Born Tyra Lynne Banks in Inglewood, CA on Dec. 4, 1973, she was the daughter of fashion consultant and medical photographer, Carolyn London, and computer programmer, Donald Banks. Her childhood was filled with emotional challenges, beginning with her parents’ divorce in 1980. She also suffered ridicule at the hands of her brother and classmates for her looks – the future face of countless magazine covers and product lines was a tall, thin and awkward pre-teen. Banks apparently overcame this phase sometime in her mid-teens, deciding to explore modeling as a career. Like many aspiring models, she struggled to land a contract with an agency until she was accepted by the Elite Agency at the age of 17. Although she was slated to attend Loyola Marymount College, she abandoned her plans for higher education, relocating to Paris to explore the high fashion world.

Banks’ striking looks – she was 5’10” and voluptuous – made her an overnight sensation in Paris, where she booked a record 25 shows within her first weeks in the country. She quickly racked up an extensive list of credits with the world’s biggest and most acclaimed fashion and makeup companies, including Dolce & Gabbana, Dior, Yves St. Laurent and countless others. Her face graced the front of numerous fashion publications, as well as non-couture-related magazines like GQ and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition; in both cases, she was the first African-American model to appear on their covers (she was also the first black model to grace the cover of the Victoria’s Secret catalog). Banks’ achievements earned her praise from fashion and cultural critics, as well an award from VH1 as the Supermodel of the Year in 1997. Banks officially retired from modeling in 2005 with a final catwalk for the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.

Having achieved her dreams as a model, Banks set her sights on media as a whole for her next worlds to conquer. She penned a health and beauty tome, Tyra’s Beauty Inside and Out, in 1998, and began making appearances in videos by Michael Jackson (1991’s “Black or White”), Tina Turner (1992’s “Love Thing”) and George Michael (1992’s “Too Funky”). Her acting debut came in a naughty 1992 sex drama for British TV called “Inferno,” but she played it straight for her American TV debut as Will Smith’s unrequited love interest in several episodes of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” (NBC, 1990-96). She followed this with a more substantial role in then-boyfriend John Singleton’s drama “Higher Learning” (1995), but was lambasted by critics for her performance. Undaunted, she persevered with her acting career, racking up a sizable list of television and film appearances, including “Love and Basketball” (2000); “Coyote Ugly” (2000), as one of the bartenders at the eponymous watering hole; and “Halloween: Resurrection” (2004). Her most charming turn came as a doll that comes to life for owner Lindsay Lohan in the Disney TV feature “Life Size” (2000).

In 2003, Banks served as creator, executive producer, and host of “America’s Next Top Model,” a reality series/competition which put modeling hopefuls through fairly grueling paces in the hopes of landing an exclusive contract. Banks’ on-camera presence was exceptionally poised, and if the show occasionally dipped into catty territory in its coverage of repartee and squabbles between the contestants, she remained above it. Banks’ star power helped to make the show one of the highest rated on UPN prior to its conversion to The CW. After the company change, “America’s Next Top Model” was the most watched show on The CW.

In addition to her other duties on “Top Model,” Banks also provided its theme song, recording a 2004 single “Shake Ya Body,” with contestants from the show’s second season. The single was one of several attempts Banks made to break into the music business – she had also lent her vocals to “Life Size” and the Adam Sandler animated comedy “Eight Crazy Nights” (2002), as well as contributed to Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant’s embarrassing rap single “K.O.B.E.” in 2000 – none of which yielded much success.

Banks soon doubled her TV exposure with “The Tyra Banks Show,” which launched in 2005. The show quickly established itself as a highly energetic and remarkably positive entity, which helped to set it apart from its lowbrow competition. Banks, who served as executive producer, divided her show coverage between the standard celebrity-driven interviews and more personal pieces about women and weight, job goals, and health and happiness. Banks frequently offered her own personal experiences with these areas, and made public some of the unhappier elements of her adolescence. Occasionally, her efforts to bring these topics into discussion bordered on outlandish – her donning a fat suit in public, or dressing like a man for job interviews, earned her sniggering comments from talk show pundits – but audiences seemed to appreciate her honesty and willingness to reveal the human side of a supermodel.

In addition to her hosting duties, Banks also established the Tyra Banks Scholarship, which helped girls enroll in her alma mater, The Immaculate Heart High School in Los Angeles. She also developed T-Zone, a summer camp designed to boost the leadership skills of disadvantaged teenage girls in Los Angeles, and promoted causes that lent support to abused and abandoned children around the world. For these efforts, and for the exposure and subject matter of her talk show, Banks was named one of the world’s most influential people by Time magazine; she was one of only seven women (and four African-Americans) to receive such a laurel. She was also among the wealthiest celebrity entrepreneurs in the early 21st century, with a personal fortune estimated by Forbes magazine at $18 million. Over the course of her career, Banks was linked to several famous romantic partners, including singer Seal and Sacramento Kings forward Chris Webber. Banks was reportedly engaged to Webber from 2002 until 2004, when they reportedly broke it off.