Tyra Lynn Banks
Banks at the 2012 Time 100 gala
Born	Tyra Lynn Banks (1973-12-04) December 4, 1973 (age 38) Inglewood, California, U.S.
Occupation	Model Actress Author Singer
Years active	1991–present
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[1][2]
Website
typeF.com

Tyra Lynn Banks (born December 4, 1973). is an American model, media personality, actress, occasional singer, author and businesswoman.^[3][4][5] She first became famous as a model, appearing twice on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and working for Victoria's Secret as one of their original Angels. Banks is the creator and host of the UPN/The CW reality television show America's Next Top Model, co-creator of True Beauty, and host of her own talk show, The Tyra Banks Show.

Early life[link]

Tyra Banks was born in Inglewood, California. She is the daughter of Caroline (née London; now London-Johnson), a medical photographer,^[6] and Donald Banks, a computer consultant.^[3][7] She has a brother, Devin, who is five years older. In 1980, when Banks was 6 years old, her parents divorced. Banks attended John Burroughs Middle School and graduated in 1991 from Immaculate Heart High School in Los Angeles. Tyra Banks is one of four African Americans and seven women to have repeatedly ranked among the world's most influential people by Time magazine.

Career[link]

Modeling[link]

When Banks was 15 years old, she started modeling while attending school in Los Angeles. She was rejected by four modeling agencies before she was signed by Elite Model Management at age 16. When she got the opportunity to model in Europe, she put college on hold and moved to Milan. In her first runway season, she was booked a record 25 shows at the 1991 Paris fashion week. She would later grace the covers of ELLE and Vogue Spain. She walked the runways for Chanel, Isaac Mizrahi, Anna Sui, Sonia Rykiel, Todd Oldham, Christian Lacroix, Christian Dior, Karl Lagerfeld, Calvin Klein, Badgley Mischka, Marina Spadafora, Michael Kors, Perry Ellis, Gemma Kahng, Valentino, Tracy Reese, Nicole Miller and Fendi as well as appearing in ad campaigns for Dolce & Gabbana, Yves Saint Laurent, Ralph Lauren and others.^[8] In the mid-1990's, Banks returned to America to do more commercial modeling.

Banks was the first African American woman on the covers of GQ and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.^[9] In 1997, she received the VH1 award for, "Supermodel of the Year."^{[citation needed]} That same year, she became the first-ever African American chosen for the cover of the Victoria's Secret catalog.^[10] She is one of the original Victoria's Secret Angels.

In 2010, Banks re-signed with her former modeling agency IMG Models.^[11] Banks is now a contributor of the Vogue Italia website.

Move into television and film[link]

Banks at Cannes Film Festival in 2000.

Banks's television career began on the fourth season of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, in which she played lead character Will Smith's old friend Jackie Ames. She made seven appearances in the series.^{[citation needed]} Other TV credits include Felicity, All That, MADtv, Nick Cannon's Wild 'n Out (in which she was featured as a special guest host and team captain) and The Price Is Right (guest-starring as a "Barker's Beauty").^{[citation needed]} She also appeared as a guest in the animated talk show Space Ghost Coast to Coast in an episode entitled "Chinatown."

Tyra Banks started her own production company, Bankable Productions (previously named, "Ty Ty Baby Productions"; she did not rename it till the second cycle of America's Next Top Model), which produced The Tyra Banks Show, America's Next Top Model and the 2008 movie The Clique.

Banks is the hostess, judge and executive producer of The CW Television Network show America's Next Top Model. In addition, she hosted The Tyra Banks Show, a daytime talk show aimed at younger women, which premiered on September 12, 2005, and ran until May 28, 2010.

In 2008, Banks won the Daytime Emmy Award for her work and production on The Tyra Banks Show.^{[citation needed]}, and won for the second time in a row for outstanding, informative talkshow. In 2010, Oprah Winfrey congratulated Tyra Banks for a good job done on her talk-show for inspiring and mentoring young women.

In late-January 2008, Banks got the go-ahead from The CW Television Network to start work on a new reality television series based on fashion magazines called Modelitha. The show premiered on October 22, 2008.^{[citation needed]}

Banks's first big screen role came in 1994, when she co-starred in the drama Higher Learning.^[12] She then co-starred with Lindsay Lohan in the Disney film Life-Size, playing a doll named Eve who comes to life and has to learn how to live in the real world. Other notable roles include Love Stinks (1999), Love & Basketball (2000), Coyote Ugly (2000) and Halloween: Resurrection (2002). She and Miley Cyrus poke fun at the excesses of the Hollywood lifestyle with a battle over a pair of shoes in Hannah Montana: The Movie (2009).

Banks appeared in the fourth episode of the third season of Gossip Girl^[13] playing Ursula Nyquist, a larger-than-life actress who works with Serena.

Music[link]

Banks has appeared in several music videos, including Michael Jackson's "Black or White", Tina Turner's "Love Thing", Mobb Deep's "Trife Life", George Michael's "Too Funky" (with supermodels Linda Evangelista, Estelle Lefebure, Emma Sjoberg and Nadja Auermann ) and Lionel Richie's "Don't Wanna Lose You". In 2004, she recorded her first single, "Shake Ya Body," which had a music video featuring the final six contestants on America's Next Top Model, Cycle 2. The video was world-premiered on UPN, but the single turned out to be a failure.^[14]

Banks released a single with NBA player Kobe Bryant, entitled "K.O.B.E.," which was performed on NBA TV.^{[citation needed]} She also has a single on the soundtrack to Disney Channel's Original Movie Life-Size called "Be A Star."^{[citation needed]}

Books[link]

Banks in Santa Monica on September 14, 2011

Banks announced in May 2010 that she would be writing a novel, titled Modelland,^[15] loosely based on her own modelling experience.^[16] Published September 2011,^{[dated info]} it is the first of a planned three-part series.^[17] On an interview with Good Morning America, Banks stated that Modelland is the story of four girls who are accepted into an "exclusive" modelling school in the world of Modelland.^[18] Her first novel, Modelland, hit the New York Times best seller list in October 2011.

In 1998, Banks authored a book entitled Tyra's Beauty, Inside and Out.^[19]

Website[link]

In March 2011, Banks launched her fashion and beauty website called "typeF.com", which she co-created with Demand Media.^[20]

Other[link]

In 2011, Banks enrolled in the nine-week-long Owner/President Manager Program (OPM) at Harvard Business School's open-enrollment extension school.^[21] Banks passed the Executive Education Training Program in February 2012.^[22]

Philanthropy[link]

In 1999, Tyra Banks established the TZONE program, which aimed at leadership and life skills development.^[23][24] Banks acts as the patron for TZONE. She has also established the Tyra Banks Scholarship, a fund aimed at providing African-American girls the opportunity to attend her alma mater, Immaculate Heart High School. In 2005, TZONE transformed from a camp into a public charity, the Tyra Banks TZONE Foundation.^[23]

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tyra Banks

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Tyra Banks

• Tyra Banks at the Internet Movie Database
• Tyra Banks at the Fashion Model Directory
• Tyra Banks at AllRovi
• banks Tyra Banks at People.com
• The Tyra Banks Show website
• The New York Times Profile/Interview

Sasha Grey
Sasha Grey attending the AVN Awards Show at the Palms Casino Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada on January 9, 2010
Born	Marina Ann Hantzis[1] (1988-03-14) March 14, 1988 (age 24) North Highlands, California, United States
Nationality	American
Other names	Anna Karina, Sascha Grey, Sasha Gray
Ethnicity	American, Greek American, Irish American, Polish American[2]
Height	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)[3]
Weight	110 lb (50 kg)[3]
No. of adult films	270 and 3 as director (per AFDB)[2]
Website
http://www.sashagrey.com/

Sasha Grey (born Marina Ann Hantzis;^[1] March 14, 1988) is an American actress, model and musician,^[4][5] and former pornographic actress.^[6][7] Later in her adult film career, she was profiled by several popular culture magazines and television programs.^[8][9] She won several AVN Awards between 2007 and 2010, and has also been featured in music videos and advertising campaigns.^[10][11]

After her feature film debut as the lead in Steven Soderbergh's The Girlfriend Experience, she shifted her focus to acting,^[7] starring in the black comedy/horror film Smash Cut as April Carson, as well as having a supporting role in season 7 of HBO's Entourage. She has also appeared in independent films Quit, The Girl from the Naked Eye, Life, and Mark Pellington's I Melt With You. She is a member of aTelecine, an industrial music band.^[5][12]

Early life[link]

Grey was born and raised in North Highlands, California, to a working class family. Her mother worked for the state of California and her father is a mechanic.^[8] Her ancestry includes Greek, Irish, English, and Polish.^[13] Her parents divorced when she was 5 and subsequently she was raised by her mother, who remarried in 2000. She's stated that while her parents hated her involvement in the adult industry, they get along.^[14]

Grey attended four high schools, among them Highlands High, before graduating, having been unhappy in each one,^[8] though she graduated a year early at 17.^[15] In late 2005, she attended junior college and took classes in film, dance, and acting.^[8] She waited tables at a steakhouse through March 2006 and saved $7,000 for a move to Los Angeles.^[8]

Pornographic film career[link]

Sasha Grey at the 2010 AVN Adult Entertainment Expo

In May 2006, Grey moved to Los Angeles and started her career in adult films just after turning 18.^[8] Originally she toyed with the name Anna Karina,^[8] taken after the French New Wave actress, before deciding on her present name. The name "Sasha" was taken from Sascha Konietzko of the band KMFDM,^[16] and "Grey" represents Oscar Wilde’s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray.^[17] Her first scene was an orgy with Rocco Siffredi for The Fashionistas 2 by John Stagliano.

Grey quickly made a name for herself in the business after she asked Siffredi to punch her in the stomach, however, she later stated that she was improvising and it was taken out of context.^[18] Less than six months after entering the adult industry, Grey was featured in the November 2006 edition of Los Angeles where she was flagged as a potential major star, perhaps the next Jenna Jameson.^[8] In December 2006, Grey was interviewed on the syndicated entertainment industry news show The Insider.

Sasha Grey attending the AVN Awards Show at the Palms Casino Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada on January 9, 2010

In February 2007, she appeared on The Tyra Banks Show, discussing teenagers in the sex industry. There was speculation that the show was heavily manipulated through editing, and did not include her defense of pornography as a career choice. The show was also criticized for twisting Grey's depiction to increase its dramatic value.^[19][20] In January 2007, Grey was the recipient of awards for "Best Three Way Sex Scene" and "Best Group Scene" at the AVN Adult Movie Awards.^[21] She was also nominated as "Best New Starlet", but lost to Naomi.^[21] Grey was named Pet of The Month for July 2007^[22] and was photographed by fashion photographer Terry Richardson.^[23]

In 2008, she became the youngest person to win the AVN "Female Performer of the Year" award^[24] as well as "Best Oral Sex Scene" for a scene.^[25] Grey was profiled in the Rolling Stone "Hot Issue" for the December 2008 edition.^[26] Grey formerly represented herself in the adult industry through her own agency, L.A. Factory Girls.^[27] Grey has indicated particular appreciation for the work of Andrew Blake and Kimberly Kane.^[28] A. O. Scott of The New York Times described her pornographic career as "distinguished both by the extremity of what she is willing to do and an unusual degree of intellectual seriousness about doing it."^[29]

In 2011, she was named by CNBC as one of the 12 most popular stars in porn.^[30] CNBC noted that, while she is no longer acting in porn films, her current mainstream roles have kept interest in her earlier porn work high, and several companies continue to release compilations of her earlier work. Grey filmed her last pornographic film at age 21, although she did not announce her retirement for some time after, realizing that many of her fans still believed her to be an active performer in the industry.^[31] On April 8, 2011, she officially announced her retirement from adult films on Facebook.^[32]

Non-pornographic career[link]

Modeling[link]

A modeling photo of Grey

She has modeled for French fashion designer Max Azria's ready to wear line Manoukian,^[33][34] Italian footwear brand Forfex for an international campaign,^[11] and American Apparel. She's modeled for Richard Kern as a part of Vice magazine's anti-fashion layout, and appeared in a three-part VBS program, "Shot by Kern".^[35] She also appeared in Taschen’s 25th anniversary reprint of Terry Richardson’s Terryworld.^[36] Among other collaborations with Richardson, she has also appeared in Wives, Wheels, Weapons, a companion book to James Frey's Bright Shiny Morning. She has also modeled for artists James Jean, Frédéric Poincelet,^[37] Zak Smith,^[38] and David Choe.^[39]

Grey has appeared in Playboy Magazine twice, once for a December 2009 pictorial, as well as the cover feature in October 2010.^[7][40][41] In January 2010, Grey appeared nude in an ad campaign for PETA advocating animal birth control.^[42] In February 2010, Grey stated in a PETA interview, "I think spaying and neutering is incredibly important. … [I]t keeps the animals out of the shelters, and there's too many unwanted animals out there already".^[43]

Acting[link]

Grey appeared in an episode of James Gunn's PG Porn with James Gunn,^[44] as well as a cameo role^[45] in Dick Rude's independent film Quit, and stars in^[46] the 2009 Canadian low-budget black comedy/horror film Smash Cut from the Ottawa-based Odessa/Zed Filmworks. She plays a TV news personality who goes undercover as an actress in a horror film production, only to discover her older sister's murderer. In March 2010, Grey was cast as an anti-sex Christian in the horror film Hallows, directed by Richard O'Sullivan.^[47]

Grey played the lead role, "Chelsea", an escort girl who is paid to act as the clients' girlfriend, in Academy Award-winning director Steven Soderbergh's film The Girlfriend Experience.^[48][49] Soderbergh cast her after reading the article^[8] profiling her in Los Angeles magazine, commenting that "She's kind of a new breed, I think. She doesn't really fit the typical mold of someone who goes into the adult film business...I'd never heard anybody talk about the business the way that she talked about it."^[50] In having Grey prepare for her role in The Girlfriend Experience, Soderbergh asked her to watch Godard's Vivre sa vie and Pierrot le fou.^[51] Vivre sa vie concerns prostitution, while the relationship portrayed in Pierrot le fou was suggested as a model for the dynamic between Chelsea and her boyfriend and clients.^[28] Grey and Soderbergh also interviewed two escorts, and borrowed character traits and behavior from them.^[28] Critics had mixed assessments of Grey's performance.^{[52][53][54][55]}

Grey was cast for the seventh season of the HBO show Entourage, where she played a fictionalized version of herself. Her character was Vincent Chase's new girlfriend in a multi-episode arc.^[56] Grey co-starred alongside Thomas Jane, Carla Gugino, Jeremy Piven, and Rob Lowe in the thriller I Melt With You which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2011.^[57] She then starred in the lead role in the Indonesian film Shrouded Corpse Bathing While Hip-Shaking. The film premiered in Indonesia on April 28, 2011.^[58] She subsequently starred in the lead role in the French film Life, which was released on DVD in France on August 10, 2011, and voiced the character Viola in the 2011 video game Saints Row: The Third, which was released in November 2011.

In February of that same year, she appeared in the music video for Eminem's song "Space Bound".^[59] Grey plays the role of Eminem's girlfriend, whom Eminem strangles only to realize she is just a figment of his imagination.^[60] The video was premiered on Vevo on June 27, 2011.^[61] Previously, she appeared in the music video for the 2008 song "Birthday Girl" by The Roots.^[62] She also is featured in the artwork for The Smashing Pumpkins 2007 album Zeitgeist^[10] and appears in the music video for their song "Superchrist".^[63]

Music[link]

In 2008, Grey began an industrial music collaboration, called aTelecine, with Pablo St. Francis.^[5] They have since added members Anthony D' Juan and Ian C.^[12] Their first EP, aVigillant Carpark, was released in 2009 by New York label Pendu Sound in 7 inch vinyl only.^[12] Grey also contributed vocals to the Current 93 album Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain.^[64] She also regularly performs as a DJ in the US and Canada.^[65] In 2010, aTelecine released their first LP, ...And Six Dark Hours Pass, and in November of the same year followed it up with the LP A Cassette Tape Culture.^[66] In August 9, 2011, aTelecine's first full length album, The Falcon and the Pod, was released; this album is the first of a planned trilogy.^[67][68]

Sasha Grey is also listed by Narnack Records website as a guest artist on Repentance,^[69] the 54th studio album by Grammy-winning^[69][70] reggae and dub icon^[69][71] Lee "Scratch" Perry, though Perry himself denied her involvement in a 2009 interview.^[71]

Books[link]

Grey's first photo book, Neü Sex, was released on March 29, 2011.^[72][73][74]

Personal life[link]

Since 2006, she has been developing an autobiographical documentary, illustrating her experiences from the age of 18 to 21.^[75] She was reported in a Rolling Stone interview in 2009 as being engaged to filmmaker Ian Cinnamon.^[76] Grey identifies as bisexual.^[77] She has also stated she is an atheist.^[78][79]

Controversies[link]

In November 2011, Grey participated in the Guest Reading Program at Emerson Elementary School in Compton, California. Reportedly her involvement in such activity was first denied by school officials. She had not appeared on the guest list under her stage name of 'Sasha Grey', but under her real name. Some parents were upset that a former pornographic actress would read to their children as part of an education program; Grey responded to the controversy: "I believe education is a universal right. I committed to this program with the understanding that people would have their own opinions about what I have done, who I am and what I represent."^[80][81][82] Grey also appeared on the American talk show The View where she explained that she thought the parents ought to have been given prior notice of the identity of anyone who did guest reading, and that if parents had objected to her she would not have done it.^[83]

Filmography[link]

Awards[link]

Sasha Grey accepting the AVN Awards for the Best Oral Sex Scene in 2010.

• 2007 AVN Award for Best Three-Way Sex Scene – Fuck Slaves (with Sandra Romain and Manuel Ferrara)^[21]
• 2007 AVN Award for Best Group Sex Scene (Video) – Fashionistas Safado: The Challenge^[21]
• 2007 XRCO Award for Best New Starlet^[84]
• 2007 Adultcon Top 20 Adult Actresses^[85]
• 2008 AVN Award for Best Oral Sex Scene, Video – Babysitters^[86]
• 2008 AVN Award for Female Performer of the Year^[86]
• 2008 XRCO Award for Female Performer of the Year^[87]
• 2009 XRCO Award for Mainstream Adult Favorite^[88]
• 2009 Genesis Number One Pornstar of The Year^[89]
• 2010 AVN Award for Best Anal Sex Scene – Anal Cavity Search 6^[90]
• 2010 AVN Award for Best Oral Sex Scene – Throat: A Cautionary Tale^[90]
• 2010 AVN Award for The Jenna Jameson Crossover Star of the Year^[90]
• 2010 XBIZ Award for Crossover Star of the Year^[91]
• 2010 XRCO Award for Mainstream Adult Media Favorite^[92]
• 2010 F.A.M.E. Award – Favorite Oral Starlet^[93]

See also[link]

Pornography portal

• List of pornographic actors who appeared in mainstream films

References[link]

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (February 2012)

Find more about Sasha Grey on Wikipedia's sister projects:
	Images and media from Commons

• Official website
• Sasha Grey on Facebook
• Sasha Grey on Twitter
• Sasha Grey's channel on YouTube
• Sasha Grey on Google+
• Sasha Grey on Vimeo
• Sasha Grey on Myspace
• Sasha Grey at AllRovi
• Sasha Grey at Allmusic
• Sasha Grey at the Internet Movie Database
• Sasha Grey at the Internet Adult Film Database
• Sasha Grey at the Adult Film Database
• Sasha Grey at the Notable Names Database

Interviews[link]

• Sasha Grey at Anthem Online
• Steven Soderbergh on Sasha Grey
• Everhip interview with Sasha Grey about making The Girlfriend Experience
• HustlerWorld interview: Sasha Grey Pt. 1, (2008). Larry Flynt Publications.
• HustlerWorld interview: Sasha Grey Pt. 2, (2008). Larry Flynt Publications.
• Sasha Grey: Porn's biggest new star talks to Bizarre about puke-sex, BDSM and why she loves her butthole (2008). Interview with Chris Nieratko. Bizarre, Dennis Publishing Limited.
• Sasha Grey Interview (2006). Interview with Ray Dark. Porn Valley News.
• Sasha Grey: Dawn of Porn Star (2006). Interview with Brandon Stosuy. Fanzine.
• Sasha Grey: Sasha's Grey's Anatomy (2006). Adult DVD Talk. Audio interview.
• Inside Sasha Grey (2006). XRentDVD – 24-7 Internet, Inc.
• Sasha Grey interview for Filmmaker Magazine (2009)
• Videotaped interview with Los Angeles Times blogger Scott Feinberg at Brandeis University

Naomi Campbell
Campbell at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008
Born	(1970-05-22) 22 May 1970 (age 42)[1] Streatham, London, England
Ethnicity	British Jamaican
Occupation	Model, actress, singer, writer, designer
Height	5 ft 9.5 in (1.77 m)[2]
Hair colour	Black
Eye colour	Brown
Measurements	34-24-35 in (86-61-89 cm)
Manager	TESS Management (London) Marilyn Agency (Paris) d'management group (Milan) Marilyn Model Mgmt (NYC)

Naomi Campbell (born 22 May 1970) is a British model. Scouted at the age of 15, she established herself among the top three most recognisable and in-demand models of the late 1980s and early 1990s,^[3] and she was one of six models of her generation declared "supermodels" by the fashion world.^[4] As the most famous black model of her time,^[5] Campbell has been outspoken throughout her career against the racial bias that exists in the fashion industry.^[6] Her personal life is widely reported, particularly her relationships with prominent men—including boxer Mike Tyson and actor Robert De Niro^[7]—and several highly-publicised convictions for assault.^[8]