The daughter of a billionaire financier, social fixture Allison Sarofim has dabbled in writing, restaurateuring, acting, and art collecting.

Born and raised in Houston, Allison is the daughter of Fayez Sarofim, the Texas-based, Egyptian-born banker who manages money for oil gazillionaires. Allison graduated from Rice and studied at the Institute of Culinary Education before spending a year working at Le Bernardin, where she "tasted recipes" for the restaurant's owners Maguy Le Coze and Eric Ripert. She later went out on her own, opening the now-defunct restaurant Vandam with partner Frederick Lesort. More recently, she wiles away her days acting (she's played a centaur in the Chronicles of Narnia and made a star turn as "Eating Disorder Mom" in The Nanny Diaries) and working on behalf of her production company 66 Productions, and prepping for her notorious annual Halloween party.

Fat-free, permanently tan, and heavily nipped and tucked, Allison divorced her first husband in the late 1990s. She's now involved with furniture designer Stuart Parr. [Image via Getty]