Yaya DaCosta, widely recognized as ER nurse April Sexton from the long-standing NBC show “Chicago Med,” appeared in its initial six seasons. However, her career took off after nearly winning the third cycle of “America’s Next Top Model” in 2004.

After securing second place on the show, led by supermodel Tyra Banks, DaCosta shifted her focus to acting. This eventually led to her pivotal role in “Chicago Med” in 2015. Portraying April, she became an essential member of the medical team at the fictional Gaffney Chicago Medical Center’s emergency department, where she had a romantic storyline with Dr. Ethan Choi (played by Brian Tee).

DaCosta exited “Chicago Med” after the sixth season but made a brief comeback in Season 8 to rekindle her on-screen relationship with Ethan and lead to their marriage. From 2021 onward, DaCosta took lead roles in the short-lived series “Our Kind of People” and Netflix’s “The Lincoln Lawyer.” She has recently begun to occasionally reflect on her time in “America’s Next Top Model,” which she had avoided discussing for almost 20 years.

In 2004, DaCosta finished as the runner-up in Cycle 3 of “America’s Next Top Model,” losing to Eva Pigford, now known as Eva Marcille. Throughout her stint on “ANTM,” DaCosta excelled in challenges, despite earning criticism for her perceived arrogance and for unapologetically embracing her African roots. She faced her only brush with elimination when she spat out food during a mock commercial but remained in the competition due to her otherwise stellar performance.

Although she missed out on the main prize, which involved a modeling contract, a cover feature on Elle Magazine, and a CoverGirl contract, DaCosta leveraged the visibility to venture into acting, securing roles on “All My Children” and “Ugly Betty” before landing her major role in “Chicago Med.”

Up until recently, DaCosta refrained from openly discussing her experience on “America’s Next Top Model,” hinting at it being rather challenging when she did choose to speak about it.

In 2022, DaCosta posted videos on Instagram calling out the show for “ignorance” toward certain ethnicities, among other things. These posts, plus the small breadcrumbs she had dropped during interviews with the press in the years prior, led fans to speculate that she was unhappy with her time on “ANTM” and had beef with Banks.

But in 2025, DaCosta publicly admitted that she had largely rebuffed her time on the high-profile reality competition in order to be taken seriously as an actor. She also said that she and Banks had reconnected and made peace with the past when they ran into each other at an awards show. Then, DaCosta made it clear that she once again plans to stop talking publicly about her time on “America’s Next Top Model.”