Claudio Aprile (born January 23, 1969) is an Uruguay-born Canadian celebrity chef, restaurateur, cookbook author, TV personality and family man of Italian descent best known for serving as a main host/judge on CTV's culinary competition MasterChef Canada since January 2014.
Biography[]
One of Canada's most influential, celebrated and visionary Canadian celebrity chefs, Claudio Aprile was born in Uruguay, grew up in Toronto, and has traveled, lived, and worked in professional, multi-Michelin starred restaurant kitchens as a professional chef internationally. Aprile has been cooking since he was 14 years old, always wanting to be a chef since the age of 5, having spent his career in kitchens working through the ranks becoming the successful professional celebrity chef and restaurateur that he is today. He never received formal training for becoming a chef, and stated that, as a child, he informed his mother that he would become one, rather than a desire to attempt to become one. At 18, he travelled to Thailand, which had a profound influence on his style of cooking. He visited 160 cities in 17 countries, before stopping in England, where he worked extensively throughout London until earning the executive position as the head chef at Bali Sugar in Notting Hill.
Throughout his 30+ year career, Aprile has passed through some of the most renowned Michelin-starred restaurant kitchens around the globe. The Uruguay-born, Toronto-raised chef is a product of diverse elements, with a cooking style representative of his time spent in kitchens around the world, including Bali Sugar in London, which earned him outstanding reviews as a young executive chef where he received local and international critical acclaim. On returning to Toronto in 2000, Aprile cemented that reputation at Senses in Toronto, where he wowed critics and diners alike with his innovative use of very avant-garde and experimental cooking techniques.
Personality[]
Similar to fellow judge Michael Bonacini, Claudio is shown to be a nice, encouraging and friendly person, if a little rude at a few points, but always gave people advice if they make mistakes in their cooking or if they create a dish that lands in the bottom of the competition. Initially in some early episodes in Season 1, he would be mad at contestants due to their behaviour such as creating bad dishes or personality of them but has since changed throughout the season.