Poh Ling Yeow

Poh Ling Yeow (born 17 December 1973) is a Malaysian-born Australian cook, artist, actress, author and television presenter.

She has hosted multiple cooking shows including ABC's Poh's Kitchen and SBS's Poh & Co.

She has also published multiple cook books.

She was the runner-up on the first season of Network 10's Masterchef Australia behind winner Julie Goodwin.

She became a full-time professional artist in 2002.

Yeow works mainly with acrylic paint on canvas.

Her early works featured heavily textured backgrounds whereas recent works present a smoother, more refined and highly detailed finish.

Elements of her Chinese heritage feature in her work, including the goldfish, a symbol of prosperity and good luck in Chinese culture, lotus flowers, ponds, and Australian flora and fauna.

A recurring character in Yeow's recent work is one that she calls The Girl ("my autobiographical twin" ), who she refers to in the third person, although the character's facial features are clearly similar to Yeow's. She says "I guess [The Girl] was developed as a cathartic act, in terms of embracing everything that I did hate about myself physically: the broad nose, the Asian eyes, the broad face".

A further theme behind her recent body of work was Yeow's split with her partner of 10 years, with titles including "Was That the Last Goodbye?"

and "You Haven't Left and I Miss You Already".

Her Mermaid series, with The Girl's clothes fashioned from goldfish scales and fins, is about losing your identity and taking on your partner's.

From her first solo exhibition in 2002, Yeow has been a regular exhibitor at the Hill Smith Gallery.

She has also appeared regularly at Libby Edwards Gallery.

Yeow's work has been featured or critically reviewed in publications such as Vogue Australia, House & Garden, The Advertiser and mX.

In 2003, Yeow donated an artwork to raise funds for breast cancer research at Flinders Medical Centre.

Yeow first appeared on the ABC television program Beat the Chef on 13 April 2005.

Her auntie Kim Thoo assisted her in the studio kitchen, where she prepared Ying Yang Prawns.

She returned to the program on 15 June 2005, assisted by her friend Felicity Electricity.

This time she prepared Basil Thai Fried Rice

and Deep-Fried Dory Fillets with Green Mango.

Yeow was selected in the top 20 contestants for the first series of MasterChef Australia from over 7000 applicants.

In 2007, Yeow's artwork was used on the cover of the book The Chinese Exotic by Olivia Khoo.

She was also a judge for Youthscape 2008.

In 2009, Yeow appeared in a glamour shoot for Who magazine.

Competition and eliminations began in May 2009.

Yeow was eliminated on 18 June 2009 when she incorrectly guessed the ingredients in minestrone.

She was one of three eliminated contestants allowed to return to the program on 1 July 2009.

She survived further eliminations to compete in the final on 19 July 2009 against Julie Goodwin.

In 2018, Yeow was the subject of a lengthy radio interview with Richard Fidler on Conversations.

Since appearing on season 1, she has made multiple comebacks to the series as a guest judge/mentor and returned as a contestant on the twelfth season in 2020.

Born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, into a fifth-generation Malaysian Chinese family, Yeow's mother is of Hakka descent.

Yeow attended SMK Convent Bukit Nanas.

She immigrated to Australia at age 9 with her parents and brother, eventually settling in Adelaide, South Australia.

After attending Seymour College and then the University of South Australia (where she earned a Bachelor of Design degree), Yeow worked as a freelance graphic designer, illustrator, and makeup artist.

Yeow's corporate clients as a makeup artist included L'Oréal and Attitude magazine, the Australian String Quartet and the short film My Last Ten Hours With You.

Her personal clients included Megan Gale and Lisa Ho.

Freelance work as a makeup artist led to her preparing models for artist David Bromley, increasing her understanding of the art market.

Yeow has acknowledged that she posed as a nude model for Bromley.

Yeow adopted the Western first name Sharon until age 25, but reverted to Poh Ling as a part of embracing her cultural heritage.