Tyra Banks

Background

Tyra Lynne Banks is an African-American model, actress, and T.V. personality with an established position in showbiz. She was born in Inglewood, California.

Her mother, Carolyn London, worked as a medical photographer and her father, Donald Banks, was a computer consultant. She was raised with her brother Devin. She went to John Burroughs Middle School and later on graduated from Immaculate Heart High School. In 2012, she cleared the nine-week course she was undertaking to finish Harvard University’s President Management non-degree extension program.

Banks initially started her career as a teen model. She has made history as the first African-American woman to be on the cover of “G.Q.” and a “Sports Illustrated” swimsuit issue. She was also a Victoria’s Secret Angel from 1997 up to 2005. This catapulted her modeling career and she soon became among the world’s top-earning models. She began pursuing her acting career in 1993 through the sitcom, “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” Her film debut however came in 1995 through “Higher Learning.” She landed major roles in 2000 including those of Eve in “Life-Size” and Zoe in “Coyote Ugly.” She also featured in “Love & Basketball,” “Halloween: Resurrection,” “Gossip Girl,” and “Glee.” In 2003, she started hosting “America’s Next Top Model.” She was the executive producer of the show as well as the host for the first 22 seasons. She also co-created “True Beauty” in 2009 while continuing with her own television talk show, “The Tyra Banks Show.”

Apart from being a television personality and an actress, she is also an author. In 2010, she published the 2011 “New York Times” bestseller “Modelland,” which centered on her modeling career. As a producer, she owns her own production company known as Bankable Productions. Its main productions include, “The Tyra Banks Show,” all the seasons of “America’s Next Top Model,” and the film titled, “The Clique.” She has been featured as one of four African-American and seven women to be ranked among the world’s most influential people by “Time Magazine” repeatedly. She was also acknowledged as a Legendary Supermodel by MODELS.com.