Soon after he was born, his mother took the family back to Jamaica, where they lived for seven years before returning to Rochester, New York, where he attended and graduated from Pittsford Mendon High School.

[2] In an August 2021 VLADTV interview, Beckford clarified that nobody named Jeff Jones "discovered him" and said that "the person who gets the credit is Erik.

In 1993, Beckford was recruited by Ralph Lauren as the front model for the company's Polo line of male sportswear.

[10] Beckford judged and mentored the contestants of the first few episodes of the Australian version of Make Me a Supermodel with model and former Miss Universe Jennifer Hawkins.

On June 6, 2005, Beckford was injured during a vehicle accident in Secaucus, New Jersey, in which his 2004 Dodge Ram SRT-10 struck a utility pole and caught fire.

[17][18] Beckford is an ambassador for the nonprofit Kick 4 Life, an organization that uses the power of soccer to engage vulnerable youth in holistic care and support in Lesotho.