Chef Wan is a Malaysian celebrity chef

Celebrity chef

A celebrity chef is a kitchen chef who has become famous and well known. Today celebrity chefs often become celebrities by presenting cookery advice and demonstrations via mass media, especially television. Historically, celebrity chefs have included Antoine Carême and Martino da Como.-External...

. His real name is Redzuawan Ismail.

Career

His early career was as an accountant. He says after seeing the popularity of many types of Asian food in Western countries he decided to promote Malaysia and other South East Asian countries using their food.

He has an associate degree in Professional Chef Training and Hotel Management from the California Culinary Academy

California Culinary Academy

The California Culinary Academy is an affiliate of Le Cordon Bleu, and is located in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1977, the academy has trained more than 15,000 people for restaurant careers through its 30-week baking and pastry chef program and 16-month culinary arts degree program...

 and a Ritz Escoffeir Diploma from the Ritz Hotel

Ritz Hotel

The Ritz London is a luxury 5-star hotel located in Piccadilly and overlooking Green Park in London.- History :Swiss hotelier César Ritz, former manager of the Savoy Hotel, opened the hotel on 24 May 1906...

. He is currently a brand ambassador for AirAsia

AirAsia

AirAsia Berhad is a Malaysian-based low-cost airline. AirAsia is Asia's largest low-fare, no-frills airline and a pioneer of low-cost travel in Asia. AirAsia group operates scheduled domestic and international flights to over 400 destinations spanning 25 countries. Its main hub is the Low-Cost...

.

In 2009, he won the Best Celebrity Television Chef of the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards.

Personal life

In an interview in February 2010, Chef Wan highlighted that he is of mixed ancestry; his father has Riau Malay and Javanese ancestry while his mother is of Nyonya

Peranakan

Peranakan Chinese and Baba-Nyonya are terms used for the descendants of late 15th and 16th-century Chinese immigrants to the Indonesian archipelago of Nusantara during the Colonial era....

 and Japanese

Japanese migration to Malaysia

The history of Japanese migration in Malaysia goes back to the late 19th century, when the country was part of the British Empire as British Malaya.-Migration history:...

 descent. Chef Wan has two children, one of whom is Serina Redzuawan, an actress who has appeared in several Malaysian drama series. Chef Wan's son, Muhammad Nazri bin Redzuawan, is following in his father's footsteps by becoming a chef as well.