Sam Zien

Sam quit a biotech job in July of 2001 to try his hand at a travel show, with him as the host. But a month before a trip to shoot demo footage in Tokyo and Hong Kong, September 11th hit -- and that changed everything.

So he decided to stick with TV, but switched from travel to cooking and eventually landed a twice-weekly 2-minute cooking segment on a local morning news program. The segments caught on and grew into a 30-minute show appropriately named "Sam the Cooking Guy" - an irreverent mix of humor and easy-to-replicate recipes that have now won 14 Emmy awards. It`s "reality" cooking -- in the sense that whatever really happens when he shoots, stays in the show. Eventually, Discovery Health came along and "Just Cook This! with Sam the Cooking Guy" was born. It featured his same offbeat style with more easy-to-prepare, great tasting recipes that also happen to be healthy.

Still known for his "big in taste and small in effort" philosophy, Sam has become a frequent guest on The Today Show and has 3 cookbooks published by John Wiley & Sons: Just a Bunch of Recipes", "Awesome Recipes & Kitchen Shortcuts" and "Just Grill This".

Sam`s corporate relationships include:
~Newcastle Brown Ale -- chose Sam to create seasonal for them that paired with their award winning beer.

~Anheuser/Busch -- 2012 saw the start of "Sam`s Taste Tour," a live cooking event sponsored by AB at bars and restaurants.

~Bed, Bath & Beyond -- In 2013, the housewares giant teamed with Sam to have him create online content for use in-store, their website and throughout their social media channels.

And in 2011 Sam began "The Sam Livecast" an uncensored internet show that`s part radio talk show & part TV cooking show. Now nearly 250 episodes deep, the Livecast continues to live in the top iTunes podcast rankings.

Sam lives in San Diego, Calif., in the house where he tapes his shows -- a real guy, in his real kitchen, cooking food for real people.