Lio Tipton

Tipton was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They began ice skating at two and a half years old. When Tipton was eight, their family relocated to Sacramento, California and they went to school in Placerville, California. Tipton competed in four U.S. Synchronized Skating Championships. They and their pair partner, Phillip Cooke, twice became regional champions, and competed twice at the U.S. Junior Figure Skating Championships on the Juvenile level. Tipton retired from competitive skating at 16 but continued to skate in charity ice shows for AIDS foundations and to rebuild a rink damaged in a fire. They attended Marymount California University in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.

Prior to America's Next Top Model, Tipton was signed to I Model & Talent in Los Angeles and walked in Los Angeles Fashion Week for designer Kelly Nishimoto's Fall 2008 collection, Imasu. Tipton was the second contestant selected (after eventual All Stars contestant, Sheena Sakai) for the top fourteen to compete on the reality television show America's Next Top Model Cycle 11 in 2008. They were recruited through MySpace and asked to audition in Los Angeles. Tipton received two first call-outs, one of which was the first CoverGirl commercial, which Tyra Banks deemed "the best CoverGirl commercial in the history of America's Next Top Model." They also won the go-sees challenge by booking all three of their go-sees and getting back on time. They also appeared twice in the bottom two where they first survived over Brittany Rubalcaba and were subsequently eliminated twelfth in the finale after forgetting their lines in the second CoverGirl commercial, which left Samantha Potter and McKey Sullivan to walk in the finale runway show. Tipton signed with Ford Models in Los Angeles and Abrams Artists Agency, in both the commercial and theatrical divisions. They appeared in Spain's Marie Claire, Seventeen magazine's December 2008–January 2009 edition, a several-page spread in Maxim, and in Vogue. They were also featured in ads for Forever 21 and Guess. In 2010, they modeled Geren Ford's pre-fall 2010 collection. For Los Angeles Fashion Week, they walked for Skingraft and David Alexander for the S/S 2010 season.

Tipton appeared with Samantha Potter as guest stars on an episode of the television series The Big Bang Theory in 2008 and by themself in a different role in 2015. Tipton played a babysitter who has a crush on Steve Carell's character in Crazy, Stupid, Love, prompting The New York Times to call them a "face to watch". Tipton was cast in the third season of HBO's TV comedy Hung, portraying Sandee, a young gigolo's scheming fiancée. They played a supporting role in the zombie-apocalyptic horror-romance Warm Bodies, directed by Jonathan Levine. They had a small role opposite Scarlett Johansson in the 2014 science fiction action film Lucy. They had their first lead role in Two Night Stand, directed by Max Nichols, which was released on September 26, 2014. In 2014, Tipton was the co-lead in ABC's short-lived comedy series Manhattan Love Story. In 2018, Tipton played Avery's date, Lauren, on the new season of Murphy Brown (S1:E7, "A Lifetime of Achievement").

Tipton announced in June 2021 that they are queer and non-binary, and use they/them pronouns. Tipton married entertainment executive Chaz Salembier in October 2022.