Tyra Banks

Tyra Lynne Banks is a television personality, author, actress, singer, executive producer, talk show host, and former supermodel. She is well known for her role as the host and judge of the reality television show America's Next Top Model.

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• Smiles come naturally to me, but I started thinking of them as an art form at my command. I studied all the time. I looked at magazines, I'd practice in front of the mirror and I'd ask photographers about the best angles. I can now pull out a smile at will.
  • Lynn Hirschberg (June 1, 2008) "Banksable", The New York Times, The New York Times Company.

• And I do know about body image. About worrying about it. I made my living being 20 or 30 pounds heavier than the average model. And that's where I got famous. Victoria's Secret said I sold more bras and panties than anybody else, and I was traipsing down that runway with 30 pounds more booty than the other girls. So it had a lot to do with my success, my weight, but it's also always been issue for me, so I can relate.
  • Euan Ferguson (April 15, 2007) "Interview: Tyra Banks - The supermodel turned spokeswoman", The Guardian, Guardian News and Media Limited.

• I get so much mail from young girls who say, 'I look up to you, you're not as skinny as everyone else, I think you're beautiful' ... So when they say that my body is 'ugly' and 'disgusting,' what does that make those girls feel like?
  • "Cover Story: Tyra Banks Speaks Out About Her Weight" (January 24, 2007) People Magazine, Time Inc.

• Journalists told me that a talk show wouldn't work. Some told me I was going to get canceled before my first season was up. Before I did one show, they were, like 'Why do you want to do this? Do you know that 90 percent of talk shows don't get a second season? You're a model. People just see you as a model.'
  • "Tyra Banks: Success as Fashion Model and Businesswoman Make Her a Role Model as Well". (October 2006) Jet. p. 63.

• I was embarrassed when a businessman friend asked, 'What's the yearly budget of your talk show? What's the per-episode budget?' And I looked at him with these blank, typical-model eyes and said, 'I don't know.' I call myself a businesswoman and I don't know that? So that is my goal next year--to really dissect the budget.
  • Kiri Blakeley (July 3, 2006) "Celebrity 100: Tyra Banks On It", Forbes, Forbes.com LLC.

• I've been singing for six years. I've been in and out of the studios with top producers, but it wasn't something I was ready to express to the public or to the press. I wasn't ready to come out. I wanted to perfect my voice and be 100 percent positive that I could come out right.
  • Margena A. Christian (March 1, 2004) "Tyra Banks: creator of TV's 'America's next top model' tells why singing is her next move" Jet.