Liz Hurley Biography

Elizabeth Hurley
Biography

Birth Name
Elizabeth Hurley
Date of birth (location)
10 June 1965,
Hampshire, England, UK

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Elizabeth Hurley was born to an army officer father and elementary schoolteacher mother on June 10, 1965 in Hampshire, England, United Kingdom. As a youngster growing up in the suburb of Basingstoke, England, Elizabeth Hurley's dream was to become a dancer, so she went to a boarding school for ballet instruction when she was twelve years old. However, she soon returned home. Around the age of 16, Hurley became caught up in the English punk-rock scene and even wore pink hair and a nose ring. Hurley says, "When I was sixteen -- this was about 1981, '82 -- the thing to be in Basingstoke, the suburb I grew up in, was punk. Which, as any hip person will tell you, was way past its sell-by date. But the thing to do was to have a pierced nose and spiky hair. And I loved the music. Still do." Despite her punkiness, Hurley won a college scholarship to the London Studio Centre, which taught courses for dance and theater. Later Years Hurley parlayed her training at the London Studio Centre into theatre work and made her screen debut at the age of 21 in Bruce Beresford's movie Aria in 1987.

Several roles in television and the film Remando al viento (1987) with young actor (and future beau) Hugh Grant soon followed. Continuing her streak of success, Hurley drew accolades for her portrayal of the title role of Christabel Bielenberg in the BBC mini-serial Christabel in 1988. In 1992, Hurley made her Hollywood film debut as a terrorist (she can terrorize me any day) in the Wesley Snipes action drama Passenger 57. Disappointed, however, at the lack of meaty roles she received after two years of auditioning, Hurley returned to England. Unbeknownst to Hurley, her fame was soon to skyrocket for several reasons. Reason one was the London premiere of Four Weddings and a Funeral (Grant's 1994 movie), where Hurley wowed the crowd with her black Versace dress that was held together by nothing more than safety pins. (You can find several pictures of that dress on this site at the Pictures section, FYI.) Hurley says, "That dress was a favor from Versace because I couldn't afford to buy one. His people told me they didn't have any evening wear, but there was one item left in their press office. So I tried it on and that was it." Reason two for Hurley's fame really taking off was when Hugh Grant was found with Divine Brown. Since she also was the model representing top cosmetics house Estée Lauder at the time (Estée Lauder had signed her shortly after the Versace safety-pin dress), Hurley was thrust into the public eye.

Despite the Brown incident, Hurley and Grant founded Simian Films ("Simian" because Grant resembles a monkey) in partnership with Castle Rock Entertainment in 1994. Hurley, the Head of Development, discovered the script and was producer of the film Extreme Measures (1996), starring Hugh Grant, Gene Hackman, and Sarah Jessica Parker. Extreme Measures, a medical mystery thriller, is Simian Films' first production and a departure from what Hurley and Grant had planned on doing in their first production -- comedy. Hurley found out about Extreme Measures after Simian Films was established, during her first meeting with executives from Castle Rock Entertainment. Elizabeth liked the story and read Tony Gilroy's script eagerly. "I found the moral intricacies of the script so complex that even now, nearly two years after reading the first draft, I still can't decide exactly where I stand on the ethical issues," said Hurley during an interview.

Since producing Extreme Measures, the well-rounded Hurley has continued to be very busy with a plethora of projects. The film Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) was probably the biggest and and most successful of those projects. On Austin Powers' impact on her career, Hurley says ". . . thanks to Austin Powers, I'm earning more money acting than I have before and getting better scripts. But that film was not what I feel comes naturally to me. I'm actually a more melancholy, more serious actress. I mean, in England I got known for very sad, dramatic, quite heavy emotional BBC dramas." In addition to portraying the "shagadelic" Vanessa Kensington in Austin Powers, Hurley still models for Estée Lauder; has been working on producing Simian Film's second film, Mickey Blue-Eyes; appeared in the film Dangerous Ground (1997); and has been filming her characters in Permanent Midnight (out fall 1998) and in Ed TV and My Favorite Martian (both out in 1999). Weight of Water (2000) Bedazzled (2000) Servicing Sara (2001)