Tyra Banks

Tyra Banks

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Tyra Banks

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Tyra Banks

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Tyra Banks

Country : United States

Height : 179

Measurements : 95-60-90

Tyra Lynne Banks (born December 4, 1973) is an American television personality, Daytime Emmy nominated, author, actress, singer, executive producer, talk show hostess, and retired supermodel. She first emerged to prominence as a cover model for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and one of the original Victoria's Secret Angels. She's best known as the hostess/judge of the reality television show America's Next Top Model, since its 2003 debut on UPN (later CW), and is currently hosting her own daytime talk show, The Tyra Banks Show. TIME magazine named her as one of the world's 100 most influential people in 2006.

Her career took off with several high profile modeling contracts, most notably the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and Victoria's Secret. In 1996 she was the first African-American to be featured on the cover of the Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue and appeared on the cover again--this time alone--in 1997. Also that year 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, Isaac Mizrahi, and Richard Tyler (designer). Banks has appeared on many international magazines, including Seventeen, Vogue, ELLE, Amica, ELLEgirl, L'Officiel, Harper's Bazaar, Photo, Cosmopolitan, Essence, and Sports Illustrated.

Banks stood out from the waif-like models popular at the time, 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."

Source : Wikipedia