Tyrese Gibson

TYRESE GIBSON began his illustrious singing career in 1994 when he won a talent show at the age of 14. The memorable Coca-Cola commercial, singing the phrase "Always Coca-Cola" led Tyrese to wider fame into the world of modeling, singing and acting. After signing a record deal with RCA Records and completing his first self-titled R&B album, Tyrese received his first nomination for a Grammy for the smash hits "Sweet Lady" and "Lately". The young man from Watts, California was awarded the American Music Award's New Artist in 2000. He has since branched into a successful career as a male model, after attracting the interest of designer Tommy Hilfiger, who made him the face of his clothing line, one of the most successful campaigns in fashion industry history. Gibson then took his brand name to the next level when he signed with GUESS? and became the first and only African-American male model in history to land a multimillion dollar exclusive contract with the Marciano Brothers.

The modeling career launched him into the world of television where his visibility sky-rocketed when he appeared on "MTV Jams," a series he went on to host and transform into the music channel's highest rated show to that time. Gibson exploded onto the Hollywood scene with a starring role in Sony Picture's "Baby Boy" written and directed by John Singleton, and co-starring Oscar-nominated actress Taraji P. Henson. Gibson brought a raw intensity to the lead role and has raised the character to iconic status. Shortly thereafter, "2000 Watts," his sophomore album, was released. The hit "Just a Baby Boy," featuring Snoop Dogg was on the soundtrack of "Baby Boy" and earned him his second Grammy nomination for his third album "I Wanna Go There" (with the mega hit "How U Gonna Act Like That"). It was his first album after signing with record industry legendary Clive Davis at J-Records. The video for "How U Gonna Act Like That" and "Signs of love Makin'" is to this day, in heavy rotation around the world. In December 2006, Gibson released his fourth album "Alter Ego," an ambitious double-album in which he took his musical vision into a new and bold direction by unveiling his rap alias Black-Ty. The album includes tracks featuring some of music's hottest hip-hop A-Listers like Snoop Dogg, The Game, Manny Fresh and was produced by Scott Storch and the Frontline BoyZ. One part of the double-album is R&B with the hottest new records produced by The Underdogs, R. Kelly and Lil' Jon. He also collaborated with Chingy and producer Jermaine Dupri in the third Grammy nominated song, "Pullin' Me Back", which was #1 in the charts for ten weeks.

Gibson continued his acting success with a starring role in Universal's 2003 mega-franchise, "2 Fast 2 Furious" directed by John Singleton and co-starring Paul Walker, Cole Hauser and Eva Mendez. He had a musical presence on that soundtrack with "Pick up the Phone" featuring Ludacris and R. Kelly. In 2004, Gibson starred in 20th Century Fox's "Flight of the Phoenix" along with Dennis Quaid, Hugh Laurie and Giovanni Ribisi. In 2005, he teamed up again with Singleton for Paramount's gritty revenge drama with another stand out performance in "Four Brothers," which he starred opposite Mark Wahlberg and Andre 3000. Gibson's presence helped bring in over 80 million at the box office for "Four Brothers". That same year he starred in Touchstone Pictures' "Annapolis" with James Franco and Donnie Wahlberg, and director Justin Lin. ("Better Luck Tomorrow", "Fast and the Furious 3 & 4").

In 2006, Gibson went on to star in the Universal Rogue's film "Waist Deep," a sleek urban thriller directed by Vondie Curtis-Hall featuring Meagan Good, Larenz Tate and The Game. "Waist Deep" continues to be one of Rogue's best selling DVD titles, thanks to Gibson's powerful performance. In 2007 Gibson co-starred in three major studio films, starting with the DreamWorks/Paramount Pictures' box office hit "Transformers" with Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel and Megan Fox, which earned more than $700 million worldwide and became the highest grossing DVD of the year. The film was directed by Michael Bay ("Bad Boys 1 & 2, "The Rock") and produced by Hollywood legend Steven Spielberg, and uber-producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura. His popular character of Sgt. Epps is a recurring character in the "Transformers' comic book line. After "Transformers", Gibson went straight into starring in an independent film opposite John Leguizamo and Rosie Perez in the crime drama "The Take", directed by Brad Furhman. He then followed that up with Paul W.S. Anderson's Mega sci-fi thriller "Death Race" in 2008, a Universal Picture with Jason Statham, Joan Allen and Ian McShane. In 2009, Gibson reunited with producers Steven Spielberg and Lorenzo Di Bonaventura and reprised his role as Master Sgt. Epps in the biggest summer blockbuster hit "Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen", which broke $200 million domestically in its opening 5 day weekend.

2010 is barely half over and has already proven to be another successful year in Tyrese Gibson's film career. Gibson kicked off the New Year with a role in the Sony Screen Gem's much anticipated horror/action film "Legion" alongside an amazing cast of Dennis Quaid, Paul Bettany, Lucas Black, and Kate Walsh. A year after the successful release of "Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen", Tyrese will reprise his popular role of Master Sgt. Epps in "Transformers 3", which will start filming this summer with Michael Bay returning to the director's seat. Once again, Gibson will share the screen with Shia Lebouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, and new additions to the franchise, Oscar-Winner Francis McDormand and John Malkovich. Also, Gibson is attached to the adaptation of the popular Marvel comic book "Luke Cage" for which he will play the title role, just one of many upcoming films that he has been in consideration for.

On his music achievements in 2009, Tyrese independently released through his HQ Music label "Take Me Away" produced by Brownsville and "Take Me Away" the remix produced Logan De Gaulle. The singles "Make It Last" ft. Jewel, produced by Babyface and Harvey Mason Media and "You Put Up With Me" produced by Pentagon were released shortly after to promote the digital version of his comic book MAYHEM, which can be purchased on iTunes today. He was also featured in R. Kelly's "Pregnant" in his newly released album "UNTITLED", as well as the soundtrack in the 2009 Documentary "More Than A Game", which follows the NBA star LeBron James. Gibson also performed a tribute to the O'Jays for the 2009 BET Awards alongside Trey Songz and Johnny Gill, which received accolades from his peers, which positioned him for his new album. Most recently in March 2010, Tyrese was featured in the smash hit music video "Telephone" by Lady Gaga and Beyonce, which received millions of views across the globe within the first 24 hours of its premiere and stands at over 28 million views on YouTube. Currently, Tyrese is working on his much anticipated fifth solo album set to be released in early 2011 titled "Open Invitation".

In addition to being a three time Grammy nominated musician and international movie star, Tyrese launched his own multi-media empire, HeadQuarter Entertainment, in 2005. As CEO and Founder, Tyrese oversees HQ Pictures (a film and TV production company), HQ Records (a music studio and record label), and XiT ComiX (a comic book publishing division). Along with his bestselling comic book MAYHEM published through Image Comics, to his upcoming inspirational self-help book "HOW TO GET OUT OF YOUR OWN WAY" published through Grand Central, Gibson has also found success as a writer and producer on several studio projects under HQ Pictures including the docu-drama reality show "First In" for BET Network, which premiered September 30, 2009, with a 10-episode order. Gibson serves as executive producer on the show and lends his voice talents to narrate.

Outside of his many successful endeavors in the entertainment business, Gibson started an on-going charity organization known as The Watts Foundation. Its goal is to raise enough money to build a state of the art youth center in Gibson's hometown of Watts. Oprah Winfrey has personally endorsed The Watts Foundation and has donated over $100,000 to its cause. Despite his many projects, the international star still finds time to reach out to America's youth as the official Ambassador for John Bryant's Operation Hope: 5MK, a program to help reduce the rate of high school drop-outs and teach children about financial literacy. Members of the Senior Board include Quincy Jones and Ambassador Andrew Young (Civil Rights Activist who worked side by side with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement).

Tyrese Gibson's name is a multi-entry point for consumer awareness. He has legions of fans for his bestselling music, from which Gibson is a multi-platinum star. He has fans for his movie roles, for which Gibson has set box office records with, and still after 15 years in the business, Tyrese continues to reinvent his image while finding new ways to extend himself as an artist, international movie star and mogul.