Julia Child was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 chef

Chef

A chef is a person who cooks professionally for other people. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who cooks for a living, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation.-Etymology:The word "chef" is borrowed ...

, author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

, and television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 personality. She is recognized for introducing French cuisine

French cuisine

French cuisine is a style of food preparation originating from France that has developed from centuries of social change. In the Middle Ages, Guillaume Tirel , a court chef, authored Le Viandier, one of the earliest recipe collections of Medieval France...

 to the American public with her debut cookbook

Cookbook

A cookbook is a kitchen reference that typically contains a collection of recipes. Modern versions may also include colorful illustrations and advice on purchasing quality ingredients or making substitutions...

, Mastering the Art of French Cooking

Mastering the Art of French Cooking

Mastering the Art of French Cooking is a two-volume French cookbook written by Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, both of France, and Julia Child of the United States...

, and her subsequent television programs, the most notable of which was The French Chef

The French Chef

The French Chef is an influential television cooking show created by Julia Child, and produced and broadcast by WGBH Public television in Boston, Massachusetts, from February 11, 1963 to 1973. It was one of the first cooking shows on television...

, which premiered in 1963.

In 1996, Julia Child was ranked #46 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time.
Child was born Julia Carolyn McWilliams in Pasadena, California

Pasadena, California

Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...

, the daughter of John McWilliams, Jr., a Princeton University

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

 graduate and prominent land manager, and his wife, the former Julia Carolyn ("Caro") Weston, a paper-company heiress whose father, Byron Curtis Weston

Byron Weston

Captain Byron Curtis Weston was a native of Massachusetts who founded the Weston Paper Company in 1863 and served as Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts from 1880 to 1883. He came from an old New England Congregationalist family of extraordinary wealth...

, served as lieutenant governor of Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

.