Actors - Martin Yan

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	Actors - Martin Yan

Martin Yan (甄文達 Pinyin: Zhēn Wéndá; later 殷文達 Yīn Wéndá, note that 甄 and 殷 are both Yan in Cantonese) (born 1948) is a Chinese-born American chef and actor who hosts the award-winning national cooking show Yan Can Cook.

He lives in Hillsborough, California, south of San Francisco, and is married to Susan ("Sue") with a pair of twin sons. He is of no relation to the Canadian cooking show personality Stephen Yan.

Early years

Born in Guangzhou to a restaurateur father and a grocer mother, Yan began cooking at 12. He moved to Kowloon, Hong Kong the next year with his family, working in his uncle's restaurant. He received a diploma from the Overseas Institute of Cookery of Hong Kong, then he studied college a year in Calgary at 18 before heading to California. He received masters of science in food science from University of California, Davis.

Yan the celebrity

After teaching Chinese cooking for the extension program and appearing on a local Calgary talk show in 1978 (likely CICT-TV or CHCT-TV), Yan has been hosting over 1,500 episodes of the PBS cooking shows Yan Can Cook since 1982. He has won a Daytime Emmy Award in 1998 for best cooking show, a 1996 James Beard Award for Best TV Food Journalism, and a 1994 James Beard Award for Best TV Cooking Show. He also received the Antonin Careme Award by the Chef's Association of the Pacific Coast and the Courvoisier Leadership Award by Courvoisier. He has also appeared on cartoon talk show Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, which currently airs on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim.

He is also hosting Martin Yan's Chinatown Cooking, where he tours Chinatowns around the globe.

Controversy

Some accuse Yan's TV presentation, which combines his thick Cantonese accent with clownish behavior, of perpetuating an Asian stereotype for entertainment value. Yan maintains that his accent is not fake and that any excessive intonation is because of his enthusiasm: "For many people the accent will stay, even those that speak English perfectly, and uses proper grammar and words." Yan started studying English at 16.

He pronounces words like shrimp as "shrim", crab as "crap", etc.

Awards

He was conferred an honorary Doctorate of Culinary Arts by Johnson & Wales University.

Cookbook career

Yan has opened a chain of Yan Can Restaurants and founded the Yan Can International Cooking School in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has written over two dozen cookbooks, such as:

Martin Yan's Feast: The Best of Yan Can Cook;
Chinese Cooking for Dummies;
Martin Yan's Asian Favorites.
Martin Yan's Quick and Easy
Martin Yan's Culinary Journey Through China
Martin Yan's Asia
Martin Yan's Entertainment At-Home
Martin Yan the Chinese Chef
Martin Yan's Invitation to Chinese Cooking
Martin Yan's Feast

Acting career

Yan is the lead actor of Rice Rhapsody
(海南雞飯, 2005).

Other

Chinese American cuisine
Cantonese cuisine

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Martin Yan ]

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