Tyra Banks

Tyra Banks has been linked with many celebrities in the past, including director John Singleton and basketball player Chris Webber. While she avoids discussing her private issues publicly, she revealed in 2005 that she has experienced emotional abuse earlier.

She started dating Norwegian photographer Erik Asla in 2013. Banks, who had trouble conceiving, gave birth to son York Banks Asla through a surrogate mother in January 2016.

Tyra Lynne Banks was born on December 4, 1973, in Inglewood, California, to Carolyn London and Donald Banks. Her mother was a medical photographer, while her father worked as a computer consultant.

She is the second child of her parents and has a five years older brother, Devin. Her parents divorced when she was six years old, following which she and her brother lived with her mother on weekdays and visited her father on weekends.

She initially attended John Burroughs Middle School and later got into Immaculate Heart High School in Los Angeles, from which she graduated in 1991. Around the time she was 11, she faced body-shaming after a sudden growth spurt made her tall and skinny.

Tyra Banks, who was good enough to be selected into all major universities she applied for, chose Loyola Marymount University for film studies. However, she moved to Paris even before starting college, after a French modeling agent selected her for the upcoming Paris fashion week.

Tyra Banks started her modeling career at the age of 15, while she was still in school. After being rejected by four modeling agencies, she was signed to L.A. Models.

In 1990, she bagged a contract with Elite Model Management, following which she was offered the opportunity to model in Europe and subsequently moved to Milan. The next year, she achieved the remarkable feat of booking 25 runway shows as a newcomer in the 1991 Paris Fashion Week.

Reluctant to follow a strict diet to stay skinny as required by the industry, she decided to return to the USA in the mid 1990s to pursue a career in swimwear and lingerie modeling. In 1993, she became the first African-American model to sign a contract with CoverGirl cosmetics.

'People' magazine named her one of '50 Most Beautiful People in the World' in 1994. As the first African-American model, she featured on the covers of 'GQ' magazine in 1996 and the 'Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue' in 1997.

In 1997, she became a Victoria's Secret Angel and was featured in Victoria's Secret lingerie catalogue as the first black woman. The same year, she was named 'Supermodel of the Year' by VH1. She subsequently left modeling to focus on other career choices, but re-signed to her former modeling agency IMG Models in 2010.

Tyra Banks debuted on television in 1993, appearing alongside Will Smith on the fourth season of 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'. She continued to appear on various television shows such as 'New York Undercover' (1997), 'Just Shoot Me!' (1999), 'MADtv' (2000), 'Felicity' (2000), and 'Soul Food' (2001).

In 1995, she debuted on the big screen with the movie 'Higher Learning'. After a few smaller roles in movies like 'Love Stinks' and 'Love & Basketball', she bagged the major role of Eve in the Disney Channel telefilm 'Life-Size' in 2000. The same year, she appeared as Zoe in the commercially successful movie 'Coyote Ugly'.

She soon founded her own production company, 'Bankable Productions', through which she created and executive produced the reality television series 'America's Next Top Model' in 2003. She hosted the show herself in the first 22 seasons, till 2015, and later returned as a host in the 24th season in 2017.

In 2005, she created her own talk show, 'The Tyra Banks Show', which focused on issues faced by young women. The show, which won two back-to-back Daytime Emmy awards, ran for five seasons.

She co-created the show 'True Beauty' with actor Ashton Kutcher in 2009. She went on to appear on many TV series like 'Gossip Girl' (2009), 'Shake It Up' (2012-13), 'Glee' (2013) and 'Blackish' (2015-16), and co-hosted the show 'FABLife' for two months in 2015.