Tyra Banks was christened Tyra Lynne Banks and was born on December 4th 1973 in Inglewood, California. Tyra Banks is the daughter of Carolyn, a famous NASA photographer and fashion designer, and Donald Banks a computer consultant. The couple got divorced when Tyra was 6 years old. Her relationship with her parents and her brother Devin Banks was cordial. Later, Carolyn married Clifford Johnson. Tyra Banks graduated from the Immaculate Heart Health High School of Los Angeles in 1991.
Tyra Banks began modeling when she was in the 11th grade. After her schooling, she went to Paristo be part of the runway. Most of the Paris designers were entranced by Tyra Banks’ presence on the runway. She was booked for twenty five shows, because of her style. Tyra Banks worked for most of the advertising giants such as Coors Light, Anna Sui, Badgley Mischka, Cynthia Rowley, Bill Blass, etc. She also appeared on covers of American magazines Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, Elle and Cosmopolitan. Tyra Banks was the first African American woman who appeared on covers of GQ and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Tyra Banks won the supermodel award VH1 in the year 1997. In the same year she became the first American African woman chosen for the Victoria’s secret catalog.
Tyra Banks ended her modeling career in 2005, so that she could concentrate on her television career. Her final ramp walk was in 2005 at a Victoria’s Secret fashion show. Tyra banks also authored a book called Tyra’s Beauty, inside and out. This book was advertised for women, who had a desire to appear beautiful. Banks began her television career on fourth season of The Fresh prince of Bel-Air. In this she played the role of a lead character as Will smith’s old friend Jackie Ames. Currently Tyra bank’s is working as a judge and executive producer of The CW Television Network show America’s Next Model.
Besides this show she also hosts The Tyra Banks Show. This is a day time talk show aimed at younger women. Tyra Banks’ first big screen role came in 1994 when she co-starred in Higher Learning Drama. She co-starred with Lindsay Lohan in the movie Life-size, it was a Disney production. Tyra bank’s was more interested in working in music videos. She appeared in music videos like Michael Jackson’s “Black or White”, Tina turner’s Love thing, George Michael’s Too Funky and Mobb Depp’s Trife Life. Her first single music video “Shake Ya Body” was recorded in 2004.
This video featured the final six contestants on America’s Next Top Model. Tyra Banks used to say that singing was her passion. She was more interested in singing than modeling. She spent six years for video Shake Ya Body, but it was flop. Her personal life wasn’t devoid of hurdles. She first dated former NBA player Chris Webber for three years but broke up with him in 2004. She did cameos for a few films. In 2007 she worked for Mr. Woodcock and in 2008 she worked for Tropic Thunder. In the movie Hannah Montana released in 2009 she gave a guest appearance.
