Tyra Banks

Tyra Banks built a supermodel career that broke racial barriers in an industry that hadn't seen her before. She began modeling at 15 and became the first Black woman featured on the covers of GQ and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, where she appeared three times. From 1997 to 2005, she worked as a Victoria's Secret Angel and ranked among the world's top-earning models by the early 2000s.

Her television career started in 1993 on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, followed by a film debut in Higher Learning (1995). She landed major roles in Life-Size (2000), Coyote Ugly (2000), and smaller parts in Love & Basketball (2000), Halloween: Resurrection (2002), Gossip Girl (2009), and Glee (2013).

Banks' defining project came in 2003 when she created America's Next Top Model, which she executive produced and presented for twenty-two seasons until its 2015 cancellation. She remained executive producer for the 2016 revival and hosted the twenty-fourth cycle. She co-created True Beauty (2009–2010) and hosted her own talk show, The Tyra Banks Show (2005–2010) on The CW, which won two Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Talk Show Informative. Banks hosted America's Got Talent in 2017 and 2018 for its 12th and 13th seasons and hosted Dancing with the Stars for its 29th season in 2020, also serving as executive producer.

In 2010, she published Modelland, a young-adult novel based on her modeling life, which topped The New York Times Best Seller list in 2011. Her production company, Bankable Productions, created The Tyra Banks Show, America's Next Top Model, and the 2008 film The Clique. She ranks among only four Black Americans and seven women repeatedly ranked by Time magazine among the world's most influential people, and among only seventeen models designated as Legendary Supermodels by MODELS.com. As a Sagittarius [born F1], Banks embodies the sign's expansive ambition and reinvention across entertainment, media, and production.