Andre Walker (born August 19, 1956 in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...

) is a

hairstylist A hairdresser is a person whose occupation is to cut or style hair in order to change or maintain a person's image. This is achieved using a combination of hair coloring, haircutting, and hair texturing techniques. A Hairdresser may also be ref ...

from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

who has won seven

Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences ...

s for Outstanding Achievement in Hairstyling for his work on ''

The Oprah Winfrey Show ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', often referred to as ''The Oprah Show'' or simply ''Oprah'', is an American daytime syndicated talk show that aired nationally for 25 seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in Chicago, Illinois. Produced ...

''. He is best known for being the personal hairstylist of

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

and for creating

Halle Berry Halle Maria Berry (; born Maria Halle Berry; August 14, 1966) is an American actress. She began her career as a model and entered several beauty contests, finishing as the first runner-up in the Miss USA pageant and coming in sixth in the Mi ...

's signature short pixie haircut. Other celebrity clients of Walker's have included

Barbara Bush Barbara Pierce Bush (June 8, 1925 – April 17, 2018) was First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993, as the wife of President George H. W. Bush, and the founder of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. She previously w ...

and

Michelle Obama Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. She was the first African-American woman to serve in this position. She is married t ...

. After graduating from the Pivot Point Academy, Walker began working as a hairstylist and opened his own salon in downtown

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

. In 1986, after watching ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', he wrote to Oprah offering to help style her hair. She responded and took up his offer, and he soon became her personal hairstylist. For his work on ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', Walker won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Hairstyling seven times in 1989, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997 and 2003. He was also nominated for this award a further seven times (in 1987, 1988, 1998, 1999, 2004, 2005 and 2006). In 2008, Pivot Point International awarded Walker its inaugural L.E.O. Award, named for Pivot Point founder

Leo Passage Leonardus Johannes Hubertus "Leo" Passage ( ɒ.'sɒʒ March 21, 1936 – May 11, 2011) was a Dutch-born American hairstylist, educator, innovator and philanthropist. He was the founder and C.E.O. of Pivot Point International, a global hair and beau ...

. Walker thanked Pivot Point for encouraging him to “do almost anything” in the field of hair design. Walker received the

Thurgood Marshall Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme Court's first African-A ...

Fashion Icon Award in 2009. In the 1990s, he created the Andre Walker Hair Typing System to market his line of hair care products, which has since been widely adopted as a hair type classification system.

References

External links

andrewalkerhair.com
* Living people 1956 births African-American businesspeople American hairdressers Businesspeople from Chicago Daytime Emmy Award winners 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people {{US-tv-bio-stub