Tyra Banks was born on December 4, 1973 in Los Angeles, California. Her parents divorced when she was six years old. She has a brother, Devin. She was very tall as a child and her brother and her classmates used to tease her about that. (She's very tall now, 5' 11".) There were many days when she would go home crying. Finally in high school her life brightened when she decided to start modeling. She was all ready to go to Loyola Marymount College when she was offered a contract with the Elite agency when she was seventeen. Instead of going to college she moved to Paris for 12 months. After her exciting trip to Paris, she moved back to the U.S. where she continued modeling, becoming more well known.

    Besides being a model, Tyra also acts. In her first movie Inferno she starred as a model. Later she appeared in the TV show The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air with Will Smith. In her first "real" movie, Higher Learning, she played Omar Epps' girlfriend. It was a little roll, but she didn't mind. Tyra was the first Africa-American woman to be shown on a Victoria's Secret magazine. She made the 50 Most Beautiful People list from People magazine twice. She has starred in several movies including Coyota Ugly, Love & Basketball and a Disney movie called Life-Size. Right now she is working on another movie for Disney called Honey Thunder Dunk. Tyra happens to be one of the richest super-models in the world. She is a wonderful lady and lucky for kids, SHE ADORES THEM! She is now promoting greeting cards for abandoned kids and grown-ups. Only Children 8 & 9 write the cards. (Not including adults!)

    Many people look up to Tyra as a roll model. She considers education to be a very important thing in life and is backing it up by helping to provide an after-school reading education program. Tyra even has her own book out! It is called "Tyra's Beauty Inside and Out."
Image purchased from Corbis

by Arielle, fourth grade, 2001

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