Born on March 29, 1963 in Cronulla, Sydney, Australia, Elle Mcpherson is a model best known for her record five cover appearances for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue from the 1980s and 1990s and into the 2000s. She is also the founder and public face of a series of business ventures including Elle Macpherson Intimates, a lingerie line, and "The Body", a line of skin care products. Forbes estimates that her worth is around $60 million.
The daughter of a former rugby league president and a nurse, she grew up in a North Shore suburb of Sydney and attended Killara High School. Her parents divorced when she was 10. When she turned 17, she enrolled to study law at Sydney University, but not before going to the US to spend a year doing modeling to pay for her college tuition. Her modeling career took off in 1982 with a commercial for Tab Cola that earned her a girl next door stature. Four years after, she was on the cover of Time, Elle, GQ, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, and Playboy.
In 1994, she made her acting debut with a role in Sirens, alongside Hugh Grant and Sam Neil. This was followed by more films, such as "Alice", "Batman and Robin", "The Edge", and "The Mirror Has Two Faces". Notably, she appeared in a five-episode arc on Friends as Joey’s roommate and girlfriend.
Macpherson went on to film "Jane Eyre" with William Hurt and has also appeared alongside Ben Stiller and Sarah Jessica Parker in "If Lucy Fell". Her most controversial acting is the Showtime cable network miniseries "A Girl Thing" in which she plays a woman experimenting with bisexuality alongside Kate Capshaw.
In 2009, she was cast as Claudia Foster in the fashion-themed CW series The Beautiful Life.
Currently, she stars as the host of the NBC reality show on fashion design,
Fashion Star, alongside the contestants' mentors,
Jessica Simpson,
Nicole Richie, and high fashion designer
John Varvatos.