Andre Walker

{{Infobox person | name = Andre Walker | image = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1956|10|19}} | birth_place = Chicago, Illinois | death_date = | death_place = | known_for = Hairstylist of Oprah Winfrey | occupation = Hairstylist }}

'''Andre Walker''' (born October 19, 1956, in Chicago, Illinois<ref>{{cite web |title=Andre Walker |url=http://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/andre-walker |website=The HistoryMakers |accessdate=4 September 2018}}</ref>) is a hairstylist from Chicago who developed the Andre Walker Hair Typing System and served as personal hairstylist to Oprah Winfrey from 1985 to 2015.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last1=Jean-François|first1=Edvige |last2=Carrington|first2=Daisy |date=2015-11-23 |title=The secret of ‘power hair’ {{!}} CNN Business |url=https://www.cnn.com/2015/11/23/luxury/oprah-winfrey-andre-walker-power-hair |access-date=2025-09-02 |website=CNN |language=en}}</ref> He created Halle Berry's signature short pixie haircut.<ref>[http://www.thefashionspot.com/beauty/128049-oprahs-hair-guru-andre-walker-a-tfs-exclusive-interview/ Oprah's Hair Guru Andre Walker: A TFS Exclusive Interview], S. Howard, The Fashion Spot, 4 March 2011.</ref> Walker's other celebrity clients include Barbara Bush, Rosanne Barr, and Michelle Obama.<ref>[http://www.andrewalkerhair.com/v/vspfiles/templates/140/About-Andre.asp About Andre] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131208195017/http://andrewalkerhair.com/v/vspfiles/templates/140/About-Andre.asp |date=2013-12-08 }}, andrewalkerhair.com, retrieved 15 December 2013.</ref> Walker has won seven Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Hairstyling for his work on ''The Oprah Winfrey Show''.<ref>[http://www.elle.com/beauty/hair/andre-walker-oprah-hair-stylist Camera Man], J. Johnson, Elle, 27 June 2011.</ref><ref>[http://madamenoire.com/106414/celebrity-stylist-andre-walker-to-partner-with-hsn-to-launch-hair-care-product/ Celebrity Stylist Andre Walker to Partner With HSN to Launch Hair Care Product], Madame Noire, 15 December 2010.</ref>

== Early life and career == Andre Walker is the son of Woodrow Walker Sr. and Fannie Mae Walker. He grew up in Chicago, and his mother and sister were his first hair clients.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Walker |first=Andre |title=Andre Talks Hair |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1997 |isbn=0-684-82456-6 |location=New York, NY |publication-date=1997}}</ref> He attended Lindbloom Technical High School and later enrolled at Pivot Point Beauty College. After graduating from the program, Walker began working as a hairstylist and opened his own salon in downtown Chicago. In 1986, Walker sent a letter and a dozen roses to Oprah Winfrey offering to style her hair. She accepted, and Walker styled her hair for three decades over a large variety of hairdos.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Oprah's Most Memorable Cover Looks |url=https://www.oprah.com/fashion_and_beauty/oprahs-favorite-cover-looks-from-the-past-15-years/all |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240917230934/https://www.oprah.com/fashion_and_beauty/oprahs-favorite-cover-looks-from-the-past-15-years/all |archive-date=2024-09-17 |access-date=2025-09-02 |work=Oprah.com |language=en-us}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Oprah’s most hated hairstyle |url=http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-style/oprahs-hair-guru-reveals-the-hosts-most-hated-hairstyle/news-story/257f999257ed64d3005b34377f496550 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160217191307/http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-style/oprahs-hair-guru-reveals-the-hosts-most-hated-hairstyle/news-story/257f999257ed64d3005b34377f496550 |archive-date=2016-02-17 |access-date=2025-09-02 |work=NewsComAu |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last= |first= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SnVZbEyUMRwC&lpg=PA34&dq=andre%20walker%20hair&pg=PA34#v=onepage&q=andre%20walker%20hair&f=false |title=Ebony magazine |date= |publisher=Johnson Publishing Company |year=1997 |language=en}}</ref>

Oprah Winfrey wrote in the introduction to the book ''Andre Talks Hair'', that prior to meeting Walker she had a hairdresser who did not rinse a light perm completely, and that "my hair started to fall out in patches. Again. And once again, I shaved my head down to a little teeny weeny Afro. I was batting zero with hairdressers. Until I met Andre."<ref name=":1" />

For his work on ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', Walker won seven Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Hairstyling in 1989, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997 and 2003. He was nominated for this award a further seven times (in 1987, 1988, 1998, 1999, 2004, 2005 and 2006).<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2030662/awards Andre Walker – Awards], Internet Movie Database, retrieved 15 December 2013.</ref> He wrote the book ''Andre Talks Hair'' with Teresa Wiltz, published by Simon & Schuster in 1997. In 2008, Pivot Point International awarded Walker its inaugural L.E.O. Award, named for Pivot Point founder Leo Passage. Walker thanked Pivot Point for encouraging him to "do almost anything" in the field of hair design.<ref>[http://www.americansalon.com/events-industry-benefits-and-awards "Events in the Industry, Benefits and Awards"], American Salon, 1 June 2008.</ref> Walker received the Thurgood Marshall Fashion Icon Award in 2009.<ref>[http://www.express.co.uk/news/showbiz/136604/Jackson-Blige-feted-at-college-gala Jackson & Blige feted at college gala], Daily Express, 27 October 2009.</ref>

In the 1990s, he created the Andre Walker Hair Typing System to market his line of hair care products, which has since been widely adopted as a hair type classification system.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-hair-chart/|title=The Hair Chart - 99% Invisible|work=99% Invisible|access-date=2018-04-25|language=en-US}}</ref> He stepped down as Oprah's hairstylist in 2015 to focus on his hair product business.<ref name=":0" />

==Personal life==

Andre Walker has four sisters (Doris Thomas, Gwen Thomas, Pamela Walker, and Robbin Walker) and two brothers (Woodrow Walker Jr and Bernard Walker). He enjoys cooking and interior decorating.

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * [http://www.andrewalkerhair.com/ andrewalkerhair.com] * {{IMDb name|2030662}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Andre}} Category:Living people Category:1956 births Category:African-American businesspeople Category:American hairdressers Category:Businesspeople from Chicago Category:Daytime Emmy Award winners Category:21st-century African-American people Category:20th-century African-American people Category:Oprah Winfrey