Tyra Banks

Tyra was born April 12, 1973, in Los Angeles, California. Tyra is an award winning model, accomplished actress and TV celebrity. Growing up in Los Angeles, Tyra was able to take full advantage of the Southern California lifestyle. Despite the fact that her parents divorced when she was very young, her mother and various family members instilled a high degree of family values and expectations. Her mother would read to her all the time, and Tyra loved to read more than anything else. When she was a young girl, it was almost like an addiction for her. She could spend hours inside bookstores.

During her young teenage years, Tyra was tall and bean-pole skinny, and constantly teased by her brother and her classmates because of her awkward appearance. During one three month period, she lost nearly 20 pounds and grew 2 inches. She was very tall for her age and her mother took her to the best doctors to try to find out what was wrong with her. The doctors said that she was perfectly healthy, and she became a "boring bookworm". She really didn't feel comfortable in her skinny body, so she ate a lot of fattening foods.

Tyra worried constantly, when all the popular girls at her school had started to develop breasts and heaps, her body just stayed the same, straight and narrow! When Tyra turned 17 years old, she started to gain weight and developed some curves. That is when Tyra's self-esteem improved and her modeling career began to take shape. Tyra has the biggest boobs on the catwalk and they are real, she says. "I was a 34C when I was 17".

Her mother raised her to be mentally strong, and that's probably why she can stand the stress of the modeling industry. "I've been lucky enough to come from a really strong family, where I was taught only to compete with myself. My mom always told me, 'Don't ever let anyone tell you you can't do something'." Tyra was used to getting into trouble in school. She would challenge her teachers because she thought that she was smarter than all of them. Her mother was constantly called to the principal's office. But, even though she was very mischievous, she always managed to get really good grades.

Tyra moved to Paris for a year and modeled for many of the big names in fashion, including Ralph Lauren and Chanel. She returned to the States and continued modeling, working her way up through the ranks and diversify her activities. Tyra ambitiously took a small part in the British television movie "Inferno", as a supermodel, and then appearing on Will Smith's Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in a recurring supporting role. Her first real movie role came in John Singleton's "Higher Learning", where she played Omar Epps' track running girlfriend. Tyra is definitely not just another supermodel playing at being an actress, she is the real thing. She even did some distance running training, in order to turn in a more believable performance. Tyra has made People Magazine's "50 Most Beautiful" list not once, but twice, and even wrote a revealing book about her life, "Tyra's Beauty Inside & Out".

Tyra loves to play tennis, golf, volleyball, basketball, bowling and snorkeling whenever she's in the Caribbean. When she's home in Los Angeles, she loves going to dinner with her friends that aren't in the entertainment industry. She was the first black model on the cover of Sports Illustrated and the first black woman and first model to be featured on the cover of GQ. She likes being part of modeling history and breaking barriers. Tyra is a true super star, with a very bright future.

Karolina Kurkova

Born in the town of Decin, Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic) on February 28th, 1984, Karolina Kurkova had a slight taste of what celebrity would be like, as her father Josef Kurka was a star basketball player. As a child, her height made her relatively awkward and gangly, but that would all change with age.

A close friend recognized her beauty and sent photos of Kurkova to an agency in Prague. Kurkova immediately landed a runway appearance, not to mention a commercial and print ad. Still, being a model in the Czech Republic did not expose her to what fashion was really about, so Kurkova took a chance and traveled to Milan to gain some more experience.


Her big break

There, Miuccia Prada (the designer behind the famous brand name) signed her to a contract that proved to be the beginning of her stellar career. On September 7th, 1999, Kurkova's hard work as a 15-year-old model culminated in a meeting with some Vogue editors in New York. She impressed them immediately and the execs began to slowly groom her for success.

A move to the Big Apple and hectic work schedule ensued. It all paid off when Kurkova finally made her presence known in the February 2001 issue of Vogue. One of the youngest models ever to grace its cover, the magazine helped propel her to stardom. She was now recognized at haute couture fashion shows and Victoria's Secret swept her up and chose her to be part of that year's television special, in November. Even fashion houses like Yves Saint Laurent took note of the stunning beauty and proceeded to sign Kurkova to deals.

Print campaigns for Tommy, Valentino,Victoria's Secret . Vogue honored her with the "Model of the Year" title at the 2002 VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards. The contracts with Ralph Lauren, Oscar de la Renta and Balenciaga

Vogue editor Anna Wintour called her the "next supermodel."