Ananda Lewis (born March 21 1973 in San Diego, California) is an American model and television personality.
She is a mixture of Black and Native American (Cree and Blackfoot).
She had her first theater audience when she was only 3, and went on to spend nine years refining her dramatics at the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts.
At age 13 she volunteered at the Head Start agency, helping kids from poor families. After a traumatizing episode with a boyfriend, Ananda focused her energies on teaching young girls about date rape and abstinence.
She attended Howard University in Washington D.C.
Lewis co-hosted a morning daily radio show, Block Party" with John Salley on 100.3FM The Beat (KKBT Los Angeles). When Salley was dumped in favor of another DJ, Tom Joyner, she moved to the 9a-12p slot. She left that position in November 2006.
She was host of the program Teen Summit on the BET network.
Lewis then became a VJ for MTV as the host of Total Request Live. She also asserted her presence in specials like Wanna Be a VJ Too.
In 2000, she was named one of People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People".
In 2001, she hosted her own syndicated TV talk show, The Ananda Lewis Show.
In 2004, she appeared in Celebrity Mole: Yucatan.
Lewis has long been committed to social activism and youth causes that bridge the generation gap, including race and prejudice, mental health, literacy, prevention of worldwide childhood starvation, and animal cruelty prevention.
Named by PEOPLE magazine one of their "50 Most Beautiful People" in 2000.
Education: B.A. History, Howard University
Is of Black and Native American heritage
