On December 4th 1973, in Los Angeles, California Tyra Lynne was born to Don and Carolyn Banks. Raised in Inglewood, California with her brother Devin, Banks attended Immaculate Heart High School, an all-girl independent Catholic private school, where she was often teased for her thin frame and stick-figure like appearance.

After her high school graduation in 1991, Banks was about to commence her freshmen year at Loyola Marymount University when Elite Model Management approached her with her first modeling opportunity. She was only seventeen, but she gained a considerable amount of critical acclaim in the fashion industry for her striking beauty and graceful poise.

Banks' career skyrocketed when she broke out of the high-fashion market into the commercial sphere. Eventually Banks became the first African-American to be featured on both the covers of GQ Magazine and Sports Illustrated's famed swimsuit edition.

Banks is widely recognized as one of the world's premier fashion models, and was one of the original Victoria's Secret Angels. Despite her phenomenal success as a supermodel, however, Banks began venturing from modeling to becoming a so-called media "personality" after 2000. In 2005, Banks retired from the modeling world and made her final walk down the runway in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.

Although she has received a considerable amount of critical acclaim as the hostess, head judge, and executive producer of the CW (former the UPN) Network's television show America's Next Top Model, most recently Banks has been widely recognized for her work on her daytime talk show, The Tyra Banks Show, which premiered in 2005 and is currently in its second season.

Today, as always, Banks stands out from the stick-thin waiflike models that were popular when she first entered the modeling industry. She is well-known for being confident in her voluptuous figure and accentuated curves.

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