With its debut in 2003, America's Next Top Model has gone on to become one of the most
popular reality competitions on TV.
Even after its jump from the CW to VH1, the show has launched many stunning careers.
So where are they now?
These are the most successful Top Models ever.
Cycle 5's Lisa D'Amato was known for stirring up the drama.
"I think slowly but surely I'm becoming a threat to the other girls.”
And in 2011, she went on to win the All-Star Cycle.
Since her time on the show, D'Amato has kept herself busy doing even more reality TV.
In 2010, she checked into Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, and, two years later, she starred
in her own pilot titled My Name Is Lisa.
In 2016, D'Amato and her husband, Hollywood entrepreneur Adam Friedman, appeared on WEtv's
Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars, and, in March 2019, Reality Blurred reported that
she landed a deal on Shark Tank for her food storage bib Dare-U-Go!
But D'Amato's true passion lies in making music.
In 2009, she released her debut album, La Puchinetta, which she followed up with Flippin'
the Bird.
Yaya DaCosta may have been the runner-up on Cycle 3, but her career post-show has been
nothing short of incredible.
Two years after Top Model, she made her feature film debut in 2006's Take the Lead, and has
had recurring roles on Chicago Med, All My Children, and Ugly Betty, along with a starring
role in 2015's Whitney.
DaCosta has also been outspoken about representation in the industry.
The Afro-Latina actress told The Grio in 2019,
"It's nice that people are actually realizing what Latin America actually looks like."
But she acknowledged that the work needs to happen everywhere in the industry.
"There have to be writers and producers and directors hiring, and insisting on that representation."
Cycle 5's Cassandra Jean Whitehead famously dropped out of the series after she received
a hair makeover she didn't like.
"It was the last straw in them completely trying to change who I was."
Whitehead grew her hair back, and then went on to work in TV, where she had several small
screen appearances in One Tree Hill, Mad Men, and Arrow.
But where the former model really lucked out, though, is in love.
In December 2012, she married Arrow star Stephen Amell, and the couple welcomed their first
child that October.
"Dani" Evans was the winner of Cycle 6, narrowly beating out Joanie Dodds.
After her time on the show, Evans walked the runway for several big names in fashion, and
she's been featured in ad campaigns for CoverGirl, Akademiks, and Sephora.
In 2013, Evans became a published author with her book, The Skinny on Getting In: An Inside
Peek into the Fashion World for the Aspiring Model.
The book acted as both a memoir as well as something of a how-to for young models trying
to break into the industry.
In 2016, she told Sports Illustrated that her inspiration came from the response she
received after her Top Model win, from fans curious about how to break into modeling.
She offered,
"I think confidence and knowing how to dress in this business is key."
Eva Marcille launched her modeling career by winning Cycle 3.
After the show, Marcille hit the small screen, with roles in Smallville, The Young and the
Restless, House of Payne, and Real Husbands of Hollywood, but it wasn't until 2018 that
she fully embraced the Housewives life by signing onto The Real Housewives of Atlanta.
"So thank you 'scuse me and good day.”
But the model and actress wasn't only interested in making a living on camera.
And in 2018, she launched her home design collection.
"I'm just tryna dabble in other things, but more so things that are real for me.”
Marcille told People magazine,
"My goal is to give women an oasis with warm patterns and comfortable fabrics, for an easy
getaway from life.
Enhancing your living space is therapeutic, and our prints make for a calming environment."
"Hi I'm the fabulous Toccara.”
"I'm a plus-size supermodel of the world.”
Toccara Jones didn't make it terribly far into her season of Top Model, but that doesn't
mean she didn't leave a lasting impression.
After Cycle 3, Jones appeared on TV in Are We There Yet?, In the Cut, and Celebrity Paranormal
Project.
But the model, who had her fair share of ups and downs in an effort to prove herself as
more than just "plus-sized," has gone on to do just that.
In 2008, she appeared in the "all black" issue of Vogue Italia.
Photographer Steven Meisel said of her, via the New York Times,
"I wanted to say something about weight, and I'm never allowed to do that.
I met Toccara and thought, she's beautiful.
What's the deal with her?"
The following year, Jones appeared in the BET's Rip the Runway fashion show, and she's
since gone on to design her own intimate apparel line.
Nyle DiMarco was the first deaf model to win America's Next Top Model, during Cycle 22.
But he claimed that being deaf actually worked to his advantage, saying,
"Being deaf has definitely been a strength to me in this competition, just because American
sign language requires a lot of facial expression and using your body, and that's what modeling
requires also."
In 2019, Out reported that DiMarco had been tapped for a role on the Grey's Anatomy spinoff
Station 19 as a deaf firefighter.
But DiMarco's acting career is only a small portion of what he's been up to these days.
On top of spearheading the Nyle DiMarco Foundation, which works to quote, "improve the lives of
every Deaf person in the world," he's also started a production company specifically
focused on deaf filmmakers, telling L'Officiel in 2019,
"I think Hollywood is finally listening and becoming more aware of the extreme lack of
representation, but there is a lot of work still to do."
Although she was initially reluctant to audition for the show, Cycle 11's Isis King took a
chance after doing background work the previous season.
She told Jonny McGovern on Hey Qween that before she had gotten encouragement from some
of the other girls, she was thinking,
“I didn't want to go on originally.
I was like, I don't know if they just trying to use me or what."
The time she spent on ANTM proved to be meaningful for both King and the larger LGBTQ community.
The first-ever trans model to appear on the show has gone on to become a prominent voice
for trans rights.
As of mid 2019, she serves on the board of the Ali Forney Center, an organization dedicated
to helping homeless LGBTQ youth.
And according to HuffPost, she's the only board member who's actually gone through the
system.
A true success story.
Leila Goldkuhl's appearance on Cycle 19 had its ups and downs.
After being eliminated during the fifth week, Goldkuhl wound up winning a second chance
to be in the competition via a social media vote.
Once back on the show, she nearly won the season, landing in third place.
After the show, Goldkuhl went on to work in high fashion.
In 2016, she made her runway debut at Givenchy's spring show in New York City.
And a year later, Goldkuhl walked in Fashion Week for Chanel, Nina Ricci, and Tom Ford.
By 2018, she was recognized as one of the 50 greatest models in the world.
Pretty impressive.
"It's just been like this big whirlwind I guess cuz one day nothing could be happening
and the next day something massive is happening.”
Analeigh Tipton was one of America's Next Top Models' earlier successes.
When she placed third in Cycle 11, Tyra Banks told her,
"Paulina thinks that you are a star actress that can get a lot of modeling campaigns.
We think that that's probably the direction that you should go."
Tipton certainly took the advice to heart.
A few years after the show, she landed roles in Crazy, Stupid, Love and The Green Hornet.
By 2014, she was cast as the lead in the series Manhattan Love Story, and she's seen steady
on-screen work ever since.
In 2019, Deadline reported that Tipton had signed with ICM Partners.
And of her newfound acting cred, Tipton told Brief Take,
"I think that people still see me as the Crazy, Stupid, Love babysitter and it's been interesting
trying to showcase myself as a woman, because I tend to read young.
[…] It's trying to find that balance of unique roles […] and hope that people will
see them."
Even though Bre Scullark made it to third place on Cycle 5, she wound up being remembered
more for her feud with that season's winner, Nicole Linkletter, than for anything else.
Luckily, Scullark would bounce back from "Granola Gate," shifting from a modeling career to
a life focused on balance and community — but it took some hard hits to get there.
In an interview with Office Magazine, Scullark recounted the period after the show ended,
during which she went from making $200,000 on one particular day to being dropped by
her agencies after a bad haircut.
Hard drug use led to a stint in rehab, after which the model discovered yoga.
Noticing a lack of yoga studios in urban areas, Scullark took it upon herself to set up her
own sliding scale community classes.
Eventually, she began teaching in prisons, something she said is more fulfilling than
her previous work.
"I love yoga, I'm born and raised in Harlem, and I felt like I needed to make a contribution
to my community, it needed to be an action, and I needed to do it outside of that spotlight.”
She told the outlet,
"I feel healed and needed.
I always felt disposable modeling.
There was no real need for me."
Cycle 5's Kim Stolz has the distinction of being the show's first out lesbian finalist
— not to mention one of its most outspoken stars.
"I love having people like watch me.”
In a 2005 interview with the Village Voice, she vented her frustration with the judges'
criticism to appear quote "more feminine" in her shoots, saying,
"At some point, I said, F-it, I'll be myself, and to hell with what they think, because
they're being too confusing."
But beyond her experience on the show, Stolz has published a book, been an MTV reporter,
and also worked on Wall Street.
In 2014, Bloomberg announced that the former model had been hired as a director for equity-derivative
sales for Bank of America.
And, according to her LinkedIn, Stolz later became the head of America's prime brokerage
sales for the company.
Although she wasn't one of the more well-liked contestants on the show at the time of her
elimination, Cycle 10's Fatima Siad claimed the fights between her and the other girls
were "dramatized" for TV.
"To me most of the girls are cool.
But I don't think they understand how stupid they act sometimes.”
In 2011, Siad accomplished a Top Model first by landing spots on runways for Dries Van
Noten and Hermès, according to The Cut.
The transition into high fashion came after a three-year stint of commercial and print
work.
She later graced the pages of Nylon magazine and was one of the faces of Urban Decay's
fall-winter 2016 ad campaign.
So, what's her best advice for aspiring models?
She told New York Magazine,
"Now that I work as a professional model, I advise people to stay away from any television
shows.
It's a waste of your time; it's just entertainment.
It's not the fashion that we now know."
Winnie Harlow was actually discovered by Tyra Banks via Instagram.
"I found you.”
“Really?”
“I saw you on social media.
I've actually never seen vitiligo that way.
It's like symmetrical fantasticness."
Harlow became the first Canadian, as well as the first model with the skin condition
vitiligo, to compete on the show.
Initially eliminated in the fourth week, Harlow returned after she won the show's comeback
series and wound up taking sixth place overall.
Harlow has been incredibly outspoken in her experience with vitiligo.
In a 2019 interview on The Jonathan Ross Show, Harlow took aim at news outlets that referred
to her skin condition as something she was quote, "suffering" from.
She said,
"I feel like it's not anyone else's position to tell me I am 'suffering.'
I don't feel like I am suffering.
I am conquering, I am living, I am living my best life in the way that I can, and thriving."
"I think I was born with confidence.
It was really just something that I lost when people made me feel like I shouldn't be confident.”
Certainly, her stunning look has become an incredible asset for the model, who's worked
for Moschino and Julien Macdonald, as well as walked the 2018 Victoria's Secret runway.
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