which 1976 monster-movie remake was produced by Dino, grandfather of Giada De Laurentiis?

King Kong was a commercial hit in 1976 for its Italian producer. Dino De Laurentiis produced or co-produced more than 500 films.

At which Paris cooking school, also attended by Julia Child, did Giada De Laurentiis train?

Le Cordon Bleu has taught cooking in Paris since 1895, and Giada moved there to enrol after finishing a university degree in Los Angeles.

Which debut series of Giada De Laurentiis was filmed in rented California homes instead of a studio set?

Everyday Italian was shot in rented homes in Malibu, Pasadena and Pacific Palisades from 2003. Early viewers wrote to the network suspecting its host was a model or actress, not a real chef.

Which gemstone name, the English meaning of Giada, did De Laurentiis choose for her daughter?

Jade is what Giada means in Italian, so mother and daughter share one name in two languages. Jade, born in 2008, is her only child.

In which city did Giada De Laurentiis open her first restaurant, on the second floor of a casino hotel?

Las Vegas got the restaurant, named simply Giada, in 2014 at what was then the Cromwell hotel. Diners look out over the Strip towards the Bellagio fountains.

Which cartoon dog shares the screen with Giada De Laurentiis, voicing herself, in a 2018 animated film?

Scooby-Doo meets Giada and her cat Bella in Scooby-Doo! and the Gourmet Ghost, a mystery set at a haunted inn run by fellow chef Bobby Flay.

Which TV cook, paired with Mario Batali, beat Giada De Laurentiis and Bobby Flay on Iron Chef America?

Rachael Ray won the 90-minute special in 2006 even though she does not call herself a chef, having had no formal training. The secret ingredient that night was cranberries.

Which Italian football club did Aurelio, a cousin of Giada De Laurentiis's mother, buy out of bankruptcy?

Napoli had gone bankrupt and dropped to Italy's third division when film producer Aurelio De Laurentiis bought the club in 2004. He is a nephew of Giada's grandfather.

Which subject did Giada De Laurentiis study at UCLA before she left for culinary school in Paris?

Anthropology was her major at UCLA, where she graduated in 1996. She has said she chose kitchen work partly because she was painfully shy and cooks stay out of sight.

At which Wolfgang Puck restaurant in Los Angeles did Giada De Laurentiis cook after returning from France?

Spago was Puck's first restaurant venture, opened on the Sunset Strip in 1982. Giada also worked in the Ritz-Carlton's Fine Dining Room before starting her own catering company.

Which magazine ran the 2002 article about Giada De Laurentiis's family lunches that led to her television break?

Food & Wine asked her to write about her family's Sunday lunches, and a Food Network executive saw the piece. She was soon developing a series of her own.

Which television award did Giada De Laurentiis win in 2008 in the Outstanding Lifestyle Host category?

A Daytime Emmy went to her in 2008, five years after her first series began. A second followed in 2020, this time for Outstanding Culinary Host.

On which Disney preschool cartoon did Giada De Laurentiis voice Paulette, a character who likes to make pizza?

Handy Manny follows a handyman and his talking tools in the town of Sheetrock Hills. Giada joined the cast in 2009, with Wilmer Valderrama voicing Manny.

Which Food Network host coached the third team against Giada De Laurentiis and Bobby Flay on Food Network Star?

Alton Brown led one of three five-cook teams in the show's eighth season, and his finalist Justin Warner won. Giada had been a judge the year before.

Which Italian pasta maker launched its first celebrity gourmet line with Giada De Laurentiis in 2008?

Barilla sold the range under its Academia Barilla name. Pasta runs in the family: Giada's great-grandparents owned a pasta factory, and her grandfather sold its products door to door as a boy.

Which American retail chain began selling an exclusive line of Giada De Laurentiis kitchen supplies in 2010?

Target carried her cookware and kitchen tools exclusively, and it later sold its own special edition of her wellness cookbook Eat Better, Feel Better.

Which network's morning show made Giada De Laurentiis a correspondent in 2006 and later a regular guest co-host?

NBC put her on the Today show for the 2006 Games, and she stayed on for years as a regular contributor and guest co-host.

What was the profession of Todd Thompson, whom Giada De Laurentiis married in 2003?

Fashion designer Todd Thompson had been her boyfriend since she was 19, and he turned up in episodes of her first cooking series. The couple divorced in 2015.

Which Italian film star of Bitter Rice was the maternal grandmother of Giada De Laurentiis?

Silvana Mangano became a star with Bitter Rice in 1949, the year she married its producer, Dino De Laurentiis. She went on to win Italy's David di Donatello for Best Actress three times.

Which De Laurentiis cooking series, with her aunt Raffaella as a frequent guest, ran on Food Network from 2008 to 2015?

Giada at Home was filmed on a set built to look much like her own house. It moved past Italian recipes to cooking and party planning for friends and family.

Which series hosted by Giada De Laurentiis examined the catering at big events such as the Grammy Awards?

Behind the Bash began in October 2005 as her second series, following the caterers and planners who stage huge parties. A third show, built around travel, arrived in 2007.

On which Food Network series did De Laurentiis take eating trips to American cities such as Seattle and Santa Fe?

Giada's Weekend Getaways ran from 2007 to 2008, each trip lasting from a Friday arrival to Sunday brunch. Her Los Angeles episode ended with a helicopter ride to Catalina for fish and chips.

Which Italian island, a favourite De Laurentiis family holiday spot, did Giada tour for Giada in Paradise?

Capri was the subject of the second episode in 2007, with Giada passing on tips for touring an island her relatives had long visited. Later instalments went as far as Bora Bora and Thailand.

Which Hollywood director was a famous client of GDL Foods, the catering firm Giada De Laurentiis ran before television?

Ron Howard was among the well-known names who hired her Los Angeles company. She ran it while also working as a food stylist on magazine shoots.

What was the surname of Giada De Laurentiis at birth, before she and her siblings took their mother's name?

De Benedetti came from her father, the actor and producer Alex De Benedetti, a close associate of her grandfather Dino. The four children changed names after their parents divorced.

Which 1982 fantasy film was produced by Raffaella, the aunt who cooks beside Giada De Laurentiis on television?

Conan the Barbarian, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, was handed to Raffaella De Laurentiis by her father Dino. Viewers of Giada's shows know the producer as Aunt Raffy.

In which East Coast city did GDL Italian by Giada open inside a Horseshoe casino in 2018?

Baltimore got GDL Italian in May 2018, making it her third restaurant. The initials GDL also named the catering company she ran before television.

Which cruise line named Giada De Laurentiis godmother of its new ship Vista in 2023?

Oceania Cruises picked her for Vista, its first new ship in more than a decade. The honour was announced in February 2023.

Which kitchen career did Giada De Laurentiis have in mind when she enrolled at culinary school in Paris?

Pastry chef was the plan, but back in Los Angeles she worked restaurant kitchens and catered instead. As a child she had sometimes made the dessert for her family's weekly lunch.

From which country did Ivy Webb, a great-grandmother of the Italian-born Giada De Laurentiis, come?

England was home to Ivy Webb, who came from Croydon and married an Italian. Giada's grandmother on her father's side was English as well.

Which Fellini film won an Academy Award for Dino, the producer grandfather of Giada De Laurentiis?

La Strada took the very first Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 1957, an award Dino De Laurentiis shared with fellow producer Carlo Ponti.

In which 1970 war epic, produced by her father Dino, did the mother of Giada De Laurentiis act as a teenager?

Waterloo starred Rod Steiger as Napoleon, and Veronica De Laurentiis was cast in it at eighteen. She gave up acting after Giada, her first child, was born in 1970.

With which company did Giada De Laurentiis sign a multi-year deal in 2023 to produce unscripted shows?

Amazon Studios signed her in February 2023 to create and produce unscripted programming, two decades after her first series reached the air.

In which California city did Dino, grandfather of Giada De Laurentiis, run a branch of his DDL Foodshow stores?

Beverly Hills had one DDL Foodshow and New York City had two, all selling Italian specialty foods. Young Giada spent a great deal of time at her grandfather's store.

Giada De Laurentiis voiced a rival baker named Gelata in a Disney short starring which character?

Tinker Bell challenges Gelata, whose fairies have baked the very same cake for 399 years, to a contest for the queen's party. Giada voiced the role in the American version.

What is the name of the lifestyle and shopping website that Giada De Laurentiis launched in 2017?

Giadzy pairs her recipes and travel tips with a shop selling imported Italian pantry goods, from artisan pasta to olive oil.

Inside which resort did the fast-casual restaurant Pronto by Giada open in early 2018?

Caesars Palace became home to Pronto by Giada, a quick-service counter that was her second restaurant after the sit-down dining room she opened in 2014.

Which honours for women in media named Giada De Laurentiis an outstanding television host in 2012?

Gracie Awards are presented by the Alliance for Women in Media and take their name from the radio and television comedian Gracie Allen.

Dino, the producer grandfather of Giada De Laurentiis, made several films from which horror novelist's books?

Stephen King adaptations from Dino De Laurentiis include The Dead Zone, Cat's Eye, Silver Bullet and Maximum Overdrive, all released in the 1980s.