| 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.
|
FILMOGRAPHY
• Choices/Kill Cruise (2004)
• Hollywood Hotties (2004)
• Method (2004)
• Against All Odds - 4 Movie Set on 2 DVDs: Kill Cruise
/ Murder In The Orient / Zig Zag / Massacre (2003)
• Serving Sara (2002)
• The Weight of Water (2002)
• Double Whammy (2001)
• Bedazzled (2000)
• EdTV (1999)
• My Favorite Martian (1999)
• Permanent Midnight (1998)
• Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
• Dangerous Ground (1997)
• Samson and Delilah (1996)
• Shameless (1994)
• Nightscare (1993)
• Passenger 57 (1992)
• Kill Cruise (1990)
• Christabel (1989)
• Rowing With the Wind (1987)
• Dawg |
