Tyra Lynn Banks is an American supermodel, television personality, talk show host, and actress. She was born on December 4, 1973 in Los Angeles into a loving family. Her mother, Carolyn, is a fashion manager and medical photographer. Her father is Donald Banks, a computer consultant. Although her parents divorced when she was only six years old, the family’s relationship stayed friendly and supportive, especially her relationship with her older brother, Devin. Because of this healthy environment, Tyra’s youth was spent happy and trouble-free.
When Tyra was an adolescent, she was tall, skinny and awkward, earning her constant teasing from Devin and from her friends and classmates. She often cried and turned to her mother for comfort. However, she began to fill out her skinny frame late into her high school years. Everything changed for this future supermodel during that time. She began to work out and finally decided to become a model. Her 5’11” height and good looks certainly helped with her decision. She began to pursue her goal of becoming a supermodel with the determination and strong will that marks all her activities.
Her first auditions started badly because she was turned down by four modeling agencies because they did not think she was photogenic. But Elite Model Management signed Tyra when she was seventeen years old. Tyra moved to Paris instead of starting her freshman year at Loyola Marymount College. Within one week, the young model got booked for an unprecedented 25 shows – the most shows ever for a newcomer in the business. She modeled for big name fashion designers like Chanel, Ralph Lauren, Michael Kors, and Yves Saint Laurent. Her presence was so mesmerizing that Tyra became the first African-American woman on the covers of GQ and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. She was also chosen for the Victoria’s Secret catalog in 1997, again the first African-American woman to be so honored. That same year, she received the VH1 Award for Supermodel of the Year.
Tyra has done modeling gigs in London, Paris, Milan, Tokyo, and the United States. She has been chosen by the biggest names in fashion and has made numerous magazine appearances. She has graced the covers of Seventeen, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, GQ, Cosmopolitan, and Essence, to name a few magazines that have featured her image. But she did not plan on being a supermodel for the rest of her life and by 2005, she strutted her stuff for the last time in a Victoria’s Secret runway show.
Tyra has done television shows while she was still a full-time model. When she put her modeling career behind her, she began to focus more on her television career. Her television appearances began to come more often and in 2000, she became the producer, hostess and head judge of the hit reality show, “America’s Next Top Model”. The popular show has spawned spin-offs around the world, including Australia and Canada’s versions of the reality show.
Following in Oprah’s footsteps, Tyra began hosting and on September 12, 2005, “The Tyra Banks Show” was born. Like Oprah, her own show promotes the female mind and body regardless of size, shape and color. Her show is aimed at the younger generation and has gained so much popularity and success since its conception that it draws over 1.9 million viewers an episode. She has also made big-screen appearances in “Higher Learning”, “Love Stinks”, “Love & Basketball” and “Coyote Ugly”.
Tyra has been involved in a few high-profile relationships, first with John Singleton, the director of “Higher Learning”. In 1996, the couple broke up and shortly thereafter, the supermodel was linked to pop star Seal. She was also linked to a few basketball players, namely Chris Webber, Kobe Bryant, Rick Fox, and was rumoured to have gone out with no less than the Airness himself, Michael Jordan. Although single at the moment, Tyra has expressed her wish to find Mr. Right, settle down and have kids one day.