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Lorraine Pascale (born 17 November 1972) is a British television cook and USA Food Network host and former top model, best known for selling almost one million books in the UK alone. Her TV shows are in 70 countries worldwide. She had her own cooking show on the BBC for several seasons. From 2007-2012 she owned a retail outlet in London selling baked goods called Ella’s Bakehouse named after her daughter. She is the United Kingdom Government Fostering and Adoption Ambassador and an emotional wellness advocate. She is the mother of ''
Charlie’s Angels'' star
Ella Balinska
Ella Balinska (born 4 October 1996) is an English actress. She is known for starring in the action-comedy film '' Charlie's Angels'' (2019) and the Netflix original series ''Resident Evil'' (2022).
Early life and education
Balinska was born on ...
.
Personal life
Pascale was born to
Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
parents
[ in Hackney at The Mothers' Hospital and was fostered in ]Leytonstone
Leytonstone () is an area in east London, England, north-east of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest, a local authority district of Greater London. It adjoins Wanstead to the north-east, Forest Gate to the south-east, S ...
immediately after she was born. She was adopted
Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from ...
at 18 months old and brought up in Witney
Witney is a market town on the River Windrush in West Oxfordshire in the county of Oxfordshire, England. It is west of Oxford. The place-name "Witney" is derived from the Old English for "Witta's island". The earliest known record of it is as ...
, Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...
by a white couple, Roger and Audrey Woodward, who already had a son, Jason. Her adoptive father was a multilingual Spanish academic who had taught at Oxford, and her mother was a nurse. When her parents divorced when she was three years old, Pascale remained with her mother, who subsequently became ill and could no longer care for her. At this point, at age seven, she was fostered to more than one family, with differing degrees of 'fit'. After a year she returned to her mother and met up again with her father, who had remarried and had a daughter. She won a full scholarship given by the Buttle Trust and was educated at a boarding school
A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...
in Devon.
Pascale has an elder brother and a younger half-sister. She knows her biological parents' identity and their four other children, but she does not wish to re-establish contact: "I know my birth parents' names. I know I've got three brothers and one sister, I know that some of them are in London but I don't have any desire or need to find them. One family is enough."
Pascale got married in her early twenties and gave birth to her daughter, actress Ella Balinska
Ella Balinska (born 4 October 1996) is an English actress. She is known for starring in the action-comedy film '' Charlie's Angels'' (2019) and the Netflix original series ''Resident Evil'' (2022).
Early life and education
Balinska was born on ...
, "a year or two later". The couple have since separated and subsequently divorced. On 26 June 2021 she wed businessman Dennis O’Brien at Chelsea Old Town Hall in London.
Career
At age 16, Pascale was spotted as potential model by the agent who had found Naomi Campbell
Naomi Elaine Campbell (born 22 May 1970) is an English model, actress, singer, and businesswoman. She began her career at the age of 15, and established herself amongst the most recognisable and in-demand models of the past four decades. Cam ...
. Based in New York, she achieved recognition as the first black British model to appear on the cover of American ''Elle
''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society and lifestyle. The title means "she" or "her" in French. ''Elle'' is considered the w ...
''. She appeared in the 1998 ''Sports Illustrated'' swimsuit issue, and featured as one of the 'Bond Girls
A Bond girl is a character who is a love interest or female companion of James Bond in a novel, film or video game. Bond girls occasionally have names that are double entendres or puns, such as Pussy Galore, Plenty O'Toole, Xenia Onatopp, or ...
' in Robbie Williams
Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, and achieved commercial success after launching a solo career in 1996. His debut stud ...
' "Millennium
A millennium (plural millennia or millenniums) is a period of one thousand years, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting point (ini ...
" video.
Pascale recognised the need to ensure her future after modelling and embarked on a series of career "try-outs", including hypnotherapy
Hypnotherapy is a type of mind–body intervention in which hypnosis is used to create a state of focused attention and increased suggestibility in the treatment of a medical or psychological disorder or concern. Popularized by 17th and 18th cen ...
and car mechanic
An auto mechanic (automotive technician in most of North America, light vehicle technician in British English, and motor mechanic in Australian English) is a mechanic who services and repairs automobiles, sometimes specializing in one or more ...
s. She took a diploma cookery course at Leith's School of Food and Wine in 2005 and found that cookery fitted her "like a pair of old jeans". After gaining her diploma, she did a series of 'stages' in some London restaurants but, realising that restaurant hours would not suit her, Pascale established herself as a specialist cakemaker, with a contract with Selfridges
Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co., is a chain of high-end department stores in the United Kingdom that is operated by Selfridges Retail Limited, part of the Selfridges Group of department stores. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge ...
. Her introduction to Selfridges was at the suggestion of chef Marco Pierre White
Marco Pierre White (born 11 December 1961) is a British chef, restaurateur, and television personality. He has been dubbed "the first celebrity chef" and the ''enfant terrible'' of the UK restaurant scene. In January 1995, aged 33, White became ...
and in 2008 and 2010 she supplied the London store with over 1000 Christmas cakes. Pascale has opened her own cupcake shop in Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...
. She also studied Culinary Arts at Thames Valley University (now University of West London
The University of West London (UWL) is a public research university in the United Kingdom with campuses in Ealing, Brentford, and in Reading, Berkshire.
The university has roots in 1860, when the Lady Byron School was founded, later Ealing Col ...
) and in March 2012 graduated with a first class degree.
In 2015, Pascale said she practises Transcendental Meditation
Transcendental Meditation (TM) is a form of silent mantra meditation advocated by the Transcendental Meditation movement. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi created the technique in India in the mid-1950s. Advocates of TM claim that the technique promotes a ...
to relax after work.
Television and publishing work
In January 2011, Pascale presented a television bakery programme, ''Baking Made Easy'', on BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
television
and published a bakery book based upon this series. Later that year, a second series, ''Home Cooking Made Easy'', was broadcast in September and October, with an accompanying book. A ''Last Minute Christmas'' programme aired on BBC Two on 22 December 2011. A third book was published in 2012 and a series based upon it, called ''Fast, Fresh & Easy Food'', aired in August and September 2012 on
BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
.
In early 2014, Pascale co-presented and judged the UK version of ''
My Kitchen Rules
''My Kitchen Rules'' (often abbreviated as ''MKR'') is an Australian competitive cooking game show broadcast on the Seven Network since 2010. The show is currently hosted and judged by chef Manu Feildel, who has appeared in every season of the s ...
'' with
Jason Atherton
Jason Atherton (born 6 September 1971) is an English chef and restaurateur. His flagship restaurant Pollen Street Social gained a Michelin Star in 2011, its opening year. He was the Executive Chef at Gordon Ramsay's Michelin starred ''Maze'' i ...
on
Sky Living
Sky Living was a British pay television channel owned and operated by Sky. The channel's programming was aimed mainly at women and young adults. It originally launched as UK Living in 1993 and closed 25 years later, being replaced by Sky Witness.
...
. In April of that year, it was announced that Pascale was to host a new six-part television series called ''Lorraine Pascale: How to be a Better Cook'' that would air later in the year on
BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
. In March 2015, she co-hosted an episode of ''The Nation's Favourite Food'' alongside
the Hairy Bikers
The Hairy Bikers are collectively David Myers and Si King. The pair of British celebrity chefs have presented numerous television shows, mostly for the BBC but also for the Good Food channel, that combine cooking with a motorcycling trav ...
on BBC Two.
Lorraine is also a judge on
Food Network
Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ...
's ''
Holiday Baking Championship
The ''Holiday Baking Championship'' is an American cooking competition series produced by Triage Entertainment and aired on Food Network. It airs from early November through late December, covering the U.S Thanksgiving and Christmas season. The f ...
'' and ''
Spring Baking Championship
''Spring Baking Championship'' is an American cooking competition television series that airs on Food Network. It was originally presented by chef Bobby Deen; with fellow Food Network chefs Nancy Fuller, Duff Goldman and Lorraine Pascale serving a ...
'' as well as a mentor on ''
Worst Bakers in America
''Worst Bakers in America'' is an United States, American cooking competition food reality television, television series that aired on Food Network, presented by chefs Duff Goldman and Lorraine Pascale. The series is a spin-off (media), spin-off ...
''. She was a judge on two episodes of the first season of ''
Bakers vs. Fakers'', and became the host for Season 2.
Charity
Pascale is the patron of
TACT
Tact or TACT may refer to:
* The sense of touch – see somatosensory system
* Tact (psychology), a term used by B. F. Skinner for a type of verbal operant
* The Actors Company Theatre (TACT)
* Actors Orphanage, formerly The Actors' Charitable Tru ...
, the UK's largest fostering and adoption charity, and an ambassador of both the charitie
Rays of Sunshineand
The Prince's Trust
The Prince's Trust ( cy, Ymddiriedolaeth y Tywysog) is a charity in the United Kingdom founded in 1976 by King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) to help vulnerable young people get their lives on track. It supports 11-to-30-year-olds who are u ...
. In summer 2008, she was made the ambassador of the
National Careers Service
The National Careers Service is the publicly funded careers service for adults and young people (aged 13 or over) in England.
Launched in April 2012, it brings together elements of previous publicly funded careers services for adults and young pe ...
launching the service with Skills Minister
John Hayes.
Pascale visits schools and Women's Maximum security prisons across the country talking about confidence and emotional resilience.
Bibliography
Pascale has published a number of books, including:
*
Baking Made Easy', HarperCollins, 2011
'Home Cooking Made Easy', HarperCollins, 2011
'Lorraine Pascale's Fast, Fresh and Easy Food', HarperCollins, 2012
*
A Lighter Way To Bake', HarperCollins, 2013
*
How to Be a Better Cook', HarperCollins, 2014
*
Eating Well Made Easy',HarperCollins 2015
*
Bake', Bluebird 2017
*
The Girlies' Guide to Football', Knaur
Filmography
References
External links
*
*
*
InstagramStorm Management Company
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pascale, Lorraine
Living people
1972 births
Black British television personalities
English people of West Indian descent
English television chefs
English female models
English adoptees
Food Network chefs