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Tyra Banks

 
Tyra Banks
Source

model

Personal Information

Born on December 4, 1973, in Los Angeles, CA; daughter of Don Banks (a computer consultant) and Carolyn London-Johnson (a business manager).
Memberships: none.

Career

Model, 1991-; actress, 1993-; Tygirl, Inc., founder and CEO, 1995-.

Life's Work

Tyra Banks has parlayed her supermodel status into film, television, and music; her career is proceeding well according to her ambitious plans. A hit on the runways of top designers since the early 1990s, Banks's career segued first into television and later into film, when she was cast in a leading role in the 1995 film Higher Learning, written and directed by John Singleton. With the help of a supportive family, Banks has successfully managed her fame in positive ways, and has chosen roles and collaborations with other African-American arts professionals who seek to portray their community in a diverse, multifaceted way. With her hit show America's Next Top Model and her budding pop music career, along with her continued modeling, Banks was poised to reap the benefits of superstardom.

Grounded in Family Love

Tyra Banks was born in Los Angeles December 4, 1973, to Carolyn and Don Banks. Her mother was a medical photographer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, while her father is a computer consultant. They divorced when Tyra was six, although the relationship between parents and children--including Tyra's older brother Devin--remained amicable. Growing up, she would often parade around the family's Inglewood duplex in her mother's high heels and long robes, play-acting at being a model. Her view of the profession came largely from watching the weekly CNN program Style with Elsa Klensch, and later the MTV feature House of Style starring Cindy Crawford. In more serious moments, Banks entertained the idea of going to veterinary school. Yet her unusual looks sometimes made life difficult, as she told GQ writer James Ryan. "People called me Olive Oyl, Lightbulb Head, and Fivehead, because my forehead was so big," Banks recalled.

Banks attended Immaculate Heart High School, a rigorous Catholic girls' school in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles, where classmates also teased her because of her increasing height (5'11") and weight (around 125 lbs). She told the Chicago Tribune that her most humbling experience in life was losing the prom queen crown to a girl she described as the smartest in her class. After graduating, she decided to try modeling on a lark, thinking it might be a good way to do some traveling. Since her mother was a photographer, putting a portfolio together was not a problem. Banks took her book to agencies, but, as mother Carolyn London-Johnson recalled for People magazine writers Tom Gliatto and Bryan Alexander, "The market for black models was not very good. They would say, 'We have this many black girls already.'"

After encountering one too many dead ends, Banks decided to go ahead with her backup plan to start college and study film. Accepted at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, Banks was walking down the street two weeks before classes started when a model scout from France spotted her. The scout offered her immediate work for the upcoming fall haute couture shows in Paris, and Banks accepted. "Her sensual lope and sleek, space-age frame gave her instant catwalk charisma," People described the model in its "Fifty Most Beautiful Women" issue. Designer Todd Oldham likened Banks to "an antelope. She was just born with grace."

Entranced the Paris Runways

Within Banks's first week in Paris, other designers were so entranced by her presence on the runway that she was booked for an unprecedented 25 shows--a record in the business for a newcomer. Next, Banks was offered lucrative contract deals, where the real money in the modeling industry lies. She was the first African American woman on the cover of Sports Illustrated's high-profile swimsuit issue; American designer Ralph Lauren wanted her for another one of his lush, multipage ad campaigns; and cosmetics giant Cover Girl made her the second African American to be offered a long-term deal with them.

Yet Banks's early days in the modeling business were difficult for her, despite a naturally exuberant and flexible demeanor. Subtle racism within the industry was partly responsible; from the start, Banks was called the "new Naomi Campbell," in comparison to the more experienced supermodel who had been the star woman of color on the runways for some years. Campbell, known for her diva-like behavior, was incensed, and managed to get Banks barred from appearing in a Chanel show after refusing to speak to her on several other occasions. "No model should have to endure what I went through at 17," Banks told Essence writer Deborah Gregory. "It's very sad that the fashion business and press can't accept that there can be more than one reigning black supermodel at a time."

Banks discussed the racism in the modeling industry with Cosmopolitan writer Jamie Diamond in 1993. "I've had bookers tell me, 'You've got light skin and green eyes. You're easy to sell.'" She admitted to relaxing her hair and having hair extensions done "because that's what 'beautiful' is supposed to look like--and that's how I make my living." Nevertheless, success does not insulate Banks from random acts of racism in everyday life. When she and a friend went to a New York City newsstand to purchase a magazine whose cover the model graced, the proprietor yelled at the two women and ordered them out of the store. When her friend pointed out the issue and Banks's image, he responded by saying "I don't care. You all look alike."

Spotted by Influential Director

The difficulties engendered by her daughter's new profession helped convince Carolyn London-Johnson to heed Banks's urgings and get involved. She quit her job and moved to Paris for a time to become her full-time manager, an arrangement that has suited them well. Banks's father handles her finances, and the supermodel daughter did not move out of her mother's house until she was 21. A magazine cover for Essence in June of 1993 sparked the next big move in Banks's career. John Singleton, director of the Academy-Award-nominated Boyz 'N the Hood, spotted the magazine and thought she would be perfect for an as-yet-uncast role in his next film. After mutual friends introduced them, Singleton attended one of Banks's appearances on the runway. He was entranced. They struck up a friendship that blossomed into romance.

Meanwhile, Banks had been cast in an occasional recurring role on the NBC-TV sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, starring former hip-hop star and feature-film actor Will Smith. Banks portrayed Jackie Ames, a love interest of Smith's title character. The acting experience made it easier when Singleton and the producers of his upcoming film Higher Learning asked her to read for the role of Deja, a star athlete at the film's fictional university. Some assumed that she had gotten the role because of her relationship with Singleton, the film's director, but Banks told Entertainment Weekly reporter Tim Appelo that "John said, 'Read for it, but if you're bad, you don't get it. I'd look like I'm thinkin' with my you-know-what.'" Her performance at the audition made an impact, however, and she won the role. Higher Learning won kudos from critics for its performances. Although Banks and Singleton eventually parted ways, Banks had established her acting career.

After the success of Higher Learning, Banks bought herself a five-bedroom abode in Los Angeles. She has also endowed her alma mater, Immaculate Heart, with a scholarship for African American girls. "I was very privileged that my mother and father sent me to private school," Banks told Gregory in Essence. "I want other African-American girls who can't afford it to experience that kind of education." Although still modeling, she pursued her career on the screen with diligence, starting by reading up on the history of the film industry. Banks told Essence's Gregory that she had planned on a career in film prior to even thinking about modeling, but realized that the yoke of Supermodel would be a hard one to shed. "Even when I'm 50 and no longer modeling, everyone will still refer to me as 'Tyra the model.' Once a model, always a model."

Yet being an African American model in an industry dominated by Caucasians has been difficult. "It's long overdue that black models receive the same benefits as white models," she told Essence's Gregory. "But I still don't make as much as the white supermodels do." Rather than waiting for the industry to catch up, Banks made her own plans for a multifaceted career. She formed a corporation in 1991--Tygirl, Inc.--to manage her career, and declined further involvement in The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, in part because "everybody started coming up to me on the street and calling me Jackie Ames," she told Ryan in GQ. "I felt like I didn't want to get stereotyped into that character." The actor declined a role as a one-night stand with Tom Cruise's character in the 1993 film The Firm, primarily because of the one-dimensional, decorative nature of the character. "I don't want roles that scream, I AM SO PRETTY!," Banks told People magazine's Gliatto. Another rule? She freely admitted an important one to Appelo in the Entertainment Weekly article: "I'm not takin' off my clothes."

Started a Televised Model Hunt

Over the next decade, Banks took her career in many different directions. She wrote a beauty book that preached about the necessity of recognizing one's own inner and outer beauty. She continued to take roles in films. While she played a doll magically given life in the made-for-television movie Life-Size, for the most part Banks remained true to her desire not to take roles that simply relied on her looks. In Coyote Ugly she played a law student named Zoe, and she faced the murderous Jason in Halloween: Resurrection. But Banks focused much more on her own image. Taking cues from the success of reality television programming, Banks created America's Next Top Model in 2003. The program follows the ups and downs of a group of models as they compete for the chance to win a modeling contract. Among the show's panel of experts, Banks is portrayed as a powerful gatekeeper to the world of high fashion and glamour. According to New Yorker television critic Nancy Franklin, "the aspiring models view her both as the bearer of a magic ticket out of poverty, obscurity, stripping, and waitressing and as a comforting, maternal, Oprah-like figure." The show was hailed in 2005 as UPN's most desirable show. Television analyst Carolyn Finger told Television Week that "It's the one show that universally it can be said any network would like to have."

Among her other ventures, Banks planned to record music and launch herself as a pop diva. In addition she was preparing to launch her own talk show. Television Week noted that "Banks' planned talk show is considered one of the highest-profile pieces of development for syndication in 2005." Unlike her unique modeling show, which has since encouraged other similar shows, Banks understood that her talk show would be one among many. But, as she told Television Week, "there is a void right now for a talk show headed by someone of my generation.... I haven't seen it done how we're doing it. And I hope that will pay off." Only time will tell. However, Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution President Dick Robertson is banking on Banks. He told the Hollywood Reporter: "If there's ever a future Oprah, she could be the one."

Awards

none.

Works

Selected works

    Books
    • (With Vanessa Thomas Bush) Tyra's Beauty Inside & Out, HarperPerennial, 1998.
    Films
    • Higher Learning, 1995.
    • Life-Size, 2000.
    • Coyote Ugly, 2000.
    • Halloween: Resurrection, 2002.
    Television
    • The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, 1990.
    • America's Next Top Model, 2003-.
    • The Tyra Banks Show, 2005.

    Further Reading

    Periodicals

    • Chicago Tribune, August 6, 1995, p. C14.
    • Cosmopolitan, September 1993.
    • Detroit News, June 1, 1995, p. C3.
    • Entertainment Weekly, January 13, 1995, p. 3.
    • Essence, February 1995, p. 60.
    • GQ, June 1995, p. 176.
    • Hollywood Reporter, September 30. 2004, p.3.
    • Jet, February 13, 1995, p. 30.
    • New Yorker, March 14, 2005, pp. 143-44.
    • New York Times, August 4, 2000.
    • People, April 11, 1994, p. 57; May 9, 1994, p. 118; January 23, 1995, p. 33; March 7, 2005, p. 38.
    • Television Week, January 10, 2005, p. 49; January 31, 2005, p. 12.

    — Carol Brennan and Sara Pendergast

    Quotes By:

    Tyra Banks

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    Quotes:

    "I'm not ugly, but my beauty is a total creation."

    AMG AllMovie Guide:

    Tyra Banks

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    Biography

    "A smart model is a good model," Tyra Banks was once quoted as saying, and she seems destined to prove it in every way. Now widely known as one of the world's foremost supermodels, Banks began her modeling career at the age of 17 with the Elite agency after flirting with attending college at Loyola Marymount. The 5'11" beauty was quickly discovered in Los Angeles, her birth city, and offered a healthy contract with cosmetics company Cover Girl -- becoming only the third African-American woman in the world to secure such an opportunity.

    Her striking looks and business savvy extended to several offers, including assignments with Ralph Lauren and various magazine covers (over 20 to be exact), including Sports Illustrated and most notably GQ, where Banks became the first black woman ever to grace the cover. In addition to various ads and runway gigs, Banks decided to branch out into feature films, scoring a few high-profile gigs, starring as Omar Epps' love interest in John Singleton's racially charged drama Higher Learning (1995) and snagging a stint opposite Will Smith on TV's The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. These breakout roles led to more film work, including a British sexploitation film called Inferno and a comic turn in 1999's Love Stinks with actors French Stewart and Bill Bellamy. In 2000, Banks landed a high-profile gig in the critically dismissed but lively Jerry Bruckheimer production Coyote Ugly, playing a sexy barmaid in a role that showcased all of her assets in one tidy package.

    Continuing her dual career, Banks' devotion to environmental issues has shown the world her ambition to be a role model as well. She is a promoter of a line of greeting cards for Children+Families, an organization dedicated to helping abused children. Created with the aid of children aged eight and nine, the card series is designed to promote literacy for children in troubled homes. ~ Jason Clark, Rovi
    Wikipedia on Answers.com:

    Tyra Banks

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    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.

    Contents

    Early life

    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

    Modeling

    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

    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

    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

    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

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

    Other

    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

    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

    Film
    Year Film Role Notes
    1995 Higher Learning Deja
    1999 Love Stinks Holly Garnett
    2000 Love & Basketball Kyra Kessler
    Life-Size Eve Doll TV movie
    Coyote Ugly Zoë
    2002 Halloween: Resurrection Nora Winston
    Eight Crazy Nights Victoria's Secret Gown Voice
    2007 Mr. Woodcock Herself Cameo
    2008 Tropic Thunder Herself Cameo
    2009 Hannah Montana: The Movie Herself Cameo[25]
    Television
    Year Title Role Notes
    1993 The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Jackie Ames TV series (credited as "Tyra")
    • Where There's a Will, There's a Way: Part 1
    • Where There's a Will, There's a Way: Part 2
    • All Guts, No Glory
    • Father of the Year
    • Blood Is Thicker Than Mud
    • Fresh Prince After Dark
    • Take My Cousin... Please
    • You've Got to Be a Football Hero
    1999 Felicity Jane Scott TV series
    • A Good Egg
    • Kissing Mr. Covington
    • One Ball, Two Strikes
    Just Shoot Me! Herself TV series
    • Nina Sees Red: Part 1
    • Nina Sees Red: Part 2
    2000 MADtv Katisha Latisha Parisha Farisha Johnson TV series
    • Episode #5.17
    • Episode #5.25
    2001 Soul Food Nina Joseph
    2003–present America's Next Top Model Host Reality TV series created, judged and hosted by Banks
    2004 American Dreams Carolyn Gill TV series
    • Chasing the Past
    All of Us Roni TV series
    • O Brother, Where Art Thou?
    2005–2010 The Tyra Banks Show Host Talk show
    2009 Gossip Girl Ursula Nyquist TV series,season 3
    • Dan de Fleurette
    2011 Mexico's Next Top Model Guest judge Reality TV Series
    2012 Vietnam's Next Top Model Guest judge Reality TV Series
    Shake It Up Miss Burke Disney Channel Original Series
    Top Model po-russki Guest judge Reality TV Series

    References

    1. ^ "Tyra Banks Height – how tall". http://www.celebheights.com/s/Tyra-Banks-576.html. 
    2. ^ America's Next Top Model Cycle 13, episode 4.
    3. ^ a b Jason Clark (2008). "Tyra Banks:Biography on MSN". MSN. http://movies.msn.com/celebrities/celebrity-biography/tyra-banks/. Retrieved 2008-07-18. 
    4. ^ "ABC News: Tyra Banks Experiences Obesity Through Fat Suit". http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/BeautySecrets/story?id=1280787. 
    5. ^ "Tyra Banks On It – Forbes.com". March 7, 2006. http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2006/0703/120.html. 
    6. ^ "Tyra Banks Biography". http://www.biography.com/articles/Tyra-Banks-16242328. Retrieved 17 July 2011. 
    7. ^ "Tyra Banks Biography". FilmReference.com. http://www.filmreference.com/film/26/Tyra-Banks.html. 
    8. ^ Bank Profile at Fashion Model Directory, Retrieved on 2012-03-31.
    9. ^ "Tyra Banks Profile". FMD-database. http://www.fashionmodeldirectory.com/models/Tyra_Banks. Retrieved 2008-06-11. 
    10. ^ Norment, Lynn (1997). "Tyra Banks: on top of the world – African American fashion model". Ebony. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1077/is_n7_v52/ai_19383832/. 
    11. ^ Bio at Imgmodels.com. Retrieved on 2010-05-27.
    12. ^ "Tyra Banks' Bikini Body". http://www.shape.com/lifestyle/entertainment_and_celebrities/cover_models/tyra_banks_shape_cover. 
    13. ^ Tyra Banks Joining Gossip Girl. usmagazine.com (2010-03-04). Retrieved on 2011-09-29.
    14. ^ Biography of Tyra Banks: Career
    15. ^ Nudd, Tim. Tyra Banks to Publish Her First Novel. People. May 11, 2010. Retrieved July 23, 2011.
    16. ^ Fire chief Tyra Banks is smoking hot as she dons skin-tight catsuit and knee-high boots. The Daily Mail. July 22, 2011. Retrieved July 23, 2011.
    17. ^ Krupnick, Ellie. Tyra Banks Talks 'Modelland', Harvard Business School (VIDEO). The Huffington Post. July 21, 2011. Retrieved July 23, 2011.
    18. ^ Martin, Lara. 'America's Next Top Model' all-stars is crazy, says Tyra Banks. Digital Spy. July 21, 2011. Retrieved July 23, 2011.
    19. ^ "Tyra Banks, Supermodel, Talk Show Host, and Actress". New York Times Bestsellerlist. http://www.newyorktimesbestsellerlist.org/reviews/tyra-banks. 
    20. ^ About Us typeF web site
    21. ^ Harvard Crimson, Tyra Banks Enrolls at Harvard Business School 2011-02-16. Retrieved 2011-03-13.
    22. ^ Hughes, Sarah Ann. Washington Post. "Tyra Banks graduates from Harvard’s executive education program." 24 Feb. 2012, Washington Post
    23. ^ a b TZONE Story. TZONE Foundation, accessed January 14, 2011.
    24. ^ Tyra Bank's Faces of Philanthropy page. Faces of Philanthropy, accessed January 14, 2011.
    25. ^ "'Hannah Montana' Film Scenes Shot In Cool Springs Mall". NewsChannel 5.com. 2008-05-28. http://www.newschannel5.com/global/story.asp?s=8391689. 

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