American model and actor
Tyson Beckford
|
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Born
| (
1970-12-19
)
December 19, 1970
(age 53)
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Children
| 1
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Modeling information
|
Height
| 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
|
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Hair color
| Black
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Eye color
| Brown
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|
Tyson Beckford
(born December 19, 1970) is an Jamaican American model and actor best known as a
Ralph Lauren Polo
model. He was also the host of both seasons of the
Bravo
program
Make Me a Supermodel
. Beckford has been described as one of the most successful black male
supermodels
of all time, achieving fame and huge contracts similar to the female models who had huge success in the 1990s.
Early life
[
edit
]
Beckford was born in
Rochester, New York
, on December 19, 1970, to a
Jamaican
mother, Hillary Dixon Hall, and a
Panamanian
father of Jamaican and
Chinese-Jamaican
descent, Lloyd Beckford.
Soon after he was born, his mother took the family back to Jamaica, where they lived for seven years before moving to Rochester, New York, where he attended and graduated from
Pittsford Mendon High School
. During his school years, Tyson was often teased about his looks.
[1]
Career
[
edit
]
In 1992, Erik Lauren Counsel of the
hip hop
magazine
The Source
approached Beckford "in
Washington Square Park
" about being "in a style piece" in the magazine
New York City.
[2]
In an August 2021 VLADTV interview, Beckford clarified that nobody named Jeff Jones "discovered him" and said that "the person who gets the credit is Erik."
[3]
[4]
Confusion about his discovery might have happened after a 2005
People
magazine
interview, when Beckford stated that his career began as he was "minding his own business" in Manhattan's Washington Square Park, when scouts from the hip hop magazine
The Source
asked him to pose. "I'm thinkin', 'Yeah, this is some porno magazine,'" he recalled, "but everything was legit."
[5]
In 1993, Beckford was recruited by
Ralph Lauren
as the front model for the company's Polo line of male sportswear.
[6]
Beckford was named "Man of the Year" in 1995 by cable television music channel
VH1
and one of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" by
People
magazine. He is represented by Soul Artist Management in New York City and D'management Group in
Milan
.
[7]
He was ranked at number 38 on VH1's 40 Hottest Hotties of the '90s.
[8]
In 2003, he appeared on the ABC network's celebrity reality game show
I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!
. In September 2008, he supported the National RESPECT! Campaign against domestic violence, recording a voice message for the Giverespect.org Web site, speaking about the importance of respect for others.
[9]
Beckford co-hosted the modeling contest
Make Me a Supermodel
on the television channel
Bravo
with fellow supermodel
Niki Taylor
. The show chose
Nicole Trunfio
to join Beckford as a mentor to the model contestants for the show's second season. Other judges included designer
Catherine Malandrino
, model
Jenny Shimizu
, photographer
Perou
, and model scout Marlon.
[10]
Beckford judged and mentored the contestants of the first few episodes of the Australian version of
Make Me a Supermodel
with model and former
Miss Universe
Jennifer Hawkins
.
[
citation needed
]
In 2012, he participated in
Fox
's dating game show
The Choice
.
[11]
He was one of the judges on the British version of
America's Next Top Model
.
Personal life
[
edit
]
On Monday, June 6, 2005, Beckford was injured during a vehicle accident in
Secaucus, New Jersey
. "Shortly before 5:00 am, he lost control of his 2004
Dodge Ram SRT-10
and struck a utility pole. The vehicle caught fire immediately after the collision, but Beckford was able to pull himself out before the red pick-up became fully engulfed in flames." He was taken to the
Jersey City Medical Center
and hospitalized for head trauma and cuts.
[12]
During an interview on
The Oprah Winfrey Show
, Tyson claimed the accident had a profound effect on his spirituality.
[13]
In the aforementioned Oprah interview, Tyson said he was stopped at a stop sign on Route 3 in Secaucus, New Jersey, just outside of New York City, when he says his truck was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer. "I did a 180° spin and had my clutch foot in and my brake foot in. I was literally standing on top of it. I just hit the pole and wrapped the front end of my truck around it, and that was it."
[14]
"I remember hitting the steering wheel," Tyson says. "It felt like someone had taken a baseball bat and hit me on the [right] side of my face. I fell back into my seat and it was such a shock. I didn't know what happened and I wasn't moving. Then I figured, 'Okay, I'm dead.'"
[15]
Beckford has been a resident of the
New Jersey
communities of
Edgewater
[16]
and
West New York
.
[17]
Beckford has a son (born in 1998) from a relationship with celebrity stylist April Roomet, who appears on the
E! Television
program
Candy Girls
.
[18]
[19]
Beckford is an ambassador for the nonprofit
Kick 4 Life
, an organization that uses the power of soccer to engage vulnerable youth in holistic care and support in
Lesotho
.
[20]
Filmography
[
edit
]
Films
[
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]
Television
[
edit
]
Music videos
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"BEST Tyson Beckford Model Bio: Chinese Ethnicity, Parents, Mother, Father Lloyd, Nationality, Age, Height"
.
Arogundade
.
- ^
"Tyson Beckford on Being Face of Polo, Dating Kim K, Kanye & Chris Brown Beef (Full Interview)"
.
YouTube.com
. Retrieved
February 14,
2022
.
- ^
"Tyson Beckford on Being Face of Polo, Dating Kim K, Kanye & Chris Brown Beef (Full Interview)"
.
YouTube.com
. Retrieved
February 14,
2022
.
- ^
"Tyson Beckford on Getting Discovered as a Model on the Street by Source Magazine"
. YouTube.com. August 2021.
- ^
Silverman, Stephen.
"ModelTyson Beckford Escapes Burning Truck"
. People Magazine
. Retrieved
June 7,
2005
.
- ^
"Tyson Beckford's Workout Regimen for the Runway"
Archived
May 28, 2015, at the
Wayback Machine
Retrieved May 28, 2015
- ^
"Tyson Beckford ? Profile"
. Models.com
. Retrieved
December 18,
2012
.
- ^
Notedguys.com
Archived
October 6, 2009, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"Send a celebrity voice message"
. GiveRespect.org. September 2008.
- ^
Nguyen, Hanh.
"
'Make Me a Supermodel' Returns With Tyson, New Judges"
. Zap2it
. Retrieved
January 7,
2009
.
- ^
Hibberd, James (May 8, 2012).
"Fox's 'The Choice' cast revealed! Joe Jonas, Dean Cain, The Situation, many more -- EXCLUSIVE"
.
Entertainment Weekly
. Retrieved
April 11,
2013
.
- ^
Times, NY (June 8, 2005).
"Metro Briefing New Jersey: Secaucus: Model Hurt in Truck Crash"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
June 8,
2005
.
- ^
"Beckford Sobs As He Recalls Car Blaze"
.
Contact Music
. October 21, 2005
. Retrieved
December 15,
2013
.
- ^
Winfrey, Oprah.
"How Does it Feel?"
. Oprah.com
. Retrieved
June 8,
2005
.
- ^
Winfrey, Oprah.
"How Does it Feel?"
. Oprah.com
. Retrieved
June 8,
2005
.
- ^
"Miss Thing"
.
Blender
. Retrieved
July 3,
2007
.
Edgewater, New Jersey ? home to Tyson Beckford
- ^
"Tyson Beckford injured in New Jersey truck accident"
.
USA Today
.
- ^
"Candy Girls"
. EOnline
. Retrieved
February 16,
2013
.
- ^
"TV Stylist Reveals Beckford Is Her Son's Father"
.
contactmusic.com
. March 20, 2009
. Retrieved
June 8,
2009
.
- ^
Duffy, Nick (August 2, 2018).
"Tyson Beckford hits back after Kim Kardashian implies he's gay"
.
PinkNews
. Retrieved
May 9,
2021
.
External links
[
edit
]