Gordon Ramsay

As a teenager, Gordon Ramsay seemed headed for a career as a professional soccer player, but the Scottish-born future chef abandoned sports at the age of 18 in order to study hotel management and cooking. After expanding his skills, he began earning praise for his work at various restaurants, including Aubergine, Harvey's, and Le Gavroche. He soon opened an eatery that he named after himself and began publishing cookbooks. In 2004, he found fame in the U.K. on the television show Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. His personality was so striking that executives established the competitive reality show Hell's Kitchen, in which his outsized personality allowed him to run roughshod over frightened young chefs attempting to impress him. In 2005, the show migrated to the Fox network in the United States, where Ramsay's fame continued to grow. He expanded his television presence in the U.K. by being part of the provocatively titled cooking show The F Word. In late 2007, he also premiered Kitchen Nightmares, an American version of the British series.