Eva Marcille Sterling (née Pigford; born October 30, 1984) is an American actress, fashion model and television personality. She started her career by winning the third cycle of '' America's Next Top Model''.

Early life

Sterling was born in Los Angeles, California as Eva Pigford. Her middle name, Marcille, is an

amalgam Amalgam most commonly refers to: * Amalgam (chemistry), mercury alloy * Amalgam (dentistry), material of silver tooth fillings ** Bonded amalgam, used in dentistry Amalgam may also refer to: * Amalgam Comics, a publisher * Amalgam Digital, an in ...

of her grandmothers' names "Marjorie" and "Lucille". Her parents are both African American. She attended Raymond Avenue Elementary School, Marina Del Rey Middle School, and Washington Preparatory High School (2002). She attended

Clark Atlanta University Clark Atlanta University (CAU or Clark Atlanta) is a private, Methodist, historically black research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Clark Atlanta is the first Historically Black College or University (HBCU) in the Southern United States. Found ...

in Atlanta, Georgia; however, she left the school shortly after winning the third season of ''America's Next Top Model'' at the age of 19.

Career

Modeling

Marcille was the winner of the third cycle of ''America's Next Top Model'' in 2004, beating fellow contestant Yaya DaCosta. Her prizes included a CoverGirl cosmetics contract, a spread in '' Elle'', and a modeling contract with Ford Models. Marcille has appeared on the cover of ''Brides Noir'', ''Women's Health and Fitness'' (May 2005), '' King'' (June 2005), ''IONA'' (November 2005), and ''Essence''. Her other modeling credits include CoverGirl,

DKNY DKNY is a New York City–based fashion house for men and women, founded in 1984 by Donna Karan. History Karan worked for 15 years at Anne Klein, including 10 as its head designer. In 1984 Karan and her late husband Stephan Weiss were offered t ...

, Samsung, Red by Marc Ecko, ''Jewel'', '' In Touch Weekly'' (June 2005), ''King'' (November 2005), ''WeTheUrban'', IONA, ''UNleashed'', '' Star Magazine'', ''Elle'', ''

Elle Girl ''Elle Girl'' was the largest older-teen fashion and beauty magazine brand in the world with twelve editions. Launched in August 2001, it was the younger sister version of ''Elle'' magazine, and similarly focused on beauty, health, entertainm ...

'',

Apple Bottoms AppleBottoms is a fashion brand for women launched in 2003 by rap artist Nelly, Yomi Martin, Nick Loftis, and Ian Kelly. The brand was initially a denim label, but has since expanded to include other women's and girl's clothing, perfume and acce ...

, Lerner Catalog, Avon Campaign 4 and Rolling Out. Marcille's runway shows include the Marc Bouwer Fall 2005, Elle Girl presents Dare to Be You: Wal-Mart Meets America's Next Top Model 2005, Gharani Strok Fall 2005, Deborah Lindquist Spring 2006, Naqada Spring 2006, 8th Annual 'Models of Perfection' Show 2006, and L.A. Fashion Week's Monarchy Collection Fall 2007. On November 15, 2006, Marcille left her managers Benny Medina and Tyra Banks. After leaving Banks and Medina for new management, she officially dropped "Pigford" from her name, now going by Eva Marcille (her middle name). She has stated she did this in order to not use her modeling fame to get into acting but earn her acting roles. Marcille is now signed to L.A. Models. She has been featured on ''America's Next Top Model: Exposed'' on the CW. She has also been featured as one of CoverGirl's Top Models in Action.

Television work

Marcille has guest-starred on several series on UPN and

The CW Network ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

. Her guest-star credits include two episodes of '' Kevin Hill'', one episode of ''

Smallville ''Smallville'' is an American superhero television series developed by writer-producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, based on the DC Comics character Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The series was produced by Millar Gough ...

'', one episode of '' Everybody Hates Chris'', and one episode of ''

The Game The Game or The Games may refer to: Sports and games * The Game (dice game) (German: ''Das Spiel''), a dice game designed by Reinhold Wittig * The Game (mind game), a mind game, the objective of which is to avoid thinking about The Game itself * ...

'' as herself. Marcille has also appeared on '' Tyler Perry's House of Payne''. In addition, Marcille hosted

BET J BET Her (formerly Centric) is an American basic cable television network owned by Paramount Media Networks. The network is a spin-off of BET with a focus on general entertainment targeting African-American women. The channel originally launched ...

's reality show ''My Model Looks Better Than Your Model'', as well as ''Rip the Runway'' on BET. Furthermore, she has appeared in several music videos, including " Baby" by Angie Stone (featuring

Betty Wright Bessie Regina Norris (December 21, 1953 – May 10, 2020), better known by her stage name Betty Wright, was an American soul and R&B singer, songwriter and background vocalist. Beginning her professional career in the late 1960s as a teena ...

50 Cent Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, and businessman. Born in the South Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, Jackson began pursuing a musical career in 2000, when he produced ...

's " I Get Money" and Jamie Foxx's "

DJ Play a Love Song "DJ Play a Love Song" is a song by American entertainer Jamie Foxx. It was written by Sean Garrett, Jamal Jones, and Jason Perry for his second album, ''Unpredictable'' (2005), while production was helmed by Garrett and Jones under his production ...

". Marcille was cast as a regular on a FOX show called ''The Wedding Album'' in 2006, but FOX canceled it before it aired. In 2005, Marcille appeared in a first-season episode of the

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

improv show '' Nick Cannon Presents Wild 'N Out''. In December 2007, Marcille played a featured role in an episode of ''

''. In 2008 she joined the cast of '' The Young and the Restless'' as a young mother named Tyra Hamilton. After a few months, her character, who was planned to be temporary was made permanent. In 2009, Marcille was nominated for two

NAACP Image Award The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. Similar to ...

for Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series for her ''Y&R'' role but didn't get the awards. She did however win a Young Hollywood award. In film, her credits include '' The Walk'', '' Crossover'', and, most recently, '' I Think I Love My Wife''. She appeared in a June 2009 episode of the BET prank show ''Played by Fame'', where contestants have nightmarish dates with celebrities. She hosted the first season of the Oxygen reality series ''

Hair Battle Spectacular ''Hair Battle Spectacular'' is an American reality competition series that aired on Oxygen from August 10, 2010, to October 3, 2011. The series features ten hair stylists as they compete for a $100,000 grand prize and to see who can create the mo ...

'' in 2010. In August 2013, Marcille appeared in the video clip "J'accélère (I accelerate)" by French rapper Rohff. On August 5, 2015, Marcille was in the main cast as the role of Tara in the TV One series '' Born Again Virgin.'' In February 2016, she was in a reality series titled ''About the Business''. In August 2017, Marcille competed in the first season of VH1's ''

Scared Famous ''Scared Famous'' and ''Fast Forward'' are the third and fourth albums by American recording artist Ariel Pink (credited as "Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti"). They were originally released on cassette tape, cassette as a double album by Ariel in ...

'', which premiered on October 23, 2017. She joined Season 10 of '' The Real Housewives of Atlanta'' as a friend of Nene Leakes and was promoted to a full-time cast member in 2018 for season 11. She departed the series after two seasons in 2020.

Personal life

In July 2006, Marcille began dating actor Lance Gross. The couple became engaged on December 24, 2008 and split up in March 2010. She dated rapper

Flo Rida Tramar Lacel Dillard (born September 16, 1979), better known by his stage name Flo Rida (, ), is an American rapper and singer. His 2007 breakout single " Low" was number one for 10 weeks in the United States and broke the record for digital dow ...

from 2010 to 2012. Marcille has a daughter from her previous relationship with Kevin McCall. She and McCall split in spring 2014, with Marcille stating she has custody of their daughter. In August 2019, she revealed that her daughter's last name has been legally changed from McCall to Sterling. Eva became engaged to Atlanta-based attorney Michael Sterling in December 2017. They married on October 7, 2018. The couple have two sons, born in April 2018 and September 2019. In 2019 she also founded cEVAd, a CBD oil company. The company launched during the birth of her son Maverick.

Filmography

Film

Television

Music Videos

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Marcille, Eva American female models African-American actresses African-American female models African-American models Actresses from Los Angeles Living people American television actresses Clark Atlanta University alumni America's Next Top Model winners 1984 births 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women