Rachael Ray

Biography: A far cry from Julia Child and her ilk, this perky chef was born into a food-industry family. After a few years in the New York City rat race, she moved upstate to become the buyer and chef for a gourmet market in Albany. As a bonus for shoppers, Ray began teaching in-store, 30-minute meal classes. The classes proved so popular that they spawned a Food Network TV series of the same name and launched Ray's hosting career. In 2005, she married rock singer John Cusimano and started another Food Network series, Rachael Ray's Tasty Travels, as well as a magazine, Every Day with Rachael Ray. The following year, Ray added a Daytime Emmy-winning talk show to her growing media empire. Ray also finds time to appear on the rare show she isn't hosting, guesting on Sesame Street, competing on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and showing up on the CBS hidden-camera special I Get That a Lot.