Best Known As: Vanessa Kensington in Austin Powers
Elizabeth Hurley was a hit as the sexy spy Vanessa Kensington in the 1997 Mike Myers spoof Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. (Hurley played the daughter of the original Mrs. Kensington, Mimi Rogers.) Prior to that film, Hurley was best known for her 13-year relationship with actor Hugh Grant; the two split up in May 2000. Hurley's most famous public appearance may have been at the 1994 premiere of Grant's film Four Weddings and a Funeral, where she wore a Versace dress held together by safety pins. She served as the spokesmodel for Estée Lauder cosmetics for many years; in 2001 she was replaced by model Carolyn Murphy. Her other films include Passenger 57 (1992, with Wesley Snipes), Bedazzled (2000, with Hurley starring as the Devil ), and Method (2004).
Hurley and Grant co-founded the production company Simian Films in 1994... She gave birth to a baby boy, Damien Charles Hurley, on 4 April 2002. Hurley named film producer Stephen Bing as the father; Bing at first disputed the claim, but later admitted paternity... Hurley married Indian businessman Arun Nayar on 3 March 2007.
Career Highlights: Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Permanent Midnight, Bedazzled
First Major Screen Credit: Rowing with the Wind (1987)
Biography
Considered to be one of the world's most famous arm ornaments, model, and sometimes-actress, Elizabeth Hurley first became the topic of gossip sheets when she appeared on the arm of boyfriend Hugh Grant at the premiere for his Four Weddings and a Funeral in 1994. Scantily clad in a Versace gown held up by safety pins, audacity, and little else, Hurley was soon attracting as much press coverage as Grant, and a career as one of the most photographed women of the 1990s was born.
Hurley, who was born in Basingstoke, England, on June 10, 1965, originally wanted to be a dancer. Her interest in dancing soon gave way to acting pursuits, and following studies in dance and theater at the London Studio Centre, she began going on casting calls. The aspiring actress found work in a number of forgettable films and TV miniseries, and it was while working on a film set that she met fellow actor Hugh Grant. Although she first became recognizable due to activities associated with Grant's onscreen work, it was her boyfriend's dubious offscreen exploits that really put Hurley in the spotlight. Thanks to Grant's notorious dalliance with a prostitute by the name of Divine Brown, Hurley was thrust into the public eye with little room to hide. Further complicating the situation was her work as the spokesmodel for Estee Lauder at the time, a position that both heightened her fame and compounded the problems associated with Grant's infamous behavior.
After the ruckus surrounding the Brown scandal died down, Hurley began earning more recognition for her work in Hollywood, both as a producer (she and Grant founded the production company Simian Films in 1994) and an actress. Perhaps her most famous role to date has been as Vanessa Kensington, sidekick and eventual paramour of Mike Myers in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997). She reprised the role for the film's 1999 sequel, although her character was killed off only minutes into the movie. Hurley has also appeared in such films as Permanent Midnight (1998), in which she played the wife of a heroin addict; and EdTV (1999), which featured her as a model who provides heady temptation for the film's titular protagonist (Matthew McConaughey). Hurley would play a temptress of a different sort -- a busty, female version of Satan -- in 2000's Bedazzled with Brendan Fraser. In 2001, Hurley took part in the four part documentary The Human Face, which was narrated by fellow Briton John Cleese, and later starred as a beautiful doctor in Double Whammy with Steve Buscemi and Dennis Leary. Hurley met up with Leary once again for Dawg, the follow-up to Double Whammy (2002). Unfortunately for Hurley, most of the notoriety the young actress gained during 2002 was, once again, of the tabloid variety -- a heated paternity battle with former boyfriend Steve Bing made more headlines than Dawg or Serving Sara. In 2004, Hurley will star alongside Jermey Sisto in Duncan Roy's 2000 thriller Method. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
Elizabeth Jane Hurley (born 10 June 1965) is an Englishmodel and actress who became known as a girlfriend of Hugh Grant in the 1990s.[1] Born in Basingstoke, Hurley was a struggling actress in 1987, when she met Grant while working on a Spanish production called Remando Al Viento. In 1994, Grant became the focus of worldwide media attention due to the global box office success of his film Four Weddings and a Funeral.[2] Hurley accompanied him to the film's London premiere and was noted for wearing a plunging black Versace dress held together with gold safety pins.[3] According to The Guardian,[1] Hurley was "then known as 'Hugh Grant's girlfriend,' now known as 'Hugh Grant's former girlfriend,'" due to their high-profile romantic relationship that ended in 2000.[4]
The highlight of Hurley's professional life has been her association with the cosmetics company Estée Lauder. The company gave Hurley her first modeling job at the age of 29[5] and has used her as a model for its products, especially perfumes such as Sensuous, Intuition, and Pleasures, since 1995.[6] Her best known cinematic work was as Vanessa Kensington in Mike Myers' hit spy comedies, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999).[7] Hurley currently models and designs an eponymous beachwear line. In 2002, Hurley had a son.
Hurley was born as a middle child in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England, the daughter of Angela and Roy Hurley.[8] Her Irish father was a major in the British Army, while her Anglican mother was a teacher at Kempshott Infant School.[8] She has an older sister Katie and a younger brother Michael. Hurley was educated at local schools including Kempshott Infant School, Kempshott Junior School, and the Harriet Costello School. Aspiring to be a dancer as a young girl, she took ballet classes and later briefly studied dance and theater at the London Studio Centre.[9] While in her teens, she became involved with punk fashion, dying her hair pink and piercing her nose.[7] "When I was 16 - this was about 1981,82 - the thing to be in Basingstoke, the suburb I grew up in, was punk," she explained.[10] She also reportedly associated with the New Age Travellers in her youth.[11]
Professional life
Hurley started working as an actress in the late 1980s and became a model in 1995. During the 2000s, she worked unsuccessfully as a reality television presenter in Britain. Allmovie described her as "one of the world's most famous arm ornaments, model, and sometimes-actress," with the first being a reference to her red-carpet appearances accompanying Hugh Grant to his film premieres and other social functions while they were a couple until 2000.[9] She has appeared three times on the cover of British Vogue.[12]
Fashion
In 1995, with no prior modeling experience, Hurley was introduced as an Estée Lauder spokesmodel.[7][5] She later recounted, "I was far from an ingénue, having had my first modeling job at 29."[5] Hurley has since featured in ads for Lauder's 'Pleasures', 'Beautiful', 'Dazzling', 'Tuscany per Donna', and 'Sensuous' fragrances as well as participated in campaigns for the company's other cosmetics.[13] She was replaced as the face of Estée Lauder by Carolyn Murphy in 2001. However, she continues to work with the company non-exclusively, signing a contract for the 14th year with Lauder in 2008.[6] In 2005, she modeled for Saloni, Liverpool Department Stores of Mexico, and Lancel. She was part of the seasonal advertising campaigns for Jordache, Got Milk?, Patrick Cox, MQ Clothiers of Sweden, and Lancel in 2006 and Monsoon in 2007. In 2008, Hurley was unveiled as the seasonal campaign face for Blackglama mink.[13]
In April 2005, Elizabeth Hurley Beach, her beachwear line that she also models every summer, was launched at Harrods in the UK. It debuted later that year in select Saks Fifth Avenue stores in the United States and other European countries.[14] She told Tatler magazine, "I was on Necker Island for a fashion shoot and even as [Richard Branson] was lying back in a hammock, he was on the phone, doing deals, managing his empire. But then I thought I am never going to have even a holiday home, let alone an island, unless I start a business that I can do without disrupting Damian's school days."[15] In May 2008, Hurley designed and modeled a capsule collection of 12 swimsuits for the Spanish clothes brand MANGO.[16]
Hurley is signed to the Independent Modeling Agency in London.
Movies
Hurley made her first film appearance in Aria (1987).[8] She has since appeared in movies such as Passenger 57, EDtv, Bedazzled, and Serving Sara. In 1997, she received her first and only acting award, the ShoWest Supporting Actress of the Year, for her performance in the spy spoof Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.[7] When Hugh Grant founded and became the director of Simian Films in 1994, Hurley was credited as one of the producers for the company's two Grant vehicles, Extreme Measures (1996) and Mickey Blue Eyes (1999).[17] Critics such as Julie Burchill, who has called Hurley's acting "a notch above pornography," have dismissed her performances.[4] In 2000, she was publicly criticised for breaking a five-month acting strike to film an Estée Lauder advertisement, for which she was fined $100,000 (£70,000 in 2000) by the Screen Actors Guild and labeled "Elizabeth Scably" by protesters.[18][19]
Television
In the late 1980s, Hurley portrayed the title character in a four-part television drama, Christabel. After appearing in John Cleese's The Human Face (2001), she hosted the inaugural season of the British reality series Project Catwalk on Sky1 in 2006. The show drew tepid ratings with only 1% of its target audience tuning into the first few episodes.[20] Hurley was almost universally criticised as a presenter. Marcelle D'Argy Smith, a former editor of Cosmopolitan magazine, called her "witheringly boring" and added: "Liz Hurley has no fashion experience whatsoever. She wore a dress and has appeared at premieres."[20]GQ 's Dylan Jones defended her as someone "immersed in the fashion world as a celebrity."[20] Hurley was ridiculed by critics for her "aspirational Basingstoke-gone-jetset accent and dead fish stare,"[20] while also being described as "the not-nice-but-dim host."[20] She was dropped after one season because her bosses reportedly believed she was too wooden.[21] It was also later revealed that Hurley had asked contestants to send her free clothes off the record.[22]
Charity
Hurley has been active in Estée Lauder's Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign, as part of which the company created an "Elizabeth Pink" lipstick whose sales benefit The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.[23] Hurley, whose grandmother died of breast cancer,[24] was the mistress of ceremonies at "The Hot Pink Party" that marked the tenth anniversary of The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. She supported The Prince's Trust by co-presenting the 2003 Fashion Rocks event in its aid[25] and helping launch the Get Into Cooking youth initiative in 2004.[26] She has also helped raise funds for End Hunger Network,[27] ARK children's charity,[28] and the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre.[29]
Personal life
Hurley with her husband at the Ampney Crucis Village Fete in 2008
While Hurley was Hugh Grant's girlfriend,[7] he was embroiled in an international scandal for soliciting the services of a female prostitute in 1995. Hurley stood by him and accompanied Grant to the premiere of his movie Nine Months.[7] After 13 years together, Grant announced an "amicable" split from Hurley in May 2000.[30] Hurley has lived in a London home owned by Grant since the break-up.[31] She invited Grant to her wedding in 2007, but he chose not to attend.[32] On 4 April 2002, Hurley gave birth to a son, Damian Charles Hurley.[33] The baby's father, Steve Bing, denied paternity by alleging that he and Hurley had a brief, non-exclusive relationship in 2001.[34] A DNA test, however, established Bing as the child's father.[35] Hurley is godmother to Patsy Kensit's son Lennon.[36]
