Kowkhyn Wan (; born 9 September 1974), known as Gok Wan, is a British fashion consultant, author, television presenter, actor, DJ, chef and event manager. Initially training in the performing arts at the Central School of Speech and Drama, he then entered the fashion business, writing for popular fashion magazines and appearing on various television shows. In 2006, Channel 4 employed him to present his own television show, How to Look Good Naked, which lasted for seven series, and Say Yes to the Dress Lancashire. Moving into other genres, he presented a series of documentaries on social problems among young people, drawing on his personal battles with obesity and homophobia, and presented Chinese cooking shows entitled Gok Cooks Chinese and Gok's Chinese Takeaway. Early life Gok Wan was born in Leicester, to an English mother, Myra, and a Chinese father, John Tung Shing Wan, who was born in Hong Kong and emigrated to Britain at the age of 16. He grew up in Whetstone, Leicestershire, where he worked in his parents' restaurant. Wan stood out from his peers from a young age and endured bullying from other children due to the fact that he was mixed race, tall, overweight and gay. During his teenage years he weighed as much as 21 stone (133 kg, 294 lb) He was drawn to performing arts with aspirations of becoming an actor, and after leaving Babington Community College he began attending a course at the Charles Keene College of Further Education. Wan received a diploma from the college, then enrolled at the Central School of Speech and Drama and continued to study performing arts. However, the other students had backgrounds very different from his and he felt that his weight was beginning to dictate his life, later saying: "[It affected] everything: my personality, how people reacted to me, what I wore, everything. When you sit down with someone who's 21 stone you have certain expectations of what they're like: stupid, lazy or really funny." He felt restricted and unhappy and eventually dropped out of the course, returning to live with his family. Wan set about losing weight and at the age of 20 he began a crash diet, losing half his weight in several months. In his autobiography he includes a section from a calorie diary he kept at the time, revealing he survived for weeks on end on as little as fruit and