Tyra Banks Biography

Fast Facts

• Named Supermodel of the Year by VH1 in 1997
• Started the Tyra Banks Scholarship in 1994 to benefit youths interested in furthering their education
• Created the TZONE Foundation in the early 2000s, a non-profit organization that provides leadership and development programs for disadvantaged teenage girls
• Earned a degree from Harvard's Executive Business Education Program in 2012
• Intended to attend college and major in television production, she instead signed with Elite Model Management at 16 years old
• Quote: "''I wanna be the voice of my generation with my talk show․''"
• Quote: "What I want my strength to be is not just somebody on camera; I want to be strong as a producer, and create new businesses, and ones that empower women, and are not just about me being on camera․"
• Quote: "(On ending "The Tyra Banks Show") "I've been loving having fun, coming into your living rooms, bedrooms, hair salons for the past 5 years․․․My next huge steps will allow me to reach more women and young girls to help us all feel as fierce as we truly are․""
• After living in Milan during the first part of her career, she returned to the United States in the mid 1990s to be closer to her family and begin booking more commercial work that would eventually include numerous acting roles as well
• Served as a Victoria's Secret Angel from 1997 to 2005
• Was 16 years old when she made her runway debut, after booking 25 shows at Paris Fashion Week in 1991
• Served as Maid of Honor at Kimora Lee and Russell Simmons' wedding and also serves as their daughters' godmother
• A longtime rival of fellow supermodel Naomi Campbell, the two finally reconciled in 2005 on the set of her talk show, "The Tyra Banks Show"
• Is the first-ever African American model to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated, Victoria's Secret and GQ