Also Known As: Elizabeth Jane Hurley
Famous As: Actress
Nationality: British
Birth Date: June 10, 1965
Age: 52 Years
Sun Sign: Gemini
Height: 1.73 M
Born In: Basingstoke, Hampshire, England
Father: Angela Mary (Née Titt) And
Mother: Roy Leonard Hurley
Siblings: Kate, Michael James Hurley
Spouse/Partner: Arun Nayar (M. 2007–2011)
Children: Damian Hurley
Net Worth: $35 Million As Of Jan 27, 2017
Childhood & Early Life
Elizabeth Hurley was born in Basingstoke to Roy Leonard Hurley, an army major and Angela Mary Hurley, a school teacher at Kempshott Infant School.
By the age of 12, Elizabeth already knew that she wanted to be a dancer and was enrolled to a private boarding school, specializing in ballet. Later, she also earned a scholarship to study dance and theatre at the ‘London Studio Centre’.
As a teenager, she joined the ‘New Age Travellers’, a hippie group from UK, before getting influenced by ‘punk fashion’ which led her to colour her hair and wear a nose-ring.
Career
As a young girl, Hurley won a ‘Face of the year’ competition that was organized by a local newspaper and was rewarded with a 1 year contract with a top company in London
In 1987, she landed her first movie, ‘Aria’, a film that consisted of 10 short films, all having different directors. The film featured in the ‘Cannes Film Festival’ of 1987.
In 1988, ‘Christabel’, a TV show featuring Hurley in the lead was released, with Hurley playing the lead role of an English woman married to a German lawyer.
Between 1988 and 1995, she acted in a few movies like ‘Rowing With the Wind’, ‘Kill Cruise’, ‘Passenger 57’ and ‘Beyond Bedlam’, along with TV shows like ‘Act of Will’, ‘Death Has a Bad Reputation’.
She was also featured in a lot of cameos during this period, appearing in shows like ‘Inspector Morse’, ‘The Orchid House’, ‘The Good Guys’ and ‘Sharpe’s Enemy’.
In 1994, her then partner Hugh Grant founded a production company ‘Simian Films’, in which Hurley was assigned as development head to scout for projects.
In 1995, the well-known cosmetics firm ‘Estee Lauder’ signed her as their spokes-model, a position she held till 2001, when she was replaced by ‘Caroline Murphy’.
In 1997, she starred alongside Mike Myers as ‘Vanessa Kensington’ in the hit action comedy ‘Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery’ and followed it up with a small appearance in the sequel ‘Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me’, a couple of years later.
From 1998 to 2000, she appeared in quite a few Hollywood movies such as, ‘Permanent Midnight’, ‘My Favourite Martian’, ‘EdTV’ and ‘Bedazzled’.
In 2000, she flouted a 5-month acting-strike by acting in a commercial for ‘Estee Lauder’ and had to pay a penalty of $100,000, imposed by the ‘Screen Actors Guild’. The same year, she acted in the drama ‘The Weight of Water’, which also featured Sean Penn.
In 2001, Hurley was part of ‘The Human Face’, a 4-part documentary about the effects of facial expressions and features. It was narrated by the British Actor-Comedian John Cleese.
In 2002, she acted in the unsuccessful film, ‘Serving Sara’, whose failure led Hurley to stop acting in films in the US and focus more on her modelling career.
In 2005, she did modelling for the firms ‘Saloni’, ‘Liverpool Department Stores of Mexico’ and ‘Lancel’. The same year, she also launched her own beachwear line, ‘Elizabeth Hurley Beach’ at Harrods in UK.
In 2006, she acted in the advertising campaigns for the brands, ‘Jordache’, ‘Shiatzy Chen’, ‘Got Milk?’, ‘Patrick Cox’ and ‘MQ Clothiers of Sweden’.
In 2006, she hosted the British reality show ‘Project Catwalk’ and received a lot of flak for it. She was replaced in the next season because she allegedly had asked the contestants to send her free clothes.
In 2008, Hurley both designed and modelled a capsule collection of 12 swimsuits for ‘MANGO’, a Spanish clothes brand.
In 2011, she acted in the fifth season of the TV show ‘Gossip Girl’, where she portrayed the character of ‘Diana Payne’, a rich businesswoman from Los Angeles.
Major Works
In 1994, Elizabeth Hurley announced herself to the world as she wore an iconic Versaci dress, while accompanying Hugh Grant to the premier of ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’. The dress appeared in numerous tabloids worldwide and catapulted Hurley into sudden limelight.
In 1995, she was chosen as the face of ‘Estee Lauder’ in spite of not having any previous experience in modelling, initiating what has turned out to be a long-standing relationship as she continues to work with the brand till today.
In 1997, Hurley starred as ‘Vanessa Kensington’ in ‘Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery’, a spoof of older James-Bond movies, her most loved role till date, which also become a cult classic much after its release.
Awards & Achievements
Hurley won a special award at the ShoWest Convention in 1997 in the ‘Supporting Actress of the Year’ category.
She has been featured three times on the cover of British ‘Vogue’, a popular fashion magazine in the UK, often hailed as ‘The Fashion Bible’.
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