Tyson Beckford (born December 19, 1970) is a 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.
Soon after he was born, his mother took the family back to Jamaica, where they lived for seven years before returning 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
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 has a son (born 1998) from a relationship with stylist April Roomet, who appears on the E! Television program Candy Girls.[17][18] 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.[19]
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