Facts About Tyra Banks

Facts about Tyra Banks consist of tidbits from her early years growing up awkward to her recent years in television. She is not shy about empowering women and speaking out against injustices in the industries she's involved in directly.

Tyra Banks

• When she was young, Tyra considered herself a "sick-looking beanpole".
• Her mom and dad divorced when she was six years old.
• She went to Immaculate Heart High School in Los Angeles.
• In 1992, she was set to go to Loyola Marymount University but instead she went to Paris that year to model.
• Her middle name is Lynne.
• She was born December 4, 1973 and she is a Sagittarius
• Her birthplace is Inglewood, California.
• She has an older brother named Devin.
• Tyra is 5 feet 11 inches.

Her modeling career spans about 13 years and she accomplished many notable things:

• In 1997, Tyra Banks was the first African-American woman to grace the Victoria Secret's catalog cover.
• She is also the first African-American woman to be on the covers of GQ and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit magazine.
• In order to branch out into other media outlets, like television, Tyra retired from modeling in 2005.
• In her senior year at high school, Tyra was signed with Elite Model Agency. This was after being turned down by four others.
• Her measurements are 34-28-40, which she disclosed on her talk show.

Tyra Banks has dived into many media outlets and continues to be a voice for America with The Tyra Banks Show:

• Tyra Banks is the creator, producer, and one of the judges on her reality show, America's Next Top Model.
• A little known fact about Trya Banks is she sings the theme to America's Next Top Model.
• On the show, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Tyra Banks played Will Smith's ex-girlfriend on eight episodes. She played Jackie Ames.
• On The Price is Right, she was one of "Barker's Beauties" at one point.
• Tyra won an Emmy for The Tyra Banks Show.
• She won a GLAAD media award in 2009.
• Her show, America's Next Top Model has won two Teen Choice Awards, one in 2007 and one in 2008.
• On an episode the The Tyra Banks Show, she admitted to being afraid of dolphins and sometimes has nightmares about them.
• Two of Tyra's favorite shows are Heroes and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
• The Tyra Banks Show premiered in September of 2005.
• Her music video, Shake Ya Body, premiered on America's Next Top Model on a February episode.
• Her reality show starting filming in Los Angeles, but moved to New York in 2007.
• When Tyra was a youth correspondent on The Oprah Winfrey Show, there were heavy rumors that Winfrey was training Tyra to eventually take over the show. Those rumors were rested when Oprah assisted in starting The Tyra Banks Show.

Below are some additional facts about Tyra Banks' life:

• In 1994, she was included in the list of "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" from People Magazine.
• Also in 1994, she began the Tyra Banks Scholarship.
• She is CEO of TYinc.
• Another fact about Tyra Banks is that her nickname is "BBQ".
• On one episode of her show, she was attached to a lie detector and asked "Are you jealous of Oprah Winfrey?" She answered "No", but the machine indicated otherwise.
• Another little known fact about Tyra Banks is that the character Christie Monteiro, from Tekken, is inspired by the model.
• The supermodel likes to play basketball and tennis, but loves to box.
• Tyra makes a cameo in the George Michael video, Too Funky.
• She also appeared in Michael Jackson's Black and White as one of the morphing faces.
• Her eyes are greenish-brown.
• In the movie Larceny, Tyra used a "butt double" to take over when it was time for her nude scene.
• She has dated John Singleton and Chris Webber.
• Even though she doesn't drink, Tyra played a bartender in the movie Coyote Ugly.

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