Melissa King Biography – Melissa King Wiki
Melissa King is a Chinese-American chef and television personality, popularly known as the season winner of Top Chef All-Stars L.A. She first appeared on the show’s twelfth season, Top Chef: Boston, placing as a finalist; she then returned for the seventeenth season, Top Chef: All-Stars L.A., where she won the title, won fan favorite and holds more single-season challenge wins than any other competitor in the history of Top Chef. She specializes in modern Californian cuisine with Asian flavors.
She took her first kitchen job when she was 17 years old as a pastry assistant at the Getty Museum. She subsequently trained under several Michelin-star and James Beard-recognized chefs including Dominique Crenn and Ron Siegel over the next 10 years. She has worked at several Michelin-starred Bay Area restaurants such as Campton Place, Luce, and The Dining Room. Throughout her career, she has cooked for several notable figures such as Oprah Winfrey and Al Gore. She was a chef ambassador for Whole Foods Market. She was selected as one of the “Best Female Chefs in San Francisco.”
She owns a company focused on culinary partnerships and experiences. She has featured on stage at Outsidelands music festival for a cooking demonstration with Drag Queen Alyssa Edwards. She has also appeared at a number of food festivals around the nation such as Pebble Beach Food and Wine and The Napa Valley Film Festival. She earned national recognition after being fourth as a finalist on Season 12 of Bravo’s television series, Top Chef. She was invited back for Season 17 of Top Chef, the show’s second all-star season, where she was announced the winner and received the US$250,000 grand prize. She was subsequently voted as the “fan favorite” of Season 17, earning her another US$10,000, which she donated 100% of her fan-favorite winnings to several non-profit organizations, including the Black Visions Collective, Asian Americans for Equality, Asian Youth Center, and The Trevor Project. She has the most single-season individual challenge wins of any competitor in the history of Top Chef.
King made her modeling debut in a global Levi Strauss Pride Campaign in 2018. She subsequently appeared in the Gap Inc SP21 Individual Anthems campaign in 2021, as well as on the company’s Instagram Reel interviews coinciding with the campaign. She has created a line of ice cream flavors in collaboration with Humphry Slocombe that are exclusively sold at Whole Foods Market. She is the creator of Hong Kong Milk Tea Ice Cream, Almond Chocolate Crunch, Coconut Shoyu Caramel, Yuzu Cream, Golden Milk and Gingerbread, and Mango Mojito. She is the creator of King Sauce, a small-batch line of signature sauces.
She was awarded Grand Marshall for San Francisco Pride 2016. King spoke out against anti-Asian racism and harassment during the COVID19 pandemic in alliance with Ad Council in a PSA campaign directed by Alan Yang. She hosts virtual cooking experiences with proceeds supporting charities such as The Okra Project, No Kid Hungry, The Trevor Project, Asian Pacific Islanders for Equality, National Black Justice Coalition.
She studied at the University of California, Santa Barbara, before transferring to the University of California, Irvine, graduating with a B.A. in cognitive science. She then attended The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, earning an A.A. in culinary arts. She is also a certified level 1 Sommelier from The Court of Master Sommeliers.
Melissa King Age
She was born on October 11, 1983, in Whittier, California, United States.
Melissa King Parents
Both her parents were migrants from Hong Kong who moved to Los Angeles in the late 1960s. Her mother was an aerospace engineer and her father, an electrical engineer. She grew up in Los Angeles, California, and is the younger of two sisters.
Melissa King Partner
She is in a relationship with her partner Emi. Emi is a metalsmith who owns a jewelry shop in San Francisco, California. They are residents of San Francisco. She is openly gay and an advocate for LGBTQ equality as well as women’s empowerment, environmental sustainability, and food education for youths. King is gender-fluid and uses she/her or they/them pronouns.
Melissa King Height
She stands at a listed height of 5 feet 4 inches tall.
Melissa King Net Worth
Melissa King’s net worth is estimated to be $1.4 Million.
Melissa King Instagram
She is on Instagram as @chefmelissaking.
