Eva Marcille (born October 30, 1984)² is an American actress, TV host and fashion model, who most recently played the role of Tyra Hamilton on the soap opera The Young and the Restless. She started her career by winning the third cycle of America's Next Top Model; she was the first African American contestant to win the program.

She was previously credited by her birth name, Eva Pigford.³ In an interview with B. Scott, she changed her name for acting purposes; Marcille is her middle name, an amalgam of "Marjorie" and "Lucille," her grandmothers' names.⁴

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,⁵ 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.

Marcille 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.⁶ 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 2007.⁷⁸⁹

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.¹⁰

Marcille 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".¹¹ 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.¹² 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).¹³ After a few months, her character, who was planned to be temporary was made permanent.¹⁴ In 2009, Marcille was nominated for two NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series for her Y&R role but didn't get the awards. She did however win a Young Hollywood award¹⁵

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).¹⁶

Personal life

Marcille has been dating Tyler Perry's House of Payne star Lance Gross since mid-2007 and recently got engaged¹⁷ 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.¹⁸.

Filmography

• Smallville (2001-present, 1 episode)
• The Walk (2004)
• Kevin Hill (2004-2005, 2 episodes}
• Everybody Hates Chris (2005-2009, 1 episode)
• The Game (2006-2009, 1 episode)
• Tyler Perry's House of Payne (2006-present, 4 episodes)
• Crossover (2006)
• Preminum (2006)
• I Think I Love My Wife (2007)
• The Young And The Restless (2008-2009)

References

External links

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