Rochester, NY native Julia Collin Davison attended the University at Albany—SUNY, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and philosophy. “When I graduated college, I had no idea what I was going to do and I realized I should get a skill,” Julia says. “During my time at school, I worked at a little gourmet food market on the weekends. I liked it a lot and they kept promoting me. I thought, ‘cooking is a skill,’ so I applied to CIA.”
After graduating with an associate degree in Culinary Arts from CIA, Julia worked in Massachusetts and in the Napa Valley in California. In 1999, Julia jumped at the chance to work as a test cook for Cook’s Illustrated magazine. When the magazine expanded its reach into television with two PBS shows, America’s Test Kitchen and Cook’s Country, her duties grew to include being an on-air test cook. Now, these are two of the highest-rated instructional cooking shows on television. “The whole point of the show is to tell the story of this one recipe and how we developed it,” Julia says. In her additional role as executive editor of America’s Test Kitchen’s cookbook division, Julia has shepherded 23 books to publication—three of which have landed on The New York Times Best Seller List.
In October 2017, Julia and co-host Bridget Lancaster released their own cookbook, Cooking at Home with Bridget & Julia: The TV Hosts of America’s Test Kitchen Share Their Favorite Recipes for Feeding Family and Friends. In November 2021, Julia started a new project—a show called Julia at Home—which premiered on Pluto TV. As the name suggests, Julia whips up test kitchen favorites and cooks from some of her prized recipe books in her home kitchen. She has been a guest on Good Morning America, Live with Kelly & Ryan, The Today Show, Hallmark Channel’s Home & Family, and The Tamron Hall Show. Julia now resides in Natick, MA, where she enjoys cooking with her husband, Ian, a chef and fishmonger, and her daughter, Marta.