Kyle MacLachlan - Fictional Selves

Kyle MacLachlan is an Emmy-nominated and Golden Globe Award-winning actor, podcaster, winemaker, and internet sensation whose career spans over four decades, marked by an array of distinctive roles across television, film, and voice work from Dune to Twin Peaks to Sex & the City. Beyond acting, MacLachlan is ambitiously creating a roster of projects across film, TV, audio, and social media, including the award-winning Varnamtown podcast and the What Are We Even Doing podcast, exploring the creativity and drive behind Gen Z cultural icons. He is the proud proprietor of his own wine label, Pursued by a Bear, produced in his home state of Washington. Of all his roles, Kyle is most proud to be a husband to his wife, Desiree, a father to their son, Callum, and a dog dad to Bailey and Elvis.

Most people know chef Rick Bayless from winning the inaugural season of Bravo’s Top Chef Masters, beating out the French and Italian with his authentic Mexican cuisine. Others know him from the twelve seasons of his highly rated Public Television series, Mexico–One Plate at a Time, which was broadcast coast to coast and has earned him multiple Daytime Emmy nominations for Best Culinary Host. While known and lauded internationally for his TV shows, cookbooks, and philanthropy, Rick still spends most of his days in Chicago on Clark Street, continuing to spread the joy and push the boundaries of authentic Mexican cuisine with his restaurants: Frontera Grill, Topolobampo, Xoco, and Bar Sótano. Rick and his wife, Deann, founded the casual Frontera Grill in 1987 and received the James Beard Foundation’s highest award, Outstanding Restaurant, in 2007. The 4-star Toplobampo, which served its first meals in 1991, earned the Beard Foundation’s award for Outstanding Restaurant in 2017 — an unprecedented accomplishment for side-by-side restaurants. At Topolobampo, Rick has also achieved a different feat: earning and maintaining a Michelin star since the guide first came to Chicago 12 years ago. Excited to share the whole breadth of Mexican Cuisine, Rick brought River North the fast-casual, LEED GOLD-certified Xoco in 2009. This widely popular spot serves wood-oven tortas, steaming caldos, golden churros, and bean-to-cup Mexican hot chocolate. And in 2018, Rick and his daughter Lanie opened Bar Sótano, a speakeasy-style mezcal bar with modern Mexican bar food. Rick’s quick-service Tortas Frontera/Tortazo changed the face of food service at O’Hare International Airport, while their sister concept Tortazo is quickly multiplying through Chicago and NYC. Rick and his staff have also dedicated themselves to changing the restaurant industry for the better, establishing the Frontera Farmer Foundation in 2003 to support small Midwestern farms. Each year, grants are awarded to farmers for capital improvements to their family farms, encouraging greater production and profitability. To date, the Foundation has awarded nearly 200 grants totaling nearly $3 million. Rick has received a great number of James Beard Award nominations in many categories, and he has won seven: Midwest Chef of the Year, National Chef of the Year, Humanitarian of the Year, Who’s Who of American Food and Drink, Best Podcast, plus two for his cookbooks. The Government of Mexico has bestowed on Rick the Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle–the highest decoration bestowed on foreigners whose work has benefitted Mexico and its people. And in 2016, he earned the Julia Child Foundation Award, a prestigious honor given to “an individual who has made a profound and significant impact on the way America cooks, eats and drinks.”

Alison Cuddy is a Chicago-based writer, editor, and cultural producer. Her features and commentaries exploring art, architecture, and the natural world have been published in numerous Chicago platforms (Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Reader, New City). She has produced audio pieces for NPR, the BBC, and Monocle Radio and hosted and created several podcast series, including Library for the People, exploring the 150th anniversary of the Chicago Public Library. Cuddy has developed and launched creative projects for such clients as the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs, Illinois Humanities, Walder Foundation, and Hyde Park Jazz Festival. For 12 years she was a reporter and host at WBEZ, Chicago’s NPR affiliate and is the former Artistic Director of Chicago Humanities. In partnership with many of Chicago’s cultural and civic institutions, Cuddy had led high level conversations with a wide range of writers and newsmakers, including Amy Tan, Margaret Atwood, Rachel Maddow, Al Gore, and Annie Liebowitz. In 2019 she was appointed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot to co-chair the City of Chicago’s Cultural Advisory Council. She is a previous board member of the Chicago Reader and currently serves on the board of the Arts Club of Chicago.