Art Smith

Art Smith grew up in the small farming town of Jasper, in the Panhandle of Florida. While attending Florida State University, he completed two prestigious internships with The Greenbrier resort and was selected for the Walt Disney Magic Kingdom College Program. At the age of twenty-four, he was hired by Governor Bob Graham, now a U.S. Senator, and his wife Adele as executive chef of the Florida Governor’s Mansion.Art next traveled extensively through Europe and Africa as a family chef aboard several transatlantic motor yachts. Upon his return to the States, he took a position as chef on the American European Express Train. This led him to Chicago, where he began a career as a teacher at Williams-Sonoma and later as a private chef for the families of various celebrities.Since the spring of 1977, he has been the personal chef to Oprah Winfrey and Stedman Graham. He is a contributing editor to O magazine and writes a monthly column for the food page of Oprah.com.