| Tyra Hamilton | |||||||||||||
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| Eva Marcille as Tyra Hamilton | |||||||||||||
| The Young and the Restless | |||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Eva Marcille | ||||||||||||
| First appearance | June 25, 2008 | ||||||||||||
| Last appearance | August 17, 2009 | ||||||||||||
| Cause/reason | Left town | ||||||||||||
| Created by | Maria Arena Bell | ||||||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||||||
| Gender | Female | ||||||||||||
| Occupation | Ex-Hotel manager Former Manager at Indigo |
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Tyra Hamilton is a fictional character on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless, portrayed by an American fashion model and actress Eva Marcille from June 25, 2008[1] to August 17, 2009.
Tyra arrives in Genoa City with her daughter Ana (Jamia Simone Nash) during Lily Winters' (Christel Khalil) birthday party to surprise her sister Yolanda's son Devon (Bryton). Devon's father Neil Winters (Kristoff St. John) is worried about the sudden arrival of Devon's aunt and decides to find out more about why Tyra has come to town. After learning that Tyra has lost her job, Neil offers her a job as the manager of Indigo.
Tyra surprises Neil when she confesses that Ana is in fact her sister's daughter and Devon's sister. She then applies for her to get in a private school in New Hampshire, funded by Katherine Chancellor (Jeanne Cooper) but it backfires when Ana intercepts the call and finds out that Yolanda is her biological mother.
Ana accepts to go to New Hampshire and Tyra decides to go with her, but their absence becomes a problem when Devon learns that Ana does not like the school. Kay informs Neil that Ana and Tyra left the school. Tyra comes back to Genoa City looking for Ana, who has run away, and they reunite the same day. Neil tries to convince Tyra to stay in town, much to Karen's displeasure. Tyra begins dating a cop named Gil and develops feelings for Neil. Neil's sister-in-law, Olivia, pushes Tyra to go after Neil even though he is in a relationship with Karen (Nia Peeples).
Ana is taken away from Tyra when Yolanda decides to claim her. In December 2008, It is revealed that Yolanda filed a missing child report on Ana. Though Tyra has raised Ana for years, Yolanda has retained custody of her daughter. Neil and Karen marry in order to become Ana's foster parents. Karen wants to formally adopt Ana, which infuriates Tyra, who can only see her daughter during supervised visits. In a moment of weakness, Tyra kisses Neil, and then runs away from him. They later kiss again, which Karen witnesses. Karen tries to keep them apart by making it appear as though Neil also wants to adopt Ana without Tyra's knowledge. Tyra and Ana run away.
Ana texts Neil before it's too late and they make up an excuse to prevent Tyra being stripped from visitation rights. Later on Neil tries to fire Tyra to avoid marital trouble and Tyra accepts both this and Ana being adopted and proceeds to leave telling Neil he is her hero and has been good to her. Neil stops her and they begin to have sex.
They both regret it but are confronted by Devon, Lily and Karen on separate occasions. Neil then helps Tyra get custody of Ana, even though his marriage blows up as a result. They then begin a new relationship but decide to take things slow. Soon thereafter at Lily's wedding to Cane Ashby (Daniel Goddard), Tyra's aunt Virginia (Della Reese Lett) reveals to Devon that Tyra is not his biological aunt, having been left with Devon's grandmother as a baby. This revelation leads to a widening rift between Tyra and Devon, who still blames her for the end of Neil and Karen's marriage. However, Devon finds that he is actually quite attracted to Tyra. In August 2009, after a particularly vicious argument, Devon and Tyra have sex with each other, unaware that his girlfriend Roxanne (Tatyana Ali) has walked in and discovered them in the act. Roxanne later confronts Devon and breaks up with him, while Tyra hopes that Neil won't find out. But she has to discover that Devon confessed their one-night-stand to him. Tyra asks Neil for another chance, who tells her that Lily has his attention at the moment. Leading for Tyra to announce that she leaves town to live by Virginia.
The characters Tyra and Ana have met with negative reactions from viewers, especially due to the fact that her character has disappeared several times for more than a week.[2] However the producers have given Marcille a commitment to develop her character and she has been nominated for NAACP Image award.[3]