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Pavlína Pořízková
Born	Pavlína Pořízková (1965-04-09) 9 April 1965 (age 47) Prostějov, Czechoslovakia (present-day Czech Republic)
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[1]
Spouse	Ric Ocasek (1989–present)

Paulina Porizkova (born Pavlína Pořízková (Czech pronunciation: [ˈpavliːna ˈpor̝iːskovaː]) on 9 April 1965) is a Czech-American model and actress. At the age of eighteen years, she became the first woman from Central Europe to be on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swim-suit issue. She was the second woman (after Christie Brinkley) to be featured on the swim-suit issue's front cover consecutive times (1984 and 1985).

Early life[link]

Born in Prostějov, Czechoslovakia, Paulina Porizkova was still a toddler when her parents left Czechoslovakia, fleeing the Warsaw Pact invasion in 1968, and moved to Lund, Sweden, leaving young Paulina in the care of her grandmother in Czechoslovakia, believing that their daughter could be brought out later.^[2]

However, the Czechoslovakian authorities would not allow this, and the ensuing battle for Porizkova was widely publicized in the Swedish press, making her a cause célèbre.^[2] After a failed rescue attempt, in which her mother was detained by the national police, international political pressure led by Olof Palme caused the communist government to allow the Pořízek family to be reunited after seven years. Porizkova acquired Swedish citizenship.^[3] The reunion was soon ended when Porizkova's father left the family, and her parents filed for divorce. Porizkova and her father have been estranged since.^[2]

This left Porizkova's mother to fund her own medical issues, and Porizkova and her brother Jáchym Pořízek (who was born in Czechoslovakia during her mother's house arrest) to look after themselves, including having to steal bread to have something to eat.^{[citation needed]}

Career[link]

Modeling[link]

An aspiring photographer friend took pictures of Porizkova and sent them to the Elite modeling agency in 1980, hoping they would notice her own photography skills.^{[citation needed]} However, instead of taking the photographer on board, Elite head John Casablancas noticed Porizkova's physical beauty and potential, and offered her a ticket to Paris.

She quickly rose to become a top model in Paris during the early 1980s, and her fame spread to the United States when she posed in swimwear for Sports Illustrated. She appeared on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 1984 and again in 1985 (her first appearance as a model in the magazine was in 1983). She appeared on the cover of Playboy magazine in August 1987 to preview her new (non-nude) swimsuit calendar. Both of her calendars in 1988 and 1989 by photographer Marco Glaviano sold hundreds of thousands of copies.^{[citation needed]}

Porizkova was chosen twice by People as one of the Fifty Most Beautiful People in the world, in 1990 and 1992. Harper's Bazaar named her one of its ten most beautiful women in 1992. American Photo in its first issue declared her to be the model of the 1980s.^{[citation needed]} She appeared on the covers of numerous magazines around the world during the 1980s and 1990s, including Vogue, Elle, Harper's Bazaar, Self, Cosmopolitan and Glamour. She was also featured in advertising for Diet Sprite. Porizkova was the cover model for the 20th Anniversary issue of Cosmopolitan magazine in November 1985.

In 1988, Porizkova won what was then the highest-paying modeling contract: a six million dollar contract with Estée Lauder cosmetics, replacing the model Willow Bay.^{[citation needed]} The black-and-white television and print advertising campaign won praise from critics. The Estée Lauder makeover transformed Porizkova's public image from a swimsuit model to that of European sophisticate^{[citation needed]} and she remained the company's face until 1995. She was presented on the November 1999 Millennium cover of American Vogue as one of the "Modern Muses".^[4]

Porizkova's photos appeared in the books Models and Sirens, by Marco Glaviano, and in Fashion Photography by Patrick Demarchelier. The latter includes some of the noted LIFE magazine swimsuit pictures from several years ago. She was in Women by Herb Ritts.

After having her first baby in 1993, Porizkova devoted less time to modeling, and she moved into acting in independent films. She soon got a new contract as the lead model for Escada. In early 2001, she was the hostess for a television show on the E! network's Style Channel.

Television work[link]

Porizkova was part of the panel of judges on America's Next Top Model, starting on Cycle 10 replacing the fashion icon, Twiggy.^[5] Porizkova continued to conduct regular weekly evaluations of Top Model participants on the show until she announced she'd been fired from Top Model during a 12 May 2009 appearance on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on CBS. Though Porizkova maintained she was told by producers that she had an "ego problem", especially when she "consistently complained" about Tyra Banks' "lateness to the set, ANTM executive producer Ken Mok as well as Tyra Banks released a statement saying her firing was due to "the current state of the economy", forcing ANTM to "make major budget cuts...unfortunately, Paulina was a casualty of these cuts." When questioned by ABC's Cynthia McFadden about the firing of Porizkova as well as former ANTM colleague, Janice Dickinson, both of whom have complained Banks is "difficult", Tyra Banks refused to address the issue.^[6]

Porizkova was a participant on the Spring 2007 series Dancing with the Stars,^[7] but she was voted off on the first results show which aired 27 March 2007.^[8] In January 2010, she played the minor role of Clarissa, in the CBS Daytime soap opera, As The World Turns.

Porizkova also had a guest appearance in the short-lived sitcom Ned & Stacey in 1995.

Acting[link]

Porizkova's film debut was in the 1983 modeling mockumentary, Portfolio. Only 17 years old, she managed to look more mature and intelligent than the other more-established models, and became "covergirl" for the film. She appeared in the 1987 film Anna, receiving good reviews from her patrons at Vogue magazine. It was in 1989 that she had her largest, and best-known role to date, co-starring with Tom Selleck (who was rumored to not get along with her at all) in the film Her Alibi. However, she was nominated for a Golden Raspberry for worst actress for her appearance in the film.^[9]

Porizkova appeared in Emir Kusturica's 1993 film Arizona Dream, with Johnny Depp and Jerry Lewis, in a minor role as Lewis's young Polish fiancee. She turned down an opportunity to be a Bond Girl in the 1995 film GoldenEye because of better earnings available to her in modeling at the time, as well as not wishing to take time away from her family. In 1998 she featured in the film Thursday.

She also appeared in a 6th season episode of Desperate Housewives, Chromolume No. 7 alongside model Heidi Klum.

Porizkova wrote and directed the 2001 film, Roommates. In 2004, she starred in the romantic comedy Knots. Her recent television work includes an 18 April 2007 appearance on The Colbert Report after remarks that she found Colbert "extremely attractive." She most recently appeared on the Starz comedy series Head Case which aired on 24 April 2009.

Writing[link]

Porizkova co-authored a children's book, The Adventures of Ralphie the Roach (ISBN 978-0385424028) with Joanne Russell and illustrated by stepson Adam Ocasek, that was published in September 1992.

She published her first novel, A Model Summer (ISBN 978-1401303266; Modellsommar in Swedish), in 2007. It is about a 15-year-old Swedish girl (Jirina) chosen by a modeling agent to spend a summer working in Paris in 1980.

Porizkova is currently a blogger for Modelinia and the Huffington Post.^[10]

Personal life[link]

On 23 August 1989, Porizkova married Ric Ocasek, lead singer for the rock band The Cars. They had first met in 1984 during the filming of The Cars' music video "Drive" (directed by Timothy Hutton) in which she stars. Porizkova was 19 years of age and Ocasek was already married at that time. The couple have two children.

Porizkova is the subject of the song "Friends of P" by The Rentals on their 1995 album Return of the Rentals, written by lead singer Matt Sharp.^[11] She is also the subject of the song "Paulina" on No Doubt's eponymous first album.

See also[link]

• List of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover models
• America's_Next_Top_Model#Judges
• Her Alibi
• Ric_Ocasek#Personal life

References[link]

External links[link]

• Paulina Porizkova at the Fashion Model Directory
• Paulina Porizkova at the Internet Movie Database
• One on One - Paulina Porizkova - interview on Al Jazeera English (video, 22 mins)
• Porizkova's profile at cwtv.com
• Biodata

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]