Sam Zien
Sam quit a biotech job in July of 2001 to try to start a travel show, with him as the host. The fact that he had zero travel or television experience didn't seem to matter to him. He felt he could be at least as good as the not-so-exciting people on TV - and maybe even better. But a month before a trip to shoot demo footage in Tokyo and Hong Kong, September 11th hit - and that changed everything. So he decided to stick with TV, but switched from travel to cooking. Still no experience but it didn't really stop him before, so why would it now? It didn't, and a couple of months later Sam landed a twice-weekly 2-minute cooking segment on a local morning news program. Sweet. The segments caught on and grew into a 30-minute show appropriately named Sam the Cooking Guy - an irreverent mix of humor and easy-to-replicate recipes that have now won 14 Emmy awards. It's 'reality' cooking - in the sense that whatever really happens when he shoots, stays in the show. A dropped pan, dogs getting in the way, a burnt lip from a too hot mouthful or even something he made that ended up tasting bad - it all stays. In 2007 Discovery Health came along and 'Just Cook This! with Sam the Cooking Guy' was born. It features his same offbeat style with more easy-to-prepare, great-tasting recipes that also happen to be healthy. It's true - healthy doesn't have to taste awful. Still known for his 'big in taste and small in effort' philosophy, Sam has become a frequent guest on The Today Show, his first cookbook 'Just a Bunch of Recipes' was released in 2008 by John Wiley & Sons and his second book 'Awesome Recipes & Kitchen Shortcuts' was released in April of 2010. His 3rd book, "Just Grill This" was released in April of 2011. In addition to television, in May of 2011 he started 'The Sam Livecast' - a live, uncensored and uncut internet show - sort of a cross between a radio talk show and a TV cooking show.. Along with his wife, three sons and two dogs (who all make frequent appearances on his show btw) Sam lives in San Diego, Calif., in the house where he tapes his shows-a real guy, in his real kitchen, cooking food for real people. |
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