Tyra Lynne Banks (born December 4, 1973) is an American model, television personality, producer, writer, and actress. She began her career as a model at the age of 15 and was the first African American woman to be featured on the covers of GQ and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, on which she appeared three times. Banks was one of only a few Black models to achieve supermodel status. She was a Victoria's Secret Angel from 1997 to 2005. By the early 2000s, Banks was one of the world's top-earning models.
Banks began acting on television in the sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1993) and made her film debut in the drama Higher Learning (1995). In 2000, she had major film roles, such as Eve in Disney Channel's Life-Size and Zoe in the box-office hit Coyote Ugly. Banks had small roles in the romantic sports film Love & Basketball (2000), the horror film Halloween: Resurrection (2002), and in the television series Gossip Girl (2009) and Glee (2013).[2][3]
In 2003, Banks created the reality 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 in 2016 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 (2009–2010), and had her own talk show, The Tyra Banks Show (2005–2010), which aired on The CW and won two Daytime Emmy awards for Outstanding Talk Show Informative. In 2015, she co-hosted the talk show FABLife for two months. In 2017 and 2018, Banks was the host of America's Got Talent for its 12th and 13th seasons.[4] In 2020, she was the host of Dancing with the Stars for its 29th season, also serving as an executive producer.
In 2010, Banks 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. She also has her own production company, Bankable Productions, which produced The Tyra Banks Show, America's Next Top Model, and the 2008 film The Clique. Banks is one of four African Americans and seven women to have repeatedly been ranked among the world's most influential people by Time magazine.[5][6] She is also one of only seventeen models to be ranked as a Legendary Supermodel by MODELS.com.[7]
Early life and education
Tyra Lynne Banks[8] was born in Inglewood, California on December 4, 1973. Her mother, Carolyn London (now London-Johnson), is a medical photographer,[9] and her father, Donald Banks, is a computer consultant.[10][11] She has a brother, Devin, who is five years older.[12] In 1979, when Banks was six years old, her parents divorced. She attended John Burroughs Middle School and graduated in 1991 from Immaculate Heart High School in Los Angeles. Banks said that while growing up, she was teased for her appearance and considered an "ugly duckling";[13][14]
Modeling career
When Banks was 15 years old, she started modeling while attending Immaculate Heart High 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. When she got the opportunity to model in Europe, she moved to Milan. In her first runway season, she booked 25 shows in the 1991 Paris Fashion Week. She appeared in editorials for American, Italian, French, and Spanish Vogue; American, French, German, and Spanish Elle; American, German, and Malaysian Harper's Bazaar; V; W, and Vanity Fair.
She appeared on the covers of magazines including Elle, Harper's Bazaar, Spanish Vogue, Cosmopolitan,[20] and Seventeen. She walked in fashion shows for Chanel, Oscar de la Renta, Yves Saint Laurent, Anna Sui
Television and film career
Banks's television career began on the fourth season of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, in which she played lead character Will Smith's old friend Jackie Ames.[33] She made seven appearances in the series.[6][34] Other TV credits include Felicity,[35] All That, MADtv, Nick Cannon's Wild 'n Out (she was a special guest host and team captain)[36] and The Price Is Right (guest-starring as a "Barker's Beauty").[37]
Other ventures
Cosmetics
In 2014, Banks founded the cosmetics brand Tyra Beauty, which she completed a non-degree certificate program at Harvard Business School specifically for.[59] Tyra Beauty uses a multi-level marketing system to recruit sales distributors, who are called "beautytainers" by the company.[60] She held a casting call to find faces for her line, eventually selecting Melody Parra, Monique Hayward, Katy Harvey and Top Model Norge contestant Marita Gomsrud as the cosmetic line's original beauty models. In March 2011, Banks launched her fashion and beauty website called "typeF.com", which she co-created with Demand Media.[61] In 2015, she launched "tyra.com", an interactive cosmetic e-commerce site.[62]
Music
Personal life
Banks dated Norwegian photographer Erik Asla during the 2010s. She struggled with infertility; her and Asla's attempts to conceive through in vitro fertilisation were unsuccessful.[76] In January 2016, their son York Banks Asla was born via gestational surrogacy.[77][78] Banks said that she tends to avoid drinking and has never used recreational drugs.[79][80]
She has spoken out about abusive relationships in her past. In 2005, when asked about her relationship history, she said, "I won't be using a lot of names on the show, but a specific relationship had not just cheating but emotional abuse. It was really bad, but that made me strong."[81]
Philanthropy
In 2000, Banks established the first TZONE program, a weeklong, all-expenses-paid camp for girls ages 13 to 15 seeking guidance about body image and personal empowerment.[92][93] In 2005, TZONE went from being a camp to a public charity called the TZONE Foundation, which emphasizes leadership and life skills development for young women.[94][95][96]
She also established the Tyra Banks Scholarship, a fund aimed at providing African-American girls the opportunity to attend her alma mater, Immaculate Heart High School.[97]
Filmography
Film
Television
Music videos
Discography
- Singles
- 2000: "Be A Star"
- 2004: "Shake Ya Body"
- 2018: "Be A Star 2" (featuring New Fear's Eve)
- 2025: "Santa SMiZE, Santa SMiZE" ( Tyra Banks as Santa SMiZE, featuring Tyra Banks)
- Guest appearances
- 1999: "K.O.B.E." ( Kobe Bryant featuring Tyra Banks)
- 2021: "FASHÓN" ( Todrick Hall featuring Tyra Banks)
- 2021: "I Want That Smize Cream" ( DJ Splitz featuring Tyra Banks and STORi)
Bibliography
Awards and nominations
External links
- The Tyra Banks Show website
- The New York Times Profile/Interview
References
- Bailey, Eric J. Black America, Body Beautiful: How the African American Image is Changing Fashion, Fitness, and Other Industries: How the African American Image is Changing Fashion, Fitness, and Other Industries ABC-CLIO, 2008^
- Hilary Duff, Tyra Banks appear in same episode of 'Gossip Girl' New York Daily News, 2 October 2009, retrieved 20 January 2019^
- 'Glee': Tyra Banks Is Fierce And Hyper-Critical As A Modeling Agent (VIDEO)