Tyra Banks
British postcard by Pyramid, Leicester, no. PC 2156, 1999.
Tyra Banks (1973) is an American television personality, actress and a former Supermodel. She appeared in films like Higher Learning (1995) and Coyote Ugly (2000). From 2003 on, she had a long-running smash hit as creator and presenter of the reality TV series America's Next Top Model.
Tyra Lynne Banks was born in Inglewood, California in 1973. Her mother, Carolyn London (now London-Johnson), is a medical photographer, and her father, Donald Banks, is a computer consultant. Her mother would later works as her manager. In 1979, when Banks was six years old, her parents divorced. Tyra began her career as a model at the age of 15, while attending school in Los Angeles. She was rejected by four modeling agencies before she was signed by L.A. Models. She switched to Elite Model Management at age 16. Banks was one of only a few Black models to achieve Supermodel status. In the mid-1990s, Banks returned to America to do more commercial modeling. She was a Victoria's Secret Angel from 1997 to 2005. In 1997, she was the first African-American model to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated's swimsuit edition. She was captured in a red/pink polka dot bikini by Australian photographer Russel James for the issue that went on to become one of the best-selling covers ever for the magazine. By the early 2000s, Banks was one of the world's top-earning models. In 1993, Tyra Banks began acting on television in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, in which she played lead character Will Smith's old friend Jackie Ames. She made her film debut in Higher Learning (John Singleton, 1995). In 2000 she had major roles such as Eve, a doll who comes to life in the Disney TV film Life-Size (Mark Rosman, 2000) and as Zoe in the box-office hit Coyote Ugly (David McNally, 2000). She had small roles in the romantic film Love & Basketball (Gina Prince-Bythewood, 2000) and the horror film Halloween: Resurrection (Rick Rosenthal, 2002), with Jamie Lee Curtis. She also appeared in the TV series Gossip Girl (2010-2011) and Glee (2013). In 2018, she returned on TV as the character Eve in the sequel Life-Size 2, (Steven Tsuchida, 2018).
In 2003, Tyra Banks created and began presenting the long-running reality television series America's Next Top Model, which she executive produced and presented for the first twenty-two seasons until the series' cancellation in October 2015. She remained executive producer for the revival of the series, and enlisted Rita Ora as host for the twenty-third cycle before reassuming the duties herself for the twenty-fourth cycle. Banks was the co-creator of True Beauty, and had her own talk show, The Tyra Banks Show, which aired on The CW for five seasons and won two Daytime Emmy awards for Outstanding Talk Show Informative. She co-hosted the talk show FABLife for two months. In 2017, Banks replaced Nick Cannon as host of America's Got Talent for its 12th season. In 2010, she published a young adult novel titled Modelland, based on her life as a model which topped The New York Times Best Seller list in 2011. Banks is one of four African Americans and seven women to have repeatedly ranked among the world's most influential people by Time magazine. Tyra Banks had a four-year relationship with banker John Utendahl (2007-2011) and dated Norwegian photographer Erik Asla during the 2010s. In January 2016 they had a biological son born via surrogacy.
Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.
Tyra Banks
British postcard by Pyramid, Leicester, no. PC 2156, 1999.
Tyra Banks (1973) is an American television personality, actress and a former Supermodel. She appeared in films like Higher Learning (1995) and Coyote Ugly (2000). From 2003 on, she had a long-running smash hit as creator and presenter of the reality TV series America's Next Top Model.
Tyra Lynne Banks was born in Inglewood, California in 1973. Her mother, Carolyn London (now London-Johnson), is a medical photographer, and her father, Donald Banks, is a computer consultant. Her mother would later works as her manager. In 1979, when Banks was six years old, her parents divorced. Tyra began her career as a model at the age of 15, while attending school in Los Angeles. She was rejected by four modeling agencies before she was signed by L.A. Models. She switched to Elite Model Management at age 16. Banks was one of only a few Black models to achieve Supermodel status. In the mid-1990s, Banks returned to America to do more commercial modeling. She was a Victoria's Secret Angel from 1997 to 2005. In 1997, she was the first African-American model to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated's swimsuit edition. She was captured in a red/pink polka dot bikini by Australian photographer Russel James for the issue that went on to become one of the best-selling covers ever for the magazine. By the early 2000s, Banks was one of the world's top-earning models. In 1993, Tyra Banks began acting on television in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, in which she played lead character Will Smith's old friend Jackie Ames. She made her film debut in Higher Learning (John Singleton, 1995). In 2000 she had major roles such as Eve, a doll who comes to life in the Disney TV film Life-Size (Mark Rosman, 2000) and as Zoe in the box-office hit Coyote Ugly (David McNally, 2000). She had small roles in the romantic film Love & Basketball (Gina Prince-Bythewood, 2000) and the horror film Halloween: Resurrection (Rick Rosenthal, 2002), with Jamie Lee Curtis. She also appeared in the TV series Gossip Girl (2010-2011) and Glee (2013). In 2018, she returned on TV as the character Eve in the sequel Life-Size 2, (Steven Tsuchida, 2018).
In 2003, Tyra Banks created and began presenting the long-running reality television series America's Next Top Model, which she executive produced and presented for the first twenty-two seasons until the series' cancellation in October 2015. She remained executive producer for the revival of the series, and enlisted Rita Ora as host for the twenty-third cycle before reassuming the duties herself for the twenty-fourth cycle. Banks was the co-creator of True Beauty, and had her own talk show, The Tyra Banks Show, which aired on The CW for five seasons and won two Daytime Emmy awards for Outstanding Talk Show Informative. She co-hosted the talk show FABLife for two months. In 2017, Banks replaced Nick Cannon as host of America's Got Talent for its 12th season. In 2010, she published a young adult novel titled Modelland, based on her life as a model which topped The New York Times Best Seller list in 2011. Banks is one of four African Americans and seven women to have repeatedly ranked among the world's most influential people by Time magazine. Tyra Banks had a four-year relationship with banker John Utendahl (2007-2011) and dated Norwegian photographer Erik Asla during the 2010s. In January 2016 they had a biological son born via surrogacy.
Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.