Tyra Banks is a supermodel who has moved from posing in front of the camera to calling the shots behind it. Her TV show, 'America’s Next Top Model', is a huge international hit and has been syndicated worldwide.
Tyra Banks was born on 4 December 1973, in Inglewood, California. Her father, Don Banks, was a computer consultant and her mother, Carolyn, was a medical photographer.

Banks' parents divorced when she was only six-years-old, but she says that she was too young for the divorce to have much impact on her: "As far as I could see I had it made," Banks remembers. "I stayed with Mommy on the weekdays and Daddy on the weekends. I had two birthday parties, two Christmases. Double the presents, double the love."

Banks says that she developed a love for food, and not always healthy food, from a very young age, devouring fried chicken, candied yams and pork chops at family gatherings. "I was taught to enjoy food, not to fear it," Banks recalls. She developed healthier habits, too, and began working out with her mother's exercise group at the age of six.

After her grandmother passed away from lung cancer, Banks also vowed never to smoke.
Banks confesses that she was somewhat of a "mean girl" in school. "I was popular, gossipy," she recalls, "and if I didn't want one of the other girls to be in the clique anymore, for whatever tiny little reason, I voted her out."

When she attended Immaculate Heart High School in Los Angeles, however, she found herself on the other end of the social food chain. A sudden growth spurt left her tall and gawky and her classmates gave her the cruel nickname 'Giraffe'. "I went from being the popular girl who looked normal, to being considered a freak," Banks remembers.

Nevertheless, she says that the teasing and abuse taught her the importance of kindness.
By 1989, at the age of 17, Banks had outgrown her awkward phase and