Tyrese Darnell Gibson (born December 30, 1978), often known simply as Tyrese, is an American R&B artist and former male fashion model. After releasing several successful albums, he transitioned into a film career, with lead roles in several Hollywood films, including Baby Boy, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Four Brothers, and his latest, Waist Deep and Transformers.

Early life

Gibson was born in the Watts Quarter in Los Angeles, California, where he attended Locke High School. His mother, Priscilla, raised him and his three older siblings as a single parent after Gibson's father left in 1983.[1] Gibson's career began when he won a talent show at the age of fourteen. An appearance in a 1997 Coca-Cola advertisement, singing the phrase "Always Coca-Cola",[2] led to wider fame, and at the age of seventeen he modeled for Tommy Hilfiger.
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Career

Gibson, who was once a member of a rap group called Triple Impact,[2] released his self-titled debut music album, which went platinum, in 1998;[1] his second album, 2000 Watts, shares the name of the organization he founded to help inner city children. Gibson was given the role originally intended for the late Tupac Shakur in the 2001 film Baby Boy; the movie was a critical success and performed fairly at the box office. Gibson subsequently appeared in the 2003 box office success 2 Fast 2 Furious (opposite Paul Walker, with whom he formed a close friendship with during filming), as well as Flight of the Phoenix (2004), Four Brothers (2005) and Annapolis (2006), co-starring James Franco. Gibson was picked as one of People Magazine's Sexiest Men of the Year in 2000.

Gibson has also established himself as a successful screenwriter, selling the pitches D.A. Verdict to MGM and Extortion to Universal Studios. In 2006, Gibson sold his first original spec script, To Each His Own, to Screen Gems. He is to star in and produce all of the films. Gibson has also created HQ Pictures, a television and film production company. He has hired Mike Le as VP of development & production to oversee and develop projects under the company's banner.

Gibson's latest film is Waist Deep, in which he plays a man fighting to rescue his son from kidnappers; his co-stars in the film, Meagan Good and Larenz Tate, are personal friends of Gibson's in real life.[2] Like several of his previous roles, the film is set in an urban environment, but Gibson has said that he does not view the role as a "step back", rather seeing the film as taking "another direction" due to some of its themes and action sequences.[2] Waist Deep was released on June 23, 2006.

Gibson prefers his music career to acting,[1], but will focus on both areas. His next album will be called Alter Ego, and will feature both R&B and hip hop songs. He will use an alias, "Black Ty", for the rap tracks.[2] His next film role will be in the big-budget action movie, Transformers, which is currently filming and is scheduled for a release in July of 2007; the film's director, Michael Bay, had Gibson in mind for the role before he was cast, and thus Gibson did not have to audition for the part.[3] Gibson may also star in a film version of the superhero Luke Cage; the script is currently being re-formatted.[3]
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Other work

Gibson was Punk'd by Ashton Kutcher's crew members, pitching an idea for a movie he wrote to members of what seemed to be the mafia. In his appearance on The New Tom Green Show, Gibson admitted a fear of owls and was frightened when host Tom Green drew pictures of them.