Manu Feildel French Chef Born 1974 in Nantes

Manu Feildel, whose full given name is Emmanuel, is a chef, restaurateur and television presenter. He was born on 26 March 1974 in Nantes, France, and holds both French and Australian citizenship. Most of his public profile comes from Australian television, where he became a familiar face on cooking programmes after building a reputation in professional kitchens.

Early life

Feildel grew up in a family with a strong cooking tradition: his father and one of his grandfathers were both professional chefs. Despite that background, his first ambition lay elsewhere. At thirteen he enrolled in a circus school, where over roughly three years he practised juggling, unicycling, clowning and basic acrobatics.

By the end of that period he had decided that cooking suited him better. He moved to London and trained at the Cafe Royal restaurant, then worked in several other kitchens in the city, among them Les Associes, the Cafe des Amis du Vin and the seafood restaurant Livebait.

Career

In 1999 Feildel relocated to Australia. He spent several years working in a number of restaurants before taking the position of head chef at Bilson's in Sydney, at the invitation of its owner. The restaurant served contemporary French cooking, and Australian press coverage later linked his work there to its top rating in the national restaurant guides. In 2009 he left to open a French bistro of his own, Manu at L'Etoile, which closed in March 2014. Feildel said at the time that the business had been squeezed by a heavy workload, including his television commitments, and by growing competition.

Television gradually became his main occupation. He appeared on Ready Steady Cook from 2006 and on MasterChef Australia in 2009, and since 2010 he has been a co-host of the cooking competition My Kitchen Rules. In 2010 he was the celebrity contestant in the opening episode of the Australian version of Beat the Star, a short-lived series. The following year he took part in and won a season of Dancing with the Stars, appeared at the Good Food and Wine Show, and presented the reality dating series Dinner Date.

After his Sydney bistro closed, he teamed up with the chef George Calombaris to open Le Grand Cirque in Melbourne. That venture ended in August 2014, four months after its opening. In April 2014 he fronted My France with Manu, a two-part travel and cooking documentary on the Seven Network in which he travelled through western France, looking at regional food and landscapes and returning to places connected with his own memories.

Feildel also acted in the 2018 film The BBQ, playing a French chef named Andre Mont Blanc. In 2019 he joined the revived Australia's Got Talent on the Seven Network as a judge. In October of that year it was announced that he would join the former MasterChef judges Gary Mehigan and Matt Preston on a new cooking competition, Plate of Origin, in 2020. In 2021 he returned to Dancing with the Stars as a contestant.

A fictionalised version of Feildel appears as a recurring character in the Aunty Donna podcast, where the part is played by Zachary Ruane.

Recognition

In 2011 Feildel received a nomination for Most Popular New Male Talent at the Logie Awards, and the same year he won the Dancing with the Stars competition.

Public roles

Alongside his television work, Feildel has taken part in several fundraising activities. In March 2013 he walked the Kokoda Track to raise money for CanTeen, an Australian organisation for young people affected by cancer, with each participant contributing five thousand dollars to join. He is also an ambassador for Camp Quality, a charity that supports children and families facing cancer.

In 2019 he cooked a range of deliberately suggestive-looking dishes for the Rude Food campaign run by the ANZUP Cancer Trials Group, which aimed to draw attention to cancers of the urological and reproductive organs. In 2020 he became a Below the Belt Ambassador for the group, and that September he cycled 854 kilometres in its Below the Belt #YourWay Challenge, raising 987 dollars for research. When he returned to Dancing with the Stars in 2021, he named the group as his nominated charity.

Personal life

Feildel holds dual French and Australian citizenship. He has kept most details of his family life out of public discussion.