Tyra Banks

Tyra Lynne Banks (born December 4, 1973) is a television personality, author, actress, singer, executive producer, talk show host, and former supermodel. She is well known for her role as the host and judge of the reality television show America's Next Top Model. Banks is widely recognized as one of the world's premier fashion models, and was one of the original Victoria's Secret Angels. Banks also currently hosts her own daytime talk show The Tyra Banks Show.

Tyra Banks was born in Los Angeles, California, USA to Don Banks and Carolyn London. She was raised in Inglewood, California with her brother Devin, and attended Immaculate Heart High School, an all-girl, independent Catholic private school in Los Angeles. Growing up, she was very thin and often teased; she was considered to be "ugly." Banks later said that this was a very difficult period for her and she developed a "very strong self-image problem."

In 1991, Banks was about to begin her freshman year at Loyola Marymount University when Elite Model Management gave the 17-year-old her first modeling job. Prior to this entry into the fashion world, Banks had been rejected several times for modeling assignments. In fact, she states that she did not consider her first job to be the start of a long career in fashion: "An agent saw pictures of me and said that I was the only girl she wanted to take back to Paris... I didn't leave thinking I was going to be some big fashion model. I just wanted to make money for college."

Banks' career took off when she made the move from high-fashion to a commercial market. She was the first African-American to be featured on the covers of GQ and the Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue, but is most noted for her work as a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model and as a Victoria's Secret model. In 1997 she won the prestigious Michael Award for "Supermodel of the Year". Banks has done runway shows in Paris, Milan, London, Tokyo and the U.S., and has been featured in many magazines, television commercials, and billboard advertisements. Her modeling credits include runway and/or print work for Cover Girl, Swatch, Pepsi, Nike, Inc., XOXO, LensCrafters, Tommy Hilfiger, Victoria's Secret, Ralph Lauren, Dolce & Gabbana, Yves Saint-Laurent, Chanel, Escada, Anna Sui, Michael Kors, Liz Claiborne, and Richard Tyler (designer). Banks has appeared on many international magazines, including the covers of Vogue, ELLE, Amica, ELLEgirl, L'Officiel, Harper's Bazaar, Photo, Cosmopolitan, Essence, and Sports Illustrated.

Banks stood out from the stick-thin waiflike models who were popular when she first entered the modeling industry, and had to work hard to persuade modeling agencies to take a chance on her more voluptuous physique. To give herself more options, Banks decided to branch out from high fashion into the commercial fashion industry. She later commented: " I told my agency to call Victoria's Secret, and I told them to call Sports Illustrated... I said [that] my body is changing, and seamstresses are calling me 'grosso' in Italian, and I know what the hell that means. And I'm not about to starve."

Banks addressed her physique in an interview with The Sun, saying, "I am totally against plastic surgery. A lot of people think I have breast implants because I have the biggest boobs in the business. But I was a 34C when I was 17. They stay up when I wear a push-up bra. But if people could see me when I come home and take off my bra, how could they think these are fake?". She is known for being proud of her more curvaceous body type, and once commented, "Some models are quite flat-chested so they can run around without bouncing. I can't. Black women don't have the same body image problems as white women. They are proud of their bodies."

Despite her phenomenal success as a supermodel, Banks began venturing from modeling to becoming a so-called media "personality" after 2000. She is the hostess, head judge, and an executive producer of the UPN (now the CW) television show America's Next Top Model. She also receives executive producer credits for all ANTM spinoffs. Banks also enjoyed a brief stint as a recording artist. During season two of America's Next Top Model, the contestants danced in her first music video for the single Shake Ya Body (Music Video) produced by experienced record producer Darkchild. Banks also acts as the patron for TZONE, a leadership program created by Banks for young girls that according to the organization, "reinforces core values of trust and support, challenges teen girls to resist negative social pressures, and enhances self-empowerment-inspiring girls to become confident leaders in their communities." She has 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.

Banks retired from modeling in May 2005. She made her final walk down the runway at the 2005 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. Banks said the reason she retired from the runway was so she could concentrate more on her television show.