Famie worked in restaurant kitchens while attending high school and in hotels around the world, includingBrussels,Monte Carlo, andNew York City, after high school graduation.[1] Total amount of existing restaurants he worked globally was twenty-seven, and his prior occupations ranged from head dishwasher to head chef.[2] By no later than 1987, he was the executive chef of Chez Raphael (Novi, Michigan) and wrote a travel cookbookThe Flavor of Famie.[3]
Famie opened a 200-seat Americanbistro Les Auteurs in theRoyal Oak, Michigan,[4] one year later in 1988. Its sales figures were $1.8 million in 1991 (equivalent to $4.2 million in 2024) and $1,920,710 in 1992 (equivalent to $4,303,720 in 2024). Also in early 1990s, Les Auteurs held seventy employees.[5]
Famie appeared alongside another chef Edward Janos in a 1988 cooking videoFeathered Fowl and Game.[6][a] He was one of twelve finalists in 1988 competing to represent the United States for the January 1989Bocuse d'Or championship.[8] He lost the spot to another finalist Jeff Jackson.[9] Famie also was listed byFood & Wine in 1989 as one of the "[ten] best new chefs".[10] He alongside one of his recipes was featured in the 1990Great Chefs of America calendar.[11]
Famie established arotisserie take-out chain Famie's Chicken in early 1990, which was eventually short-lived by no later than 1993.[5][12] Between 1988 and 1993, he further established the Les Auteurs School of Cooking and a fifty-seat bar and restaurant Madison's.[5] He also released a series oftrading cards featuring chefs—a picture of a chef on obverse side; a chef's recipe on reverse side—starting in 1992. Ten percent of gross profits of the trading cards were sent to the Rainbow Connection, a non-profit charity assistingterminally ill children.[1][13]
Famie closed the increasingly struggling Les Auteurs on June 27, 1993, and re-established the same site as the cowboy-themed Durango Grill in mid-August 1993.[14][15] Famie sold the Durango Grill concept in September 1994 to and then joined Buscemi International, hoping to expand the business nationwide.[16] Durango Grill was then closed in 1995.[17]
Famie founded a film company Visionalist Entertainment Productions in 1995.[19] He produced a five-part television series covering Japanese cooking forWDIV-TV (Detroit) in late 1990s[20] and the 1990s Detroit-produced travel and food seriesKeith Famie's Adventures in Cooking,[21] later calledFamie's Adventures in Cooking, seen by about 400,000 viewers of Detroit as of 1998.[22] He produced a documentary specialFrom Hanoi to China Beach: A Taste of the Exotic, shown inFox Theatre (Detroit) for a charity event International Evening: Vietnam on August 28, 1999,[23] and then aired two days later on WDIV-TV.[24]
Famie's Visionist and another company Mexicantown Community Development Corporation produced another filmA Journey to Mexico,[19] also calledA Journey Home, which explores immigration from Jesús María and St. Ignacio of central Mexico to Detroit, in January 2000. The film was conceptualized by Mexicantown's then-president Maria Elena Rodriguez, and its crew consisted of eleven people. The film premiered in theDetroit Opera House on May 11, 2000.[25] It then aired on WDIV-TV on June 24, 2000.[26]
BeforeSurvivor, Famie appeared on regularly a WDIV-TV news program's cooking segment[26] and on another television programFamie's Wild Aussie Adventures.[27]
Famie was one of forty-eight applicants shortlisted forSurvivor: Borneo.[26] However, he was filmingA Journey Home at the time, affecting his chances to be cast.[26][28] He eventually appeared onSurvivor: The Australian Outback (2001) as part of the Ogakor tribe. He often clashed with bartender/actressJerri Manthey over position to support the tribe,[29][30] much to annoyance of the remaining Ogakor tribe.[31] The tribe criticized his rice cooking as poorly executed but then praised his fish cooking as well executed.[32] However, his overall social gameplay was perceived as subpar.[33]
After two Ogakor members were voted off,[29][34] in Ogakor's third Tribal Council, votes against Famie and Mitchell Olson, who admitted at the Council being physically weaker than Famie, were tied 3–3. In the re-vote, Famie and Mitchell were ineligible to vote. Votes against them were tied again 2–2.[35] To break the second tie, vote casts in prior Councils were considered. Famie was not voted before, but a vote against Olson was cast in one prior Council, causing Olson to be eliminated. Thus, Manthey's alliance that voted against Famie weakened.[36]
When the Ogakor and Kucha tribes merged into the Barramundi tribe, ten overall contestants remained—five each of their own tribe.[b] Furthermore, the former Ogakor tribe was still divided between two alliances: one consisted of Manthey andAmber Brkich; another of Famie,Colby Donaldson, andTina Wesson.[38][c] Famie won the season's first two individual immunity challenges,[41][d][42] while the ex-Ogakor members, despite division among them, voted two ex-Kucha members off the merged tribe consecutively.[42][43][e]
Then, getting tired onscreen of her personality, antics, and clashes with some other remaining players besides Famie,[44][45][f] Manthey was voted off the merged tribe.[47] The eliminations of other remaining ex-Kucha members[g] and Brkich, the only remaining member of Manthey's alliance, followed.[48][h][49] When three players remained, Donaldson won the quiz about eliminated contestants, the season's final immunity challenge.[50] As the only player eligible to vote while possessing the Individual Immunity necklace, Donaldson voted off Famie, who Donaldson believed was unworthy to be one of the final two,[33] and took the eventual winner Wesson to the Final Tribal Council.[51][i] Consequently, Famie finished third, became the seventh and final jury member, and then earned $85,000 (equivalent to $151,000 in 2024).[53]
Famie wrote another cookbookFamie's Adventures in Cooking, released in March 2001 by Sleeping Bear Press and named after his Detroit-produced series.[54][55] He hostedFood Network's eight-episode special seriesTaste the Adventure, which aired on June 17–24, 2001.[56] That same year, he received two round-trip tickets to China during his appearance inThe Rosie O'Donnell Show and wrote another cookbookYes I Can Cook Rice ... and So Can You,[57] released in late October 2001.[58] He also wrote a 2003 cookbookYou Really Haven't Been There Until You've Eaten the Food, co-authored by aDetroit Free Press wine columnist Chris Kassel and imprinted byClarkson Potter.[59]
Famie also appeared in another Food Network seriesKeith Famie's Adventures, which debuted on January 7, 2002,[60] and ran thirty-two episodes.[j] He also appeared in aWXYZ-TV seriesOur Story Of, which covered various communities, such asGreek Americans,Arab Americans,[63] andItalian Americans.[64]
The ninety-minute director's cut version of the documentary filmDetroit: Our Greatest Generation, which paid tribute toWorld War II veterans in Michigan and was produced by Famie's company Visionalist Entertainment Productions, was first shown inFox Theatre on December 13, 2009. Then the one-hour version aired without commercials onWDIV-TV on December 16, 2009.[67] The film and Famie's filmCan You See How I See?, which addressedIraq War andAfghan War veterans wholost sight in combat, aired onPBS stations in 2010.[68]
Visionalist held the August 22, 2010, public fundraiser in theRoyal Park Hotel (Rochester, Michigan) to support Famie's documentary filmOur Vietnam Generation, which paid tribute toVietnam War veterans.[68] The film premiered in Fox Theatre on January 28, 2011, and then aired onPBS stations on February 21, 2011.[69]
Famie's biographical documentary filmOne's Soldier's Story covers aMonroe native Michael Ingram Jr., a sergeantkilled in action at age twenty-three in Afghanistan on April 17, 2010. The film was shown on June 14 and 29, 2011, inCanton andRoyal Oak, one theatre each.[70] It also aired on PBS stations, includingWTVS-TV, on September 11, 2011.[71]
Famie also produced two more documentary films that aired on PBS stations:Live Like There's No Tomorrow (2012),[72] which coversJill Jack's life and musical career; two series ofThe Embrace of Aging (2013)—one about males,[73] another about females.[74]
Famie's biographical documentaryMaire's Journey covers aGoodrich resident Maire Caitlin Kent, who died fromangiosarcoma at age 24 on September 27, 2013.[75][76] The film was screened inTraverse City'sState Theatre on May 1, 2016.[77] He wrote a 2016 nonfiction bookMaire's Journey to the Sea also about Maire Kent.[78]
Famie's documentary filmDeath Is Not the Answer, which tackles depression and suicide, debuted in one Royal Oak theatre on November 6, 2016, and then aired as a two-part program on PBS stations, including WTVS-TV, five days later.[79] His another documentary filmEntitled, which coversmilitary recruitment, was screened in The Patriot Theatre (Grosse Pointe Farms) on May 23, 2018.[80]
Famie's documentary filmThose on the Front Lines of Alzheimer's and Dementia, which covers military veterans diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease ordementia, was screened inRoyal Oak Music Theatre on June 3, 2018,[65] and then aired on WTVS-TV and other PBS stations on June 27, 2018.[81] Famie dedicated the film to his father who died in 2003.[65] His documentary filmThose on the Front Lines of Cancer was screened in one Royal Oak theatre on October 2, 2018. It then aired as two parts—first was one-hour; second, two-hour—on WTVS-TV October 10 and 17, 2018,[82] and then on other PBS stations nationwide on July 19, 2020.[83]
Famie's biographical documentary filmBlessed Solanus Casey's Journey to Sainthood, which is about a priestSolanus Casey, debuted in oneNovi theatre on December 16, 2019, and aired on PBS stations ten days later.[84]
Famie's bookPapa's Rules for Life was released in 2021 by Mission Point Press amid theCOVID-19 pandemic.[85] His another documentary filmShoah Ambassadors, which coversthe Holocaust, debuted in a Novi theatre on November 11, 2021, and then aired on PBS stations one week later.[86]
Famie's documentary filmDetroit: The City of Chefs, which covers history of locally known Detroit chefs, debuted in a Novi theatre on December 9, 2024, and then aired on PBS stations three days later.[87] Its sequelDetroit: The City of Chefs II debuted in a Novi theatre on September 7, 2025, and then aired on PBS stations on October 24 of the same year.[88][89]
Famie has two children from his previous marriage, which ended with divorce.[1]
Famie's biological father wasTony Tarracino, a retiredbartender, formerboat captain, and formerKey Westmayor. Famie is one of Tarracino's fourteen biological children. Famie and Tarracino met for the first time in Pepe's Cafe & Steakhouse (Caroline Street) about five years prior toSurvivor: The Australian Outback.[90]
^The 1988 video is also calledCooking with Feathered Game and Poultry.[7]
^A Kucha memberMichael Skupin was medically evacuated before the merger due to burn injuries from falling into a campfire after passing out.[31][37]
^In the season finale onscreen, at the Final Tribal Council, eventual winner Tina Wesson admitted to the jury forming an alliance with Famie andColby Donaldson.[39] As further revealed, Wesson and Donaldson formed their own core alliance and used and kept Famie as part of their voting strategy, especially to maintain the Ogakor tribe's strength.[40]
^In the season's first Individual Immunity challenge, ten remaining contestants stood on their own pillars at a river. After ten hours and eighteen hours passed, only Famie andTina Wesson remained until she stepped down from the challenge, leading him to win the Individual Immunity necklace.[41]
^In Barramundi's first Tribal Council, votes against an ex-Kucha memberJeff Varner and an ex-Ogakor memberColby Donaldson were tied 5–5 and then 4–4 in a revote. To break the second tie, Varner was eliminated based on votes cast against him in prior Councils, while votes against Donaldson had never been cast previously.[43]
^BeforeJerri Manthey was voted off the tribe, the Ogakor alliance primarily targeted one of remaining ex-Kucha membersNick Brown. Brown won the Individual Immunity necklace from one challenge, making Brown immune from elimination until the next immunity challenge.[47]
^After Colby Donaldson won one of individual reward challenges and before ex-Ogakor memberAmber Brkich was voted out, a heavy storm washed away the Barramundi camp and most of its food supply. Famie and Tina Wesson found the remaining can of rice seen at a violent river and were able to retrieve it.[48]
^Famie stated that, if he won the "Fallen Comrades" immunity challenge, he would have voted outColby Donaldson as a potential threat. Tina Wesson stated that, if she won the challenge, she would have voted out Famie and kept Donaldson in as promised, figuring that Donaldson would be popular to viewers.[52]
^The precedingFood Network specialKeith Famie's African Adventure aired on November 12, 2001.[61][62]
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^abSmith, Andy (March 2, 2001). "Fire mishap shows that people really get burned onSurvivor II".The Providence Journal. p. B-1 – viaNewsBank.
^Heldenfels, R. D. (February 28, 2001). "When You Get Right Down to It,Survivor a Show About Dining".Akron Beacon Journal.Akron, Ohio. Life Style section, p. D1 – viaNewsBank.
^abRosenthal, Phil (May 4, 2001). "Survivor: Season finale – Victory is sweet".Chicago Sun-Times. Section 2 (Features), p. 48 – viaNewsBank.
^Philpot, Robert (March 2, 2001). "Player leavesSurvivor without vote – Michael suffers burns in campfire accident in last week before merger".Fort Worth Star-Telegram. News section, p. 20 – viaNewsBank.
^Long, Tom (March 8, 2001). "Tribal ligation – The last 10 contestants now come together to tear each other apart".The Detroit News. Features section, p. 1D – viaNewsBank.
^abLong, Tom (June 18, 2001). "Famie's adventures in rice".The Detroit News – viaNewsBank. The article does not state the type and name of Famie's father.
^Gurwitt, Andrea (October 10, 2001). "Chef,Survivor Contestant Not Ready to Fade From Our View".Herald News. p. C1 – viaNewsBank.
^"Food & Recipes:Survivor chef tries foods of the world".Erie Times-News. May 25, 2003. Food & Recipes section, p. 3 – viaNewsBank.
^Rubin, Neal (November 21, 2001). "Famie finds fame afterSurvivor".The Detroit News. p. 2A – viaNewsBank.
^Davis, Pamela (September 26, 2001). "Food Network slims down".Tampa Bay Times. Food section, p. 1D – viaNewsBank.
^Pennington, Gail (December 10, 2001). "Keith Can Cook – Rice, That Is, SaysSurvivor's Much-Maligned Chef".St. Louis Post-Dispatch – viaNewsBank.
^Snavely, Brent (November 20, 2006). "Keith Famie's next act – Local Italian-Americans subject of film". News section, p. 3 – viaNewsBank.
^abcLongman, Sharon. "Oakland County man memorializes father in documentary about Alzheimer's".
^abRubin, Neal (January 18, 2004). "Michigan 'Survivors' won't relive roles".The Detroit News. p. 2A – viaNewsBank.
^Longman, Sharon (December 13, 2009). "Greatest documentary debuts tonight at Fox".The Oakland Press. Life section – viaNewsBank.
^abMcClary, Erin (August 19, 2010). "Public invited to supportOur Vietnam Generation".Rochester Post.Rochester, Michigan. pp. 3A, 19A – viaNewsBank.
^Dickson, James (January 28, 2011). "Ann Arbor's Elizabeth Allen among veterans featured in documentaryOur Vietnam Generation, premiering tonight".Ann Arbor News. Entertainment section – viaNewsBank.
^Watson, Ursula (June 14, 2011). "Small Talk with Keith Famie".The Detroit News. p. C3 – viaNewsBank.
^"One Soldier's Story airing Sunday".The Monroe News.Monroe, Michigan. September 9, 2011. p. 3A – viaNewsBank.
^Kaczmarczyk, Jeffrey (April 1, 2014). "Jill Jack, singer-songwriter from Detroit, appears at St. Cecilia Music Center on Thursday".The Grand Rapids Press.
^Ruehlen, Robin (February 20, 2013). "Local leaders lend advice to men inEmbrace of Aging documentary".Birmingham-Bloomfield Eagle. p. 1A – viaNewsBank.
^Herbert, Geoff (July 18, 2014). "Maire's Journey: Cancer victim's dying wish comes closer to fulfillment in CNY".The Post-Standard. Entertainment section – viaNewsBank.
^Spence, Jordan (July 21, 2014). "Maire's Journey begins on the shores of Lake Michigan".Petoskey News-Review. News section – viaNewsBank.
^Kolade, Sherri (November 14, 2016). "Hills city councilwoman featured in documentary on suicide, depression".Farmington Press.Farmington, Michigan – viaNewsBank.
^Moran, K. Michelle (May 15, 2018). "Memorial Week gives community multiple opportunities to reflect and remember".Grosse Pointe Times. Features section – viaNewsBank.
^Gomez, Adrian (July 17, 2020). "Making a difference: Documentary aims to 'give a voice to those on a cancer journey'".Albuquerque Journal – viaNewsBank.
^"Documentary follows life of Capuchin Soup Kitchen founder Fr. Solanus Casey".The Oakland Press. December 8, 2019. Suburban section – viaNewsBank.
^Longman, Sharon (June 8, 2021). "Novi man and formerSurvivor contestant publishes book for grandson during COVID-19".The Oakland Press.MediaNews Group – viaNewsBank.
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^Baetens, Melody (September 3, 2025). "The story continues withDetroit: The City of Chefs II documentary".TCA Regional News. Chicago: Tribune Content Agency.ProQuest3246228890.
