Thomas Colicchio was born on August 15, 1962, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, into a working-class Italian American family. Despite having no prior training in the culinary arts, he began working in the kitchen at age 17, ultimately rising through the ranks at prominent New York City restaurants, including The Quilted Giraffe, Gotham Bar & Grill, and Mondrian. In 1994, he co-founded Gramercy Tavern with Danny Meyer, where his cooking earned him the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: New York in 2000.

In 2001, Colicchio opened Craft and has built it into a restaurant group spanning New York and Las Vegas. Since 2006, he has served as head judge and executive producer of Bravo’s Top Chef, and, later, judge and host of its spin-off series, Top Chef: Last Chance Kitchen. He also stars in and executive produces The Pantry on Spirits Network and is a published author, having released his memoir, Why I Cook, in 2024.

Colicchio has been married to filmmaker Lori Silverbush since September 14, 2001. He has three sons: Dante, born in 1993 from a previous relationship, Luka Bodhi, born in 2009, and Mateo Lev, born in 2011, with Silverbush. The family resides in Brooklyn, New York.