Tanisha Harper (born September 18, 1981) is an American model, actress and television host. She made her screen debut in the 2006 romantic comedy-drama film '' Something New'' and later starred in the

MyNetworkTV MyNetworkTV (stylized as mynetworkTV; unofficially abbreviated MNT or MNTV) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its Fox Television Stations ...

series ''

Desire Desires are states of mind that are expressed by terms like "wanting", "wishing", "longing" or "craving". A great variety of features is commonly associated with desires. They are seen as propositional attitudes towards conceivable states of affa ...

''. Harper was runner-up in the sixth season of the reality competition series ''

Project Runway ''Project Runway'' is an American reality television series that premiered on Bravo on December 1, 2004. The series focuses on fashion design. It was created by Eli Holzman and was hosted by Heidi Klum from 2004 to 2017. It has a varied airi ...

'' in 2009 and worked as a fashion model the following years. Harper returned to television playing Jordan Ashford in the ABC daytime soap opera, ''

General Hospital ''General Hospital'' (often abbreviated as ''GH'') is an American daytime television soap opera created by Frank and Doris Hursley which has been broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC since April 1, 1963. Originally a half-hour seria ...

'' (2022—present).

Early life

Harper was born in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, Japan. At the age of 15 she was discovered in a shopping mall in her hometown of

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

. At that time, she began her successful modeling career with the Ford Robert Black Agency. She is a graduate of

Dobson High School Dobson High School is a public high school located in Mesa, Arizona, United States. It is one of six high schools in Mesa Public Schools and serves grades 9-12. Rhodes and Summit Academy feed students into Dobson. The school's mascot is a Mustang ...

and the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

Career

Modeling

At the age of 15, Harper began working in print, runway, and commercial modeling and fashion jobs. She has done editorials for numerous magazines, including, ''

Elle Elle may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Elle (magazine), ''Elle'' (magazine), a fashion publication ** Elle Style Awards * Elle (India), ''Elle'' (India), the Indian edition * Elle (film), ''Elle'' (film), a 2016 French film * ''Elle: ...

'', ''

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Internationalism * World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship * Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community * Cosmopolitan ...

'', '' Vanity Fair'', and ''In Style''. She has appeared in adverts and catalogs for companies such as,

L'Oréal L'Oréal S.A. () is a French multinational personal care corporation registered in Paris

, Smashbox,

MAC Cosmetics M A C Cosmetics is a Canadian cosmetics manufacturer founded in Toronto in 1984 by Frank Toskan and Frank Angelo. The company has been headquartered in New York City since becoming a subsidiary of Estée Lauder Companies in 1998. MAC is an acron ...

Ralph Lauren Ralph Lauren ( ; ; born October 14, 1939) is an American fashion designer, philanthropist, and billionaire businessman, best known for founding the brand Ralph Lauren (brand), Ralph Lauren, a global multibillion-dollar enterprise. He stepped do ...

Oscar de la Renta Óscar Arístides Renta Fiallo (22 July 1932 – 20 October 2014), known professionally as Oscar de la Renta, was a Dominican fashion designer. Born in Santo Domingo, he was trained by Cristóbal Balenciaga and Antonio del Castillo. De la Renta ...

, and

Tommy Hilfiger Thomas Jacob Hilfiger ( ; born March 24, 1951) is an American fashion designer and the founder of Tommy Hilfiger (company), Tommy Hilfiger Corporation. After starting his career by co-founding a chain of jeans/fashion stores called People's P ...

'. She has appeared on both the

Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954) is an American television presenter, talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show' ...

and

Tyra Banks Tyra Lynne Banks (born December 4, 1973), also known as BanX, is an American model, television personality, producer, writer, and actress. Born in Inglewood, California, she began her career as a model at the age of 15 and was the first Black A ...

show, and was interviewed by

Katie Couric Katherine Anne Couric ( ; born January 7, 1957) is an American journalist and presenter. She is founder of Katie Couric Media, a multimedia news and production company. She also publishes a daily newsletter, ''Wake Up Call''. Since 2016, she ha ...

on ''

The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'') is an American morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was the first of its genre on American television ...

''. She also competed as a model during the sixth season of ''

'', finishing in second place, behind eventual winner

Irina Shabayeva Irina Shabayeva (, ka, ირინა შაბაევა) is the winner of the sixth season of ''Project Runway'' along with her model, Kalyn Hemphill. Personal life Shabayeva is originally from Georgia and is of Georgian, Jewish and Rus ...

's model Kalyn Hemphill. During the show, she was mostly paired with designer Althea Harper, who also finished second.

Acting

Harper made her first television appearance in 2005, playing Spectra Model in an episode of CBS daytime soap opera, ''

The Bold and the Beautiful ''The Bold and the Beautiful'' (often referred to as ''B&B'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. It premiered on March 23, 1987, as a sister show to the Bells' other soap opera ''Th ...

''. She made another ''The Bold and the Beautiful'' in 2010, playing Jackie M. model in one episode. In 2006 she made her big screen debut playing the role of Stacey in the film romantic comedy-drama film '' Something New''. Later that year, Harper starred as series regular on the

prime time soap opera, ''

''. In 2008 she had secondary role in the comedy film ''

Forgetting Sarah Marshall ''Forgetting Sarah Marshall'' is a 2008 American romantic comedy film directed by Nicholas Stoller (in his feature directorial debut) and starring Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis and Russell Brand. The film, which was written by Segel a ...

''. Harper guest-starred on ''

Dear White People ''Dear White People'' is a 2014 American comedy-drama film written, directed and co-produced by Justin Simien. The film focuses on escalating racial tensions at a fictitious, prestigious Ivy League college from the perspective of several black ...

'' and ''

Hacks Hacks may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Hacks'' (1997 film), a 1997 American comedy film * ''Hacks'' (2002 film), a 2002 independent American film * ''Hacks'' (2012 film), a 2012 British telemovie starring Michael Kitchen * '' ...

''. In February 2022, ''

Deadline Hollywood ''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. It is updated several times a day, with en ...

'' announced that Harper had been cast in the role of Jordan Ashford on the ABC soap opera, ''

'' replacing

Vinessa Antoine Vinessa Lynn Antoine (born ) is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her roles as Judith Winters in the CBC comedy-drama series ''Being Erica'' (2009–11), Jordan Ashford in the ABC soap opera ''General Hospital'' (2014–18), and Marcie D ...

. she will make her first appearance in March.

Filmography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Harper, Tanisha Female models from Arizona American television actresses Living people American actresses of Japanese descent African-American female models African-American television personalities African-American actresses American film actresses 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women Year of birth missing (living people) American soap opera actresses