Yaya DaCosta: Life After 'Top Model'

By Bridget Bland, BlackVoices.com

It's been four years since Yaya DaCosta gained a reputation as being a high-maintenance and overly confident aspiring model on the third cycle of Tyra Banks' hit reality show 'America's Next Top Model.' And although she made it all the way to the finals -- losing the coveted title to Eva Pigford, the Harlem-bred beauty still has good reason to hold her head up high and smile.

While many of the 'Top Model' winners have yet to find fame in modeling, acting or otherwise, the 26-year-old thespian has starred in a movie opposite Antonio Banderas ('Take the Lead'), appeared in commercials for very popular brands (Garnier Fructis and Dr. Scholl's) and just wrapped a critically-acclaimed run just a stone's throw from Broadway in 'The First Breeze of Summer.'

The 'New York Times -- considered the authority on professional theater -- has praised DaCosta's theatrical debut opposite the legendary tour-de-force, Leslie Uggams, with flattering remarks like "sharp" and in "exquisite form" in the Signature Theatre Company's revival of Leslie Lee's beloved Negro Ensemble Company work.

Not bad for the beauty who seems to be carving out a niche of becoming one of the most successful contestants in the show's lengthy history.

"The first time that the world sees you it holds a lot more weight for the public than it does in your own life, and for me [Top Model] is one of many experiences," DaCosta told BlackVoices.com. "I'm grateful for the show because I learned a bunch of things but it didn't have much to do [with] what I'm doing right now."

The Ruben Santiago-Hudson directed play takes place over the course of one sweltering weekend in June and follows the struggles of three generations of a black family as the matriarch looks back on her past and considers the future.

The poignant role came on the heels of DaCosta stepping away from her character Cassandra Foster in the hit soap opera, 'All My Children.' "I put my all into everything I do at the moment and [the character in the play was] a very heavy role," she said. "I was doing both at the beginning and I realized I needed to focus on one thing and I'm really glad I did that."

It's been a struggle to get the public to recognize her as an actor instead of that girl from 'Top Model.' And for that reason, DaCosta's resume lacks reference to The CW series. To have her tell it: "It's kind of looked down upon," and "[she] laughs it off [because] it's the pubic that relates to these things, but in terms of getting work one has nothing to do with the other."

So don't expect her to wave a 'Top Model' flag to remind you where you know her from.

She seems to be off on her own.

And very happy about it, too.

While DaCosta was mum on details of her next big gig, if her track record proves anything, she will be just fine continuing to do just that.