Tyra Banks

Tyra was born in Los Angeles on December 4th, 1973, to a very loving and supportive family. Despite the divorce of her parents when she was only six years old, and the torments of her older brother Devin, Tyra's youth was happy and trouble-free. Though it might now be hard to believe, Tyra was a tall, skinny and awkward adolescent. She was constantly teased by her brother and her classmates, and often ran home crying to her mother for comfort. Then, late in high school, everything changed for her. She filled out her skinny frame, began to work out and finally decided to become a model. Tyra pursued that goal with the determination that now marks all of her activities. And after being turned down by four modeling agencies because they thought her face wasn't photogenic, she was finally signed by the Elite agency when she was 17.

So, instead of going to Loyola Marymount College, Tyra moved to Paris for a year and modeled for many of the big names in fashion, including Ralph Lauren and Chanel. She then moved back to the States and continued modeling, rocketing her way up through the ranks. Soon Tyra began to diversify her activities, having a small part in the British television movie, Inferno as a supermodel, and then appearing on Will Smith's Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in a recurring supporting role. In late-January 2008, Banks got the go-ahead from The CW Television Network to start work on a new reality television series based on fashion magazines called Stylista. The show premiered on October 22, 2008.