Jean Hodges
FOOD STYLIST - CELL# 818.288.8800
VISIT us at IMDB.com - FILM & TV Credits
I was born and raised in Los Angeles into an Entertainment Family - my father, a writer and actor, and my mother, a model and actress. I was exposed at an early age to the behind the scene aspects of film and TV productions.
After finishing school, I moved to Europe for several years. Living in London, the South of France, Rome and Monte Carlo. Through my travels I fell in love with the overwhelming variety of cuisines and their ethnic styles. I enjoyed the open-air markets, street vendors and the blending of diverse cultures. I became Intoxicated by the basics of flavor and presentation. I had Discovered My Passion.
I returned to New York City to start my Culinary Career at The New York Restaurant School and graduated with honors. The curriculum included all aspects of food preparation - Baking, Butchering, Fileting, Grilling, Braising, Roasting, and my personal favorite: Saucier. Kitchen etiquette, cleaning standards, proper management of food storage and rotation, and all front of the house duties from bus person to floor manager were required curriculum.
I opted to stay on to take extra credit courses in Food styling and Food Photography. It was then that I fell in LOVE with FOOD as an ARTISTIC MEDIUM to use and create Beautiful Images. But I was still working in a restaurant rotating through the stations from vegetable prep to sous-chef.
My dream at that time had been to work for Gourmet Magazine. However, food styling photography in New York was a very competitive world – plus I missed my southern California family and friends. So, I packed my bags and landed in Newport Beach.
There I found another restaurant job, just as many of my school friends were finishing up their graduate work at the UCLA Film School. They started working low budget Roger Corman-type films and would ask me to make Scripted Food for them. Some of my early credits include “Chopping Mall,” “My Mom’s a Werewolf,” “Critters” and “They Came From Outer Space”. Very fun dayz...
That is where my Hollywood career began.
Since that time, I have had the pleasure of working and learning from many wonderful and talented Crafts Persons on 1000’s of projects, including Feature Flms, Television Series, Commercials, LIVE Food Demos and SMT’s, Advertising Print and Packaging, and Crazy SFX Gags.
THERE ISN'T MUCH I HAVEN'T DONE with FOOD but I'M ALWAYS LOOKING FORWARD to THAT NEXT CHALLENGE.