Paolo Presta
Paolo Presta is an American talk show host and actor known for hosting the online talk show A Spoonful of Paolo which was the winner of a 2012 and 2022 Webby Award.
Life and career
Presta was born into a Catholic Italian family, one of seven siblings and the son of an Italian immigrant.In 2004, talk show host Oprah Winfrey during a "Wildest Dreams" episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show got Presta, then an aspiring actor, a speaking role on the sitcom Will & Grace. Winfrey and her television crew showed up at his family's Chicago grocery store where Presta was working in response to multiple emails and letters Presta had sent Winfrey.
Presta moved to Los Angeles to film his role on Will & Grace and went on to work on the television series The Ellen DeGeneres Show and The Talk and later hosting his own online talk show A Spoonful of Paolo.
Years later in 2013, Winfrey reconnected with Presta on an episode of Oprah: Where Are They Now?
In 2017, Patrick Thomassie, Presta's husband, and himself moved back to Chicago.
On March 14, 2024 at the 35th GLAAD Media Awards Presta and female impersonator Chilli Pepper presented the GLAAD Vanguard Award to Oprah Winfrey.
Winfrey appeared on a November 11, 2024 episode of A Spoonful of Presta as a guest. The episode debuted on the twentieth anniversary of the day Winfrey surprised Presta at his family's grocery store in 2004.