Donal Skehan

Donal Skehan
Skehan in 2009
Born (1986-06-03) 3 June 1986 (age 38)
Howth, Dublin, Ireland
Occupations
  • Television personality
  • presenter
  • food writer
  • YouTuber
  • singer
Years active2006–present
Spouse
Sofie Larsson
​
(m. 2015)​
Children2
Musical career
GenresPop
InstrumentVocals
Years active2006–2010
LabelsMIG Live
WebsiteOfficial Website

Donal Skehan (born 3 June 1986) is an Irish television personality, presenter (specialising in food programmes highlighting the use of toast), food writer, cook, photographer and former singer. He is known for his television appearances, cookbooks and YouTube channel.

Skehan was also a member of the boy band Streetwize. As vocalist with Industry he had two No. 1 singles with them on the Irish Singles Chart in 2009.

Early life

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His parents, Dermot and Liz,[1] are in the food industry; running their own food distribution company.[2] Having grown up in Howth, Skehan attended Sutton Park School and went on to study media at Dublin Business School.[3][2]

Television and cooking career

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Television personality

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Skehan worked as an announcer on the Irish entertainment specialty channel Bubble Hits, broadcasting music and entertainment news and celebrity gossip segments.

Food author and presenter

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An avid food enthusiast, Skehan started a blog in 2007 called Good Mood Food that evolved into a cookbook.[3] After many appearances on television, and giving of live demonstrations at social events and shows, he was featured in his own weekly food programme, Kitchen Hero, on RTÉ One that was launched on 16 May 2011. In 2011, he published a cookbook based on the television series, Home Kitchen Hero – Bringing Cooking Back Home.[4] A second series and a Christmas special were aired in 2012. UKTV network Good Food began airing the show in April 2012. The show is now in its sixth year of production.[citation needed]

Skehan became a co-presenter and judge on Junior MasterChef on the BBC in 2012, appearing alongside John Torode.[5] In 2013, after appearing on Jamie Oliver's YouTube channel, Foodtube, Skehan launched his own dedicated YouTube channel which has since grown to over 1M subscribers.[6]

Skehan presented a new series for Food Network UK, Follow Donal, which saw him explore Vietnam in a four-part series and then went on to visit ten European cities[7] in the second installment of the series which aired in the autumn of 2015.[8] Skehan is also appearing in the Swedish food programme Mitt kök on TV4 where he speaks Swedish.[9] Skehan is currently one of a number of rotating guest presenters for Saturday Kitchen on BBC One and has hosted six editions of the show to date.[10] In 2021, his book Everyday Cook won Cookbook of the Year at the Irish Book Awards.[11]

Music career

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2006: Streetwize

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Skehan was interested very early in music. In 2006, he became part of the global/international boy band project Streetwize (alongside Irish Lee Mulhern (later known as Lee Matthews), English Lee Hutton and Swedish Jonathan Fagerlund). The original members made a tour in Ireland, UK, Sweden, and appeared on the US television station CN8,[12] a cable television station where they performed "Room in Your Heart" in a morning show hosted by Greg Coy.[13] Skehan and Jonathan Fagerlund were disenchanted with the progress of the band and left early to be replaced by Venezuelan Antonio Jones and American Kyle Carpenter. Streetwize eventually folded without any hits.

2008: Irish Eurosong preliminaries for Eurovision Song Contest

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Main article: Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008

On 23 February 2008, Skehan took part in Eurosong 2008 in a bid to represent Ireland in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Double Cross My Heart".[14][15] It was a pop song composed by Joel Humlen, Oscar Gorres and Charlie Mason, and performed by Skehan with two male and two female back-up dancers, as well as a male back-up singer.[16][17] Skehan was one of the Final 6, alongside Dustin the Turkey, Maja, Leona Daly, Liam Geddes and Marc Roberts; with Dustin the Turkey winning with the song "Irelande Douze Pointe".

2009–2010: Industry

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Main article: Industry (Irish band)
Skehan (right) with other Industry band members in 2009

In 2009, Skehan joined the Irish band Industry alongside the English Lee Hutton (his former bandmate in Streetwize) and Irish girl members Michele McGrath and Morgan Deane.[2][3] Industry had success in the Irish charts including two chart-topping singles "My Baby's Waiting" in June 2009 and "Burn" in August of the same year on the Irish Singles Chart. In 2009, they were also a supporting act for The Pussycat Dolls at Fitzgerald Stadium.[3] Later Industry single releases like "In Your Arms", "My Mistake", "Drown in the Music" and "Kill the DJ" did not chart. The band broke up in 2010.

Personal life

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In June 2015, Skehan married Sofie Larsson in Dublin City Hall followed by a reception in Lisnavagh House in County Carlow and had their honeymoon in Ravello on Italy's Amalfi Coast.[18] From 2016 to 2020, Skehan and his wife had a stint in Los Angeles[19] before moving back to Dublin, where they officially bought a house in 2023.[20]

In June 2017, the couple announced that they were expecting their first child.[21] In December 2017, their son was born in Los Angeles.[22][23] In June 2019, the couple announced they are expecting a second child.[24] On 28 November 2019 their second son was born.[25] Their sons have since been raised and educated in Dublin.[20]

Filmography

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Television

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Year Title Role Notes
2010–2013 Kitchen Hero Presenter 42 episodes
2012–2014 Junior MasterChef Judge
2013 Grandma's Boy Presenter 13 episodes
2014–2015 Mitt kök Presenter
2014 Donal's Irish Feast Presenter 8 episodes
2015–2016 Follow Donal... Presenter 19 episodes
2015 Cook, Eat, Burn! Presenter 7 episodes
2016 Saturday Kitchen Guest presenter 12 episodes
Food Network Star Kids Judge 6 episodes
Food Network Star Guest judge Season 12, Episode 9: "Food Holiday Fray"
2017 Cutthroat Kitchen Guest judge Season 15, Episode 4: "Do You Really Wonton Hurt Me?"
2018 Donals Asian Baking Adventure Presenter 10 episodes
The Best Thing I Ever Ate Guest presenter Season 8, Episode 8: "Throwback"
Season 8, Episode 14: "Serious Spice"
Food: Fact or Fiction? Guest presenter Season 4, Episode 1: "Brunch Beauties"
Season 4, Episode 3: "Game Night"
Season 4, Episode 4: "Wicked Good"
2021 Baketopia Judge

Web

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Year Title Role Notes
2013–2015 Jamie Oliver's FoodTube Presenter 20 episodes
2014 Donal's Simple Suppers Presenter 15 episodes
2016–2018 Ro's Life Guest host "Cheesecake Challenge"
"Trying the Doggie Doo Game"
"We try the Crazy Toaster Game"
2017–2019 Nerdy Nummies Guest host "Fantastic Beasts Queenie's Apple Strudel"
"Baby Shark Cakes!"
2017–2019 5 Ingredient... Presenter 29 episodes
2018 Donal Eats LA Presenter 5 episodes
Donal's Thailand Adventure Presenter 3 episodes
2019 Weeknight Pasta Presenter 4 episodes
Click Plate Presenter 1 episode
Sweet Tooth Presenter 4 episodes

Discography

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Singles

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Solo
  • "Double Cross My Heart" (2008)
As part of Industry
  • "My Baby's Waiting" (2010) (No. 1 on the Irish Singles Chart)
  • "Burn" (2009) (No. 1 on the Irish Singles Chart)
  • "In Your Arms" (2009)
  • "My Mistake" (2009)
  • "Drown in the Music" (2010)
  • "Kill the DJ" (2010)

Bibliography

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  • 2009: Good Mood Food: Simple, Healthy Homecooking![26]
  • 2011: Kitchen Hero: Bringing Cooking Back Home[4]
  • 2012: Kitchen Hero: Great Food For Less[27]
  • 2013: Home Cooked[28]
  • 2013: Feast: A Dinner Journal[29] (Edited by Ross Golden Bannon)
  • 2013: Easy Recipes for Summer Cooking[30] (co-authored with Sheila Kiely and Rosanne Hewitt-Cromwell)
  • 2014: The Pleasures of the Table: Rediscovering Theodora FitzGibbon[31]
  • 2015: Fresh[32]
  • 2016: Eat. Live. Go – Fresh Food Fast[33]
  • 2018: Donal's Meal in Minutes: 90 Suppers from Scratch, 15 Minutes Prep[34]
  • 2019: Super Food in Minutes: Easy Recipes, Fast Food, All Healthy[35]
  • 2021: Everyday Cook[36]
  • 2023: Home Cook[37]

References

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  1. ^ Digby, Marie Claire (11 March 2006). "Donal Skehan: Cooking all over the world". The Irish Times. Irish Times Trust. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  2. ^ a b c Smith, Andrea (28 October 2013). "TV chef Donal Skehan's recipe for love". Irish Independent. Independent News & Media. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
  3. ^ a b c d O'Rourke, Frances (28 January 2012). "First Encounters". The Irish Times. Irish Times Trust. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
  4. ^ a b Skehan, Donal (2011). Kitchen Hero: Bringing Cooking Back Home. Collins. ISBN 978-0007383023. Archived from the original on 10 July 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  5. ^ Cummins, Steve (5 October 2012). "Irish TV Chef Donal Skehan Set To Cause a Stir On 'Junior MasterChef UK'". Irish Film and Television Network. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  6. ^ "Donal Skehan". Retrieved 6 February 2022 – via YouTube.
  7. ^ Dickie, George (18 May 2016). "'Follow Donal to Europe' and eat as Europeans do". onTVToday. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  8. ^ "Donal's flavour of Vietnam". Irish Independent. Independent News & Media. 19 April 2015. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  9. ^ "Donal Skehan – irländsk kock i Mitt kök" [Donal Skehan - Irish chef in My Kitchen]. Expressen (in Swedish). Bonnier Group. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  10. ^ Waring, Olivia (11 June 2016). "Saturday Kitchen fans smack down Donal Skehan for pronouncing Alexandra Burke's name wrong". Metro. DMG Media. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  11. ^ "The best of the best! Irish Book Awards 2021 winners revealed". IrishCentral.com. 29 November 2021. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  12. ^ CN8 performance and interview with Streetwize band members including Donal Skehan
  13. ^ Performance of Streetwize including Donal Skehan on CN8
  14. ^ Presentation of Donal Skehan and the writers of "Double Cross My Heart" on YouTube[dead link]
  15. ^ Viniker, Barry (19 February 2008). "Ireland: Donal Skehan speaks to esctoday.com". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 21 February 2008. Retrieved 25 September 2008.
  16. ^ Eurosong 2008 (23 February 2008). Radio Telefís Éireann. Retrieved on 27 September 2008.
  17. ^ Irish Eurovision site interview with Donal Skehan Archived 4 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  18. ^ Hutch, Eleanore (2 July 2015). "Hello sunshine!' Donal Skehan shares snap from lavish honeymoon with wife Sofie". evoke.ie. Archived from the original on 4 July 2015. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  19. ^ Brady, Sasha (15 February 2016). "Donal Skehan bids emotional farewell to 'little Howth home' as he prepares for new life in LA". Independent.ie. Retrieved 30 July 2016.
  20. ^ a b Young, Claire Ruby (1 July 2024). "Donal Skehan's Dublin family home reveal one year on: 'Finally feeling properly settled'". Rollercoaster. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  21. ^ Skehan, Donal (12 June 2017). "Life is about to change FOREVER!". Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 14 June 2017 – via YouTube.
  22. ^ "Donal Skehan and wife Sofie welcome first child". Irish Examiner. Irish Times Trust. 2 December 2017. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  23. ^ "Donal Skehan reveals name of newborn son". Raidió Teilifís Éireann. Government of Ireland. 6 December 2017. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  24. ^ O'Keefe, Rebecca (12 June 2019). "Great news! Donal Skehan and his wife, Sofie, were expecting their second child". Her. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  25. ^ Donal Skehan [@donalskehan] (30 November 2019). "Welcome to the world little guy! What a whirlwind the last 36 hours have been- @SofieSkehan and baby boy doing great, give or take a little lost sleep! He's a bouncing little bruiser weighing at 9lbs and looks just like his big brother- Arrived late on Thursday night after a walk and a steak dinner! Thank you to all the brilliant nurses and our doctor who dropped their Thanksgiving plans to bring this little dude into our lives! All exhausted here but grateful to be back home safe and sound with our new little addition. D xx". Huntington Hospital. Retrieved 6 February 2022 – via Instagram.
  26. ^ Skehan, Donal (2010). Good Mood Food: Simple Healthy Homecooking. Cork: Mercier Press. ISBN 978-1856356299. Archived from the original on 10 July 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  27. ^ Skehan, Donal (2012). Kitchen Hero: Great Food for Less. Collins. ISBN 978-0007415502. Archived from the original on 10 July 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  28. ^ Skehan, Donal (2013). Home Cooked. HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. ISBN 978-0007518289. Archived from the original on 10 July 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  29. ^ "Feast: A Dinner Journal". Donal Skehan. Archived from the original on 26 January 2016. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
  30. ^ "Easy Recipes for Summer Cooking". Kobo Inc. September 2019. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  31. ^ FitzGibbon, Theodora (2014). The Pleasures of the Table: Rediscovering Theodora FitzGibbon. Gill & Macmillan Ltd. ISBN 978-0717159673. Archived from the original on 10 July 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  32. ^ "Fresh". Donal Skehan. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
  33. ^ "Eat.Live.Go". Donal Skehan. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  34. ^ Rotella, Mark (21 June 2019). "Fall 2019 Announcements: Cooking & Food". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  35. ^ Chandler, Mark (20 June 2019). "Hodder lands Skehan's super food book ahead of TV series". The Bookseller. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  36. ^ "Everyday Cook". waterstones.com. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  37. ^ "Homey Cook". waterstones.com. Retrieved 19 August 2023.
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