Antoni Porowski

Antoni Janusz Porowski was born on March 14, 1984, in Montreal, Quebec, to Polish parents who had immigrated to Canada, where he was raised alongside two older sisters. His father is a physician. Growing up, Porowski spoke Polish, English, and French. At age twelve, he relocated with his parents to Glade Springs, West Virginia, spending his high school years moving between there and Montreal before returning to Montreal to attend Marianopolis College. He subsequently earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Concordia University, then moved to New York City to pursue formal actor training at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre, graduating in 2011.

After settling in New York City, Porowski auditioned for acting roles while working in the food and beverage industry to support himself, beginning as a busboy at a family-run Polish restaurant. He progressed through positions as a waiter and sommelier before eventually managing the sushi restaurant BondSt. During this period he also developed a personal friendship with Ted Allen, the original Queer Eye food and wine expert, after the two lived in the same Brooklyn neighborhood. Porowski worked for Allen and Allen's husband, designer Barry Rice, as an assistant, cooking for them regularly and helping coordinate events and catering in their home.

His acting work during these years included a role in the 2012 film Elliot Loves, a 2014 appearance in an episode of the television series The Blacklist as a lead officer, the 2015 short docudrama To My Father — in which he portrayed Adam Bandrowski and which appeared in the 2016 Cannes Film Festival's Short Film Corner — as well as roles in the films Daddy's Boy (2016) and The Pretenders (2018). Porowski has noted that his Polish surname created obstacles in finding acting work and that he considered anglicizing it during that time.

In December 2017, it was announced that Porowski had been hired as the food and wine expert for the Netflix revival of Queer Eye, which began airing in February 2018. On September 10, 2018, he and his Queer Eye co-hosts received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Structured Reality Program. The series has continued airing through 2026. Also in 2018, Porowski appeared on Broadway in Celebrity Autobiography. That same year he announced plans to open The Village Den, a fast-casual restaurant in New York City's West Village, and in August 2018 he hosted a Liberal Party of Canada event in Montreal alongside Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Porowski also deals in vintage furniture.

In April 2018, he signed a publishing deal with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for his first cookbook, Antoni in the Kitchen, released in spring 2019. A second book, Antoni: Let's Do Dinner, followed in 2021. In June 2019, he appeared in Taylor Swift's music video for "You Need to Calm Down." People magazine named him Sexiest Reality Star in November 2019. In June 2021, Porowski announced his involvement with the newly established Equaversity Foundation, an organization created to coordinate international fundraising in support of the LGBT+ community in Poland.

Born in Montreal, Porowski spent years living in Brooklyn before purchasing a 1,600-square-foot, three-bedroom apartment in NoHo, Manhattan in 2021 for $4.4 million, which he subsequently converted into a two-bedroom residence with the assistance of interior designer Andrew Torrey. He has described his sexuality as fluid and has stated a preference for not applying a label to it. He dated graphic artist Joey Krietemeyer for more than seven years before their split was announced in October 2018, and was later engaged to brand strategy director Kevin Harrington before that relationship ended in 2023.