Wally Amos (born c. 1930) is an entrepeneur, speaker, actor and book writer from Tallahassee, Florida. He is the founder of the "Famous Amos" chocolate chip cookie brand.

Biography

Amos lived in Florida until he was twelve. Then, he moved to Manhattan, New York, where his aunt would cook chocolate chip cookies for him. Amos showed interest in cooking from a very young age. He enrolled at the Food Trades Vocational High School .

Amos, who is an African American, would later on drop out of that institute, to join the U.S. Air Force. While with the Air Force, he became inspired to study and graduate from high school, so he got his GED high school equivalency diploma before being honorably discharged.

Back in New York, Amos went to college to become a secretary. This led to a clerical job with the William Morris Agency. Eventually, Amos became the agency's first black talent agent, working with such people as Diana Ross and The Supremes, Simon & Garfunkel, and various other child stars , teen idols and movie stars.

Amos attracted clients to the William Morris Agency by sending them chocolate chip cookies along with an invitation to visit him. In 1975, a friend of his got an idea that he should set up a store to sell the cookies, which he baked himself based on his aunt's formula. That year, the first "Famous Amos" restaurant was opened in Los Angeles.

His new company began to expand, and, eventually, "Famous Amos" chocolate chip cookie bags could be found at supermarket shelves across the United States. Part of his biography can be read on the back of these bags.

Thanks in part to the success of his cookie company, Amos went on to have guest star spots on a number of sitcoms, and he has been hired by an influential firm of speakers to deliver speeches. He has written books that interlace such topics as books and life in general. Amos has written about twelve books.

Wally Amos currently resides in Hawaii.