BANKS, TYRA

TYRA BANKS, FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMAN TO FEATURED ON MAGAZINE COVERS OF GQ AND SPORTS ILLUSTRATED.

Tyra Lynne Banks, was born in December 4, 1973. is an American fashion model and television personality best known as a face of CoverGirl and the American retailer Victoria’s Secret.

GQ Cover 1996

Beginning her career at the young age of 15, she face a lot of backlashes due to her ethnicity. However, she soon went on to be was the first African-American woman to be featured on the covers of GQ and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

With a career spanning over 3 decades, she grew to become a very popular household name of the current times.

MODELLING

Facing a lot of rejection from the industry, she managed to sign with Elite Model Agency in 1990. Upon being offered a chance to model in Europe she moved to Milan in the same year. She went on to book a record 25 shows on her debut runway season at Paris Fashion Week in 1991.

Banks has gone on to grace pages, covers, and runways of almost all big names of fashion. Notably, including names such as, Chanel, Oscar de la Renta, Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Dior, Donna Karan, Calvin Klein, Perry Ellis, Marc Jacobs, Givenchy. American, Italian, French, and Spanish Vogue; American, French, German, and Spanish Elle; American, German, and Malaysian Harper’s Bazaar; V; W and Vanity Fair. However the list is never-ending and continues on.

Harper’s Bazaar January 2013

She took a break from modelling  in 2005 to focus more on her journey as a business woman. Only returning on 2019 to recreate her cover for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. She also announced, that henceforth her modelling name would be “BanX”. On the Insistence of Kim Kardashian, she also chose to appear for the SKIMS 2022 campaign.

ON SCREEN

Well recognized as model, she was chosen to be on music videos of famous artists as well. Not starting small, she was appeared in Michael Jackson’s “Black or White”, Mobb Deep’s “Trife Life”, Tina Turner’s “Love Thing”.

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.

Movie Poster

Henceforth, she became a persistent figure on screens as well. Including cameos in several shows and also starring in music videos of her own.

REALITY TV

In 2003, Banks created the long-running reality television 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. However, the show was resumed and she also retook her position as host for the twenty-fourth cycle.

The show received a lot of criticism in the recent years. Tyra tweeted in 2020 to say that she agreed with the criticism.

“Been seeing the posts about the insensitivity of some past ANTM moments and I agree with you. Looking back, those were some really off choices. Appreciate your honest feedback and am sending so much love and virtual hugs.”

To add to the list, she had her own television talk show, The Tyra Banks Show (2005–2010). . In 2015, she co-hosted the talk show FABLife for two months. In 2017, Banks was the host of America’s Got Talent for its 12th season. As of 2020, , she was the host of Dancing with the Stars for its 29th season, also serving as an executive producer. She still currently continues to host the show.

BEYOND GLAMOUR: ENTREPRENEUR, AUTHOR, AND TEACHER

Banks started her production company, “Ty Ty Baby Productions”, soon afterward changed to Bankable Productions. Notably, which produced The Tyra Banks Show, America’s Next Top Model and the 2008 movie The Clique.

In 2014, Banks founded the cosmetics brand Tyra Beauty. As of March 2011, Banks launched her fashion and beauty website called “typeF.com”, which she co-created with Demand Media. Significantly, in 2015, she launched “tyra.com”, an interactive cosmetic e-commerce site.

In August 2016, Banks accepted a position as a personal branding guest lecturer at Stanford University.

In 1998, Banks co-authored a book entitled Tyra’s Beauty, Inside and Out. Modelland was published in September 2011, intended to be the first of a planned three-part series. It topped The New York Times Best Seller list in October 2011 In 2018, Banks and her mother, Carolyn London, co-authored a book entitled “Perfect is Boring”.

For today’s Instagram focused generation, She is now set to launch “ModelLand”. It is a funhouse venues where people pay to visit immersive rooms and leave with Instagram-worthy snapshots. 

AWARDS AND ACCOLADES

In 1997, she received the VH1 award for “Supermodel of the Year”. She was nominated 5 times by Teen Choice awards but won 3 times. Notably, for Choice model once on 1999, and Choice TV Personality twice on 2007 and 2008. She also  won two Daytime Emmy awards for Outstanding Talk Show Informative for her “The Tyra Banks Show” on CW.