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Eva Marcille
Birth name	Eva Marcille Pigford
Date of birth	October 30, 1984 (1984-10-30) (age 24)
Place of birth	Los Angeles, California
Height	5 ft 6.5 in (1.69 m)
Hair color	Light Brown (Dyed)
Eye color	Hazel
Measurements	32-23-32 (US)1
Shoe size	9 (US)
Agency	L.A Models Ford Models
Alias(es)	Eva the Diva, Eva Pigford, D-Eva, Eva Diva

Eva Marcille (born Eva Marcille Pigford on October 30, 1984)^{citation needed} is an American actor, TV host and fashion model. She was the winner of the third cycle of America's Next Top Model, and was the first African American contestant to win the program. She began portraying Tyra Hamilton on the Daytime Emmy-winning soap opera The Young and the Restless in June 2008. She previously went by the name Eva Pigford.²

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 2.1 Modeling 2.2 Television work 3 Personal life 4 References 5 External links

Early life

Eva Pigford was born in Los Angeles, California. She attended Raymond Avenue Elementary School, Marina Del Rey Middle School, and Washington Preparatory High School (2002).^{citation needed} She attended Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia; however, she left the school shortly after winning the third cycle of America's Next Top Model.

Career

Modeling

Marcille was the winner of the third cycle of America's Next Top Model,³ beating fellow contestants Yaya Da Costa and Amanda Swafford. Her prizes included a CoverGirl cosmetics contract, a spread in Elle, and a modeling contract with Ford Models.

“

This little tomboy from L.A. that has never been beautiful. I was not the cute girl in school. I came here the shortest and the one that had the most insecurities inside of them, and now I’m America’s Next Top Model. And I get to represent all the little girls who feel the way I feel... Watch out world here comes Eva! Ahh!

”

Eva has appeared on the cover of Brides Noir, Women's Health and Fitness (May 2005), King magazine (June 2005), IONA (November 2005), and Essence magazine.⁴ Her other modeling credits include CoverGirl, DKNY, Samsung, Red by Marc Ecko, Jewel magazine, In Touch Weekly magazine (June 2005), King magazine (November 2005), IONA, UNleashed magazine, Star Magazine, Elle, Elle Girl, Applebottoms, Lerner Catalog, Avon Campaign 4 and Rolling Out. Eva's runway shows include the Marc Bouwer Fall 2005, Elle Girl presents Dare To Be You: Wal-Mart Meets America's Next Top Model 2005, Gharani Strok Fall 2005, Deborah Lindquist Spring 2006, Naqada Spring 2006, 8th Annual 'Models of Perfection' Show 2006, and L.A. Fashion Week's Monarchy Collection Fall 2007.⁵⁶⁷

On November 15, 2006, Eva left her managers Benny Medina and Tyra Banks. After leaving Banks and Medina for new management, she officially dropped "Pigford" from her name, now going by Eva Marcille (her middle name). She has stated she did this in order to not use her modeling fame to get into acting but earn her acting roles.⁸

Eva is now signed to L.A. Models. She has recently been featured on America's Next Top Model: Exposed on the CW. She has also been featured as one of CoverGirl's Top Models in Action.

Television work

Marcille has guest-starred on several series on UPN and The CW Network. Her guest-star credits include two episodes of Kevin Hill, one episode of Smallville, one episode of Everybody Hates Chris, and one episode of The Game as herself. Marcille has also appeared on Tyler Perry's House of Payne.

In addition, Marcille hosted BET J's reality show My Model Looks Better Than Your Model, as well as Rip the Runway on BET. Furthermore, she has appeared in several music videos, including "Baby" by Angie Stone (featuring Betty Wright), 50 Cent's single, "I Get Money," and Jamie Foxx's music video, "DJ Play a Love Song".⁹ She is also mentioned in Lil' Kim's song, "I Know You See Me" and Missy Elliott's "On & On" where the rapper sings, "Top model diva but my name not Eva."

Marcille was cast as a regular on a FOX show called The Wedding Album in 2006, but FOX cancelled it before it aired.

In 2005, Marcille appeared in a first-season episode of the MTV improv show Nick Cannon Presents Wild 'N Out.¹⁰ In December 2007, Marcille played a featured role in an episode of Smallville.

She has recently joined the cast of The Young and The Restless as a young mother named Tyra Hamilton (Contrary to speculation, Eva's character was not named after Tyra Banks, but for The Young and The Restless' head writer Maria Arena Bell's best friend's daughter whose name is Tyra).¹¹ After a few months, her character, who was planned to be temporary was made permanent.¹² In 2009, Marcille was nominated for a NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series for her Y&R role but didn't get the award. She did however win a Young Hollywood award¹³

In film, her credits include The Walk, Crossover, and, most recently, I Think I Love My Wife.

She will appear in a new show on BET called Played by Fame where contestants have nightmarish dates with celebrities (2009).¹⁴

Personal life

Marcille has been dating Tyler Perry's House of Payne star Lance Gross since mid-2007 and recently got engaged¹⁵ their characters dated on House of Payne as well. She and Gross have been seen at many red carpet events, including the 35th Daytime Emmy Awards and the Why Did I Get Married? and Meet The Browns film premieres.^{citation needed} She endorsed Barack Obama for the 2008 presidential election.¹⁶

References

External links

• Eva Marcille Pigford at Fashion Model Directory
• Eva Pigford at MySpace
• Eva Pigford at the Internet Movie Database

Preceded by Yoanna House

America's Next Top Model winner Cycle 3 (2004)

Succeeded by Naima Mora

v • d • e America's Next Top Model Judges and personnel Tyra Banks • J. Alexander • Nigel Barker • Jay Manuel Current sponsors CoverGirl • Elite Model Management • Seventeen Cycles: former judges 1-4: Janice Dickinson • 1: Beau Quillian • 1: Kimora Lee Simmons • 2: Eric Nicholson • 3-4: Nolé Marin • 5-9: Twiggy • 10-12: Paulina Porizkova Former sponsors 1: Revlon • 1: Marie Claire • 1: Wilhelmina Models • 2: IMG Models • 2: Sephora • 2: Jane • 3-6: Ford Models • 3-6: Elle Cycles: winners 1: Adrianne Curry • 2: Yoanna House • 3: Eva Pigford • 4: Naima Mora • 5: Nicole Linkletter • 6: Danielle Evans • 7: CariDee English • 8: Jaslene Gonzalez • 9: Saleisha Stowers • 10: Whitney Thompson • 11: McKey Sullivan • 12: Teyona Anderson • 13: TBA Related shows The Tyra Banks Show • Modelville • Stylista For the entire list of contestants, click here.