Rocco DiSpirito

Known for ActingBorn 1966-11-19 (age 59)Queens, New York City, New York, USA

Rocco DiSpirito (born November 19, 1966) is an American celebrity chef, reality television personality, and cookbook author based in New York City. He is known for his involvement in Union Pacific, a restaurant he opened in 1997 in the Gramercy Park section of Manhattan. He departed Union Pacific in 2004. From 2003 to 2004, he starred in the NBC reality television show The Restaurant, which followed the launch and operation of a new Manhattan restaurant called Rocco's on 22nd. The show was canceled, and DiSpirito was successfully sued by the restaurant's financier Jeffrey Chodorow to have the restaurant shut down, and DiSpirito banned from entering the premises. He succeeded Arthur Schwartz as host of Food Talk, an hour-long morning talk show on New York Radio WOR (AM), from October 2004 through December 2005, and then hosted 12 episodes of the TV show Rocco Gets Real on A&E (October 4 through December 27, 2008). He was featured in a Lincoln MKX commercial and the ABC sitcom The Knights of Prosperity, and was a guest judge on Bravo's Top Chef. He was a contestant on season seven of Dancing with the Stars and was paired with professional ballroom dancer Karina Smirnoff. On June 15, 2011, he debuted as host of a weekly reality TV cooking competition, titled Rocco's Dinner Party, on Bravo TV. He hosted the syndicated television program Now Eat This! with Rocco Dispirito, which debuted on September 15, 2012. In 2013, he hosted the Food Network reality show Restaurant Divided, where he went to struggling restaurants where the owners had two differing visions and then picked which concept would save the restaurant. On August 20, 2017, he appeared on celebrity chef Guy Fieri's Guy's Grocery Games - Superstar Tournament Part 1, competing against other celebrity chefs. He has also appeared on other episodes of Guy's Grocery Games as well as Tournament of Champions and Guy's Ranch Kitchen.Read more

Movies & web series

Wildcard Kitchen

Supermarket Stakeout

The Restaurant

Castle

Tournament of Champions

The Mysteries of Laura

Guy's Ranch Kitchen

Top Chef

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives

The Knights of Prosperity

The Ugly Truth

The Tony Danza Show

Outchef'd

Dancing with the Stars

Guy's Grocery Games

The Ellen DeGeneres Show

Miss USA

Eat This New York

Celebrity Name Game

Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen

The Celebrity Apprentice

Tamron Hall

The View

Superchef Grudge Match

Sherri

Deliciously Twisted Classics

The Choice

Rocco's Dinner Party