Early life

Beckford was born in Rochester, New York on December 19, 1970 to a Jamaican father and Jamaican mother of Panamanian, Afro-Jamaican and Chinese descent. Soon after he was born his mother took the family back to Jamaica, where they lived for seven years before returning to New York, finally settling in Harlem. During his school years, Tyson was often teased about his looks.

Career

In 1992, he was recruited to hip hop magazine The Source by a talent scout, Jeff Jones, who has been credited with 'discovering' Beckford in New York City. In 1993, Beckford was recruited by Ralph Lauren as the front model for the company's Polo line of male sportswear.

Beckford was named "Man of the Year" in 1995 by the cable television music channel VH1 & 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. He was ranked at #38 on VH1's 40 Hottest Hotties of the '90s.

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.

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.

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. In 2012, he participated in Fox's dating game show The Choice.

Personal life

On June 7, 2005, Beckford was injured following a car accident in Secaucus, New Jersey. Shortly before 5:00am, 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. During an interview on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Tyson claimed the accident had a profound effect on his spirituality.

Beckford has been a resident of the New Jersey communities of Edgewater and West New York.

Beckford has a son, Jordan Beckford (born in 1998), from a previous relationship with celebrity stylist April Roomet, who appears on the E! Television program Candy Girls. Beckford is an Ambassador for the non-profit Kick4Life (Kick4Life), an organization that uses the power of soccer to engage vulnerable youth in holistic care and support in Lesotho, southern Africa.

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Role
2000	Boricua's Bond
2001	Zoolander	Himself
2002	Trois 2: Pandora's Box	Lance Racine
2002	Gully	Man / Prisoner
2003	Biker Boyz	Donny
2004	Gas	Karl
2005	Searching for Bobby D	Jerome
2005	Into the Blue	Primo
2005	Wait	Charles
2007	Kings of the Evening	Homer Hobbs
2008	Hotel California	Al
2010	Dream Street
2014	Addicted	Corey
2014	Sharon Leal: Giant
2015	Chocolate City	Adrian 'Rude Boy'
2016	Supermodel	Alex

Television

Year	Title	Role
2002	My Wife and Kids	Hunter, 2 episodes
2003	Half & Half	Sexy Guy, 1 episode
2005	Video on Trial	Motorcyclist, episode #1.7
2014	SWV Reunited	Himself
2015	The Characters	Himself

Music Videos

Year	Title	Artist
1992	"Anything"	SWV
1993	"Breathe Again"	Toni Braxton
1993	"Go West"	Pet Shop Boys
1994	"Slow Down"	Trisha Covington
1995	"Ice Cream"	Raekwon
1995	"My Up and Down"	Adina Howard
1995	"One More Chance"	The Notorious B.I.G.
1996	"Unbreak My Heart"	Toni Braxton
1998	"Horse and Carriage"	Cam'ron
1998	"What'cha Wanna Do?"	Mia X
1998	"The Way It's Going Down"	Shaq
1998	"Raise the Roof"	Luke
2003	"21 Questions"	50 Cent
2003	"Act a Fool"	Ludacris
2003	"Say How I Feel"	Rhian Benson
2004	"Toxic"	Britney Spears
2007	"China Wine"	Sun aka Geisha
2008	"How It Was Supposed to Be"	Ryan Leslie
2008	"Go Hard"	DJ Khaled
2014	"With Your Love"	Yola Araujo
2015	"Infinity"	Mariah Carey

[ Source: Wikipedia ]