The most successful “America's Next Top Model” contestants in history, from Yaya DaCosta to Winnie Harlow

During the America's Next Top Model theme song, Tyra Banks famously (or, depending on who you consult, infamously) asked: You wanna be on top?

To Banks' credit, many of her ANTM alums answered her call. While the classic modeling competition show has endured its fair share of criticism in recent years (Banks recently addressed this by admitting that she "said some dumb s---" on the show, but that's another conversation for another article), the show undeniably produced a wealth of Hollywood talent.

Related: 14 America's Next Top Model stars speak on 20 shocking moments from ANTM's 20-year history: 'It was traumatic'

In addition to furthering creator-producer-host Banks’ career as a media mogul at the tail end of her tenure as an in-demand cat-walking supermodel (a testament to industry endurance and evolution on its own), Top Model launched the careers of budding stars who'd go on to lead shows like Chicago Med, The Lincoln Lawyer, and The Real Housewives of Atlanta, while others would win Dancing With the Stars, act in Best Picture-nominated movies, and stomp runways at Fashion Week events in New York, London, Milan, Paris, and beyond — all while defying an age-old stigma that alleged show alums would never work in fashion due to their appearance on a pulpy reality TV show.

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Ahead, 22 years into Top Model's evolving legacy (Entertainment Weekly previously exclusively reported that Banks has no current plans for another season, though ANTM was never officially canceled), EW has compiled a list of some of the most successful contestants in the show's history. Read on to find out more about the post-show careers of Yaya DaCosta, Eva Marcille, Winnie Harlow, and more.

The most successful America's Next Top Model contestants

Yaya DaCosta (finalist, cycle 3)

Clearly, there was something in the water at the cycle 3 models' New York City apartment. Some of the most prolific talents the show has ever produced strutted straight out of the show's third installment, which culminated in a finale that saw fan-favorite model Yaya DaCosta duke it out against Eva Marcille (more on her, later) on the runway.

Related: Yes, that was America’s Next Top Model alum Sharaun on stage with Taylor Swift and more stars throughout 2025 Grammys

In the end, DaCosta might've finished in a strong second place behind Marcille, but she had a powerhouse portfolio and excelled in the season's acting challenges — a skill she honed and molded into an enduring Hollywood career in the years after the show. Before securing leading roles on high-profile TV projects like NBC's Chicago Med (she was a series regular on seasons 1-6) and Netflix's The Lincoln Lawyer (she joined the main cast for season 3), DaCosta booked a recurring role on Ugly Betty and significant parts in films like Take the Lead, The Messenger, Tron: Legacy, Lee Daniels' The Butler, and in the Best Picture-nominated drama The Kids Are All Right.

Though ANTM was often cited by past contestants as a hinderance to their careers in fashion (the "ANTM stigma," as fans call it, allegedly involved real-world fashion agents declining to work with show alums over their appearance on the show), DaCosta was among the first of the show's cast to find success in other mediums, as she's still a successful — and working — actress on screens today. As her legendary shirt once read: Please put some "respeito" on DaCosta's name.

Eva Marcille (winner, cycle 3)

Yes, before the "short" cycle (cycle 13, the icon that you are!), Eva Marcille blazed a Top Model trail as one of the shortest women to win the show's main series. Her impact on the program's run (and her post-show career) both towered over the competition, though. From her A+ tarantula photo shoot to her iconic commentary during the Tokyo street style mini challenge ("How dumb do I look?"), Marcille worked her way into fans' hearts thanks to an evolution from commercial-leaning girl to fashion-forward woman by the end of cycle 3.

After the show, however, Marcille truly blossomed, with her infectious personality securing the performer regular acting gigs in the Tyler Perry sitcom House of Payne and the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless. Her most significant TV role to date, though, remains her four-season stint on The Real Housewives of Atlanta, which saw her rise from a Friend to a peach-holding Housewife between seasons 10-12. She'd later return as a guest on season 13, and even appeared as a main cast member on season 2 of the all-star Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip spinoff.

Today, Marcille remains booked and busy, as she's led four seasons of the BET+ drama All the Queen's Men since 2021.

Toccara Jones (7th place, cycle 3)

Coming in hot with another contestant from cycle 3 (we told you there was something in the water — and, no, it wasn't the flesh-eating bacteria from cycle 4), the excellent edition introduced another budding star to the world via Toccara Jones, a vivacious plus-sized model who wowed the judges with her personality.

Outside of her instant popularity with the panel on ANTM, the judges noted an odd shift in her morale on the show, and she was shockingly eliminated halfway through the cycle. Still, Jones was destined for the spotlight, and she quickly signed with Wilhelmina Models (which previously served as the cycle 1 prize agency for Adrianne Curry) after her tenure on air. Her print work included multiple magazine covers (including King) and a history-making appearance as the first Black plus-sized model to appear in a fashion spread inside the esteemed Vogue Italia in July 2008.

Related: Tyra Banks rep says Kahlen's America's Next Top Model graveyard shoot was already 'planned' before friend's death

Jones also forged a career on TV, including VH1's Celebrity Fit Club and Celebrity Paranormal Project shows, as well as following in Banks' footsteps when she presided over the Facebook Watch competition series Thick House. All of her success rings true to Jones' opening expression on the cycle 3 casting episode: "I'm big, Black, beautiful, and loving it!" — and the entertainment world clearly does, too.

Isis King (10th place, cycle 11)

Cycle 11 also produced several top-tier entertainers who crossed over into other mediums outside the reality TV space. Laying the groundwork before her post-show fame, though, Isis King blazed a trail for ANTM contestants when she became the first-ever trans model to compete on the program in 2008.

King's presence was a landmark for LGBTQ representation on the series, which also featured queer models like Ebony Haith (cycle 1), Kim Stolz (cycle 5), Megan (cycle 7), Michelle (cycle 7), and more since its debut, alongside a wealth of queer judges (namely runway coach Miss J. Alexander). Still, her addition to the cast was met with transphobia from fellow contestants and viewers, though Banks continued to highlight King after her 10th-place elimination. On a 2008 episode of The Tyra Banks Show, the host introduced King to a surgeon who assisted with the model's transition, and King has flourished ever since.

Related: America's Next Top Model stars open up about on-air sexual misconduct: 'I was in such deep shock'

King rejoined the Top Model family as an all-star contestant for cycle 17, and though she didn't win that season, either, she's worked consistently ever since. Having appeared in a print ad for American Apparel, she also segued her career into television acting, with smaller roles on shows like The Bold and the Beautiful, Shameless, When They See Us, The L Word: Generation Q, Good Trouble, and then a lead role on the Whoopi Goldberg-produced reality show Strut, documenting the lives of trans models. In 2023, King also wrapped a two-season stint as part of the main cast of the Amazon original series With Love — the title for which also doubles as an apt descriptor of King's approach to spreading ANTM's legacy.

"I first appeared on ANTM just about 18 years ago and I am still so fascinated by the effect it has had on pop culture. I’m forever grateful for the impact my presence as an open trans woman had on the contestants and the audience, as it pulled the curtain back on a topic that should not have been as 'controversial' as it was," King tells EW in an email statement about her post-show success. "Was ANTM perfect? No. Would I have had the same success story without bearing my heart for the world to see, hoping the opportunity redirected me from poverty, and allowed me to travel the world following my dreams as an actress, model, and artist? Probably not."

Lio Tipton (finalist, cycle 11)

One of the most commercial-leaning contestants ANTM has ever seen, Lio Tipton raised audience interest with their bubbly approach to acting challenges, but, alongside the aforementioned DaCosta, also raised preconceived restrictions on just how successful a Top Model alum could be.

After finishing cycle 11 in third place, Tipton appeared in a bit role on The Big Bang Theory (as part of an ANTM challenge win shared with fellow contestant Samantha Potter), but soon hit the big screen opposite Seth Rogen and Cameron Diaz in The Green Hornet and alongside Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, and Emma Stone in Crazy, Stupid, Love, and with Scarlett Johansson in Lucy. On TV, Tipton landed an eight-episode arc on HBO's Hung, before leading the cast of the short-lived ABC romantic comedy series Manhattan Love Story in 2014.

Following their acting ascension, Tipton also made headlines in 2021 after coming out as non-binary, with their subsequent marriage to Chaz Salembier receiving significant media attention — including sought-after wedding ceremony coverage by EW's sister publication, PEOPLE.

Leila Goldkuhl (finalist, cycle 19)

Now, to the aforementioned ANTM stigma: A fan-proposed theory alleges (alongside some corroborating information from past contestants) that the fashion industry was reluctant to embrace Banks' Top Model cast over their association with a reality program. Some models — like cycle 1's Elyse Sewell and cycle 6's Mollie Gondi — broke the mold and found success with high-fashion careers overseas, but Leila Goldkuhl was a late-series breakthrough who, of any ANTM alum, came closest to achieving modern supermodel status for her work in fashion alone.

Goldkuhl joined cycle 19 (the show's oddly themed "college edition") in 2012, and, despite taking some of the most stunning photos of the entire cycle, was unjustly eliminated on episode 5. Thanks to a new fan-voting twist, Goldkuhl returned to the competition on episode 9, and eventually finished the cycle in third place.

Though she didn't win the show, that meant virtually nothing to her budding fashion career. She quickly signed with Next Model Management and walked the runway at Fashion Week events around the world, for high-end brands like Givenchy, Alexander McQueen, Dolce & Gabbana, Chanel, Fendi, Hermès, Jean Paul Gaultier, Marc Jacobs, Prada, Valentino, Vera Wang, and Versace, among others. She also appeared in campaigns for Tom Ford, Urban Outfitters, Calvin Klein, Hugo Boss, and more.

Winnie Harlow (6th place, cycle 21)

ANTM has received a lot of flak from the fashion elite over the years, seemingly for its reliance on reality TV spectacle versus reflecting the inner-workings of the modeling industry. Many have said that early-aughts Top Model contestants would've found much more success if social media was, at the time of the show's bow, as prominent as it is now, with many more recent contestants finding their footing as fashion-adjacent influencers in addition to runway-ready models.

Winnie Harlow, who competed on cycle 21 under her birth name, Chantelle, is proof that contemporary alums can excel at both. Her social media presence is unrivaled in the Top Model space (she has 10.1 million followers on Instagram — 3 million more than Banks), and her presence in pop culture is a force as well. Following her elimination from the show in sixth place, Harlow became the first model with vitiligo — a skin condition that results in patches of skin with a different pigment than others — to walk the Victoria's Secret runway, and also joined the judging panel on Heidi Klum's Amazon fashion series Making the Cut. She also booked a starring role in Beyoncé's 2016 Lemonade film, in addition to appearances in campaigns (Fendi, Marc Jacobs, Steve Madden, Nike, Tommy Hilfiger), music videos (Eminem's "Guts Over Fears," Shakira's "Soltera") and in multiple magazine editorials.

Although she's been critical of ANTM in the past, the show inarguably helped boost her public profile, allowing her to become an advocate for others living with vitiligo as well as representing for them on a global platform as one of the most widely recognized models of the modern era.

Nyle DiMarco (winner, cycle 22)

Toward the end of ANTM's initial run, Banks opened up Top Model's casting to men — and even crowned two as overall champions. Following in the footsteps of cycle 21's Keith Carlos, Nyle DiMarco won cycle 22 with ease — and became the show's first deaf winner in the process.

Related: America's Next Top Model star Shandi Sullivan recreates iconic ANTM photo 20 years later

The 35-year-old has since used his platform to advocate for deaf people, within the pages of his 2022 memoir Deaf Utopia, as well as at the center of ABC's Dancing With the Stars season 22, which he also won, becoming the global franchise's first-ever deaf champion.

In addition to modeling (he shot a campaign for the underwear brand 2(X)IST and walked for Giorgio Armani on the runway), DiMarco also used his global status as an entertainer to make projects focused on the deaf community, including producing Netflix's Deaf U series and the Oscar-nominated documentary short Audible.

EW reached out to representatives for Marcille, Jones, Tipton, Goldkuhl, and DiMarco for participation in this story. DaCosta declined comment.

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