The Tyra Banks Biography

The Tyra Banks Biography

Who doesn’t love THE Incredible Miss Tyra Banks?

She’s the all time sexy super model, the warm hearted girl next door and your best friend all wrapped up into one. I mean....what's not to love?

Even though she has achieved tremendous super stardom and success in her career, we can always count on her to 'keep it real'.

She's definitely my all time favorite celebrity which is why I find the Tyra Banks biography so interesting.

Let's begin, shall we.......?

Tyra Lynne Banks was born in Los Angeles, California on December 4, 1973.

Her parents Carolyn London, a professional photographer, and Don Banks, a computer consultant, were divorced when Tyra was 6 years old.

Tyra has an older brother Devin who was born in 1968.

She attended the all girl independent Catholic private school, Immaculate Heart High School in LA.

Tyra began modeling modeling with Elite Modeling Agency her senior year of high school.

The Tyra Banks Biography really began just after her high school graduation. Even though she had made plans to attend Loyola Marymount University in LA, just before her freshman year a modeling scout offered her an opportunity to model in Paris.

Due to her talent and fresh look on the runway, she was booked for 25 more couture shows which was considered a record for a rookie.

Fellow runway model Naomi Campbell first noticed the 19 year old Tyra on the catwalks of Paris.

Naomi then began a jealous rivalry with her new found competition by convincing many designers to ban Tyra from certain shows that Naomi was also modeling in.

This continued for several years, but later in 2005 on The Tyra Banks Show, millions of viewers finally witnessed as Naomi Campbell properly apologized for her outlandish behavior.

In 1993 she began dating director John Singleton.

That same year she first appeared with Will Smith on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air as Will’s girlfriend.

Since then she has appeared on many TV shows which include Felicity, MAD TV, American Dreams and the Price is Right, to name a few.

The Tyra Banks Biography includes her movie career which began in 1995 with a role in Higher Learning. Since then she has appeared in several movies which include Life Size, Love Stinks, Halloween: Resurrection and Love and Basketball, Mr. Woodcock and Hannah Montana: The Movie.

In 1996, after breaking up with Singleton, she briefly dated singer, Seal. This relationship only lasted a few months.

Tyra Banks is probably best known for her successful modeling career with Victoria's Secret and Sports Illustrated Magazine Swimsuit edition.

In 1997, she received VH1’s Supermodel of the Year Award.

She was also the first black woman to appear on the covers of GQ, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition and Victoria’s Secret catalog.

From 2002-2004, Tyra dated Chris Webber of the Sacramento Kings.

In 2003, Tyra began the show America’s Next Top Model which has become an international success.

In 2005, Tyra retired from modeling and began The Tyra Banks Show which premiered September 12, 2005.

In 2008, she achieved even more success by winning the Daytime Emmy Award for her show.

Tyra Banks also gives back to the community by running a girls’ camp called T-Zone. Here, inner city girls have the opportunity to learn life skills and personal development and how to have the confidence to succeed in all aspects of life.

Tyra Banks gets behind the camera One of Tyra's favorite hobbies is photography which gives her the chance to get behind the camera instead of in front of it.