Born in the Bronx, J. Alexander (known also as Miss J) originally trained to become an accountant. But a chance encounter at sixteen—while dressed in drag—with the impressed President of Elite Model Management got him signed to the agency and off to walk runway for designer Jean Paul Gaultier. There he met fresh model Tyra Banks and began to give her walking lessons. Banks coined his title Queen of the Catwalk. His accidental career as a backstage runway coach took off—coaching such future supermodels as Naomi Campbell and Kimora Lee (Simmons)—and led him around the world casting and coaching models for countless top-name designers. Now J. Alexander is a television personality, well known for his work as the runway coach and a judge on America’s Next Top Model. He currently lives in Paris.