Nick DiGiovanni facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Nick DiGiovanni
|
|
---|---|
DiGiovanni in 2024
|
|
Born |
Nicholas Channing DiGiovanni
May 19, 1996 Barrington, Rhode Island, U.S.
|
Occupation |
|
YouTube information | |
Years active | 2019–present |
Subscribers | 20 million |
Total views | 10.9 billion |
Subscriber and view counts updated as of September 9, 2024. | |
Nicholas Channing DiGiovanni (born May 19, 1996) is an American celebrity chef, YouTuber, and internet personality. DiGiovanni has over 36 million followers across his social media accounts.
Contents
Early life
DiGiovanni was born on May 19, 1996, in Barrington, Rhode Island, to Chris and Sudie DiGiovanni (née Naimi). He is of Italian, Persian, German, and British descent. He is the oldest of four brothers. He developed a passion for food at a young age by watching his grandmother and great-grandmother cook meals for the family.
DiGiovanni went to high school at Milton Academy, where he graduated in 2014 at the age of 18, with cum laude. He served as co-head of the Milton Academy Community Service program. After graduating from high school, DiGiovanni went to Harvard University, where he created his own concentration called "Food and Climate". As part of his coursework, he attended lectures taught by Massimo Bottura, Grant Achatz and José Andrés. For his senior year, DiGiovanni analyzed data on carbon emissions in 36 international restaurants from Singapore to San Francisco. His thesis was advised by American author and journalist Michael Pollan.
DiGiovanni got accepted to attend Harvard Business School through the 2+2 deferral program. In January 2023, he let Harvard know he was not planning to matriculate.
Career
2019–2020: MasterChef and internet beginnings
During his senior year of college, DiGiovanni attended a casting call for season 10 of MasterChef. He was selected to compete on the show and finished in third place. To film the show, DiGiovanni reportedly left in the middle of the semester at Harvard without informing his professors. He returned the next season as a mentor for finalists. After completing MasterChef and graduating from Harvard, DiGiovanni began to post cooking videos on YouTube. In his first-ever YouTube video, DiGiovanni cooked the dessert he would have made in the MasterChef finale, which has over 3.7 million views as of August 2024. He then began to regularly post videos of himself cooking different foods.
DiGiovanni's YouTube channel has over 19 million subscribers as of August 2024. He has partnered with brands including Nutella, Amazon, Walmart, and Kinder Bueno. He frequently collaborates with other influencers, notably Lynja until her death in January 2024. He has been featured in several publications, including Today, Good Morning America, and Harper's Bazaar.
2021–present: Advocacy and world records
In 2021, DiGiovanni was included in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Food and Drink. The same year, DiGiovanni won YouTube's Streamy Award for Food, an award recognizing the world's top food creator of the year. In November 2021, DiGiovanni, with Lynja, broke the Guinness World Record for the largest ever cake pop, which weighed 97 pounds 8.52 ounces (44.240 kg). DiGiovanni is the lead ambassador of the Farmlink Project. Additionally, in 2021, DiGiovanni participated in the #TeamSeas campaign founded by YouTuber MrBeast, which raised $30 million to clean up 30 million pounds (14 million kilograms) of trash in the ocean.
In 2022, he partnered with Chipotle to donate 20 million pounds of food. He was a Webby Award recipient in 2022. In June 2022, he broke another Guinness World Record for the largest ever chicken nugget, which weighed 20.96 kg (46.2 lb). In August, he visited the most fast food restaurants in 24 hours (69 restaurants). In October, he beat Gordon Ramsay's record for the fastest time to fillet a 10 lb (4.5 kg) fish by five seconds; completing it in 1 minute exactly. On the same day he constructed the world's largest sushi roll, which measured at 2.15 metres (7 ft 1 in) in diameter. In November, he and Nigel Ng created the largest fortune cookie at 1.47 kg (3.2 lb) and made the largest donation of turkey in 24 hours (64,463.44 kg (142,117.6 lb) - roughly 7,620 turkeys).
On May 11, 2023, DiGiovanni, alongside Ramsay, broke the Guinness World Record for the largest Beef Wellington, which weighed 25.76 kg (56.8 lb). This was his ninth Guinness World Record and was broken in partnership with celebrity chefs Ramsay, Max the Meat Guy, Guga Foods and The Golden Balance. On June 13, 2023, DiGiovanni released his debut cookbook, Knife Drop. It debuted at #1 on the New York Times Bestsellers list and remained on the list for five consecutive weeks.
In April 2024, it was reported by Variety that DiGiovanni signed with WME. That same year, he returned as a guest judge and mentor on the 14th season of MasterChef.
Awards and nominations
Year | Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2021 | 11th Streamy Awards | Food | Won | |
2022 | 12th Streamy Awards | Nominated | ||
2023 | 13th Streamy Awards | Won |
Filmography
Year | Title | Role |
---|---|---|
2019 | MasterChef | Contestant |
2021 | MasterChef | Mentor |
2021 | The Drew Barrymore Show | Self |
2022 | Live with Kelly and Ryan | |
2022 | Selena + Chef | |
2024 | MasterChef | Guest Judge |