Elizabeth
Hurley
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, Elizabeth
Hurley won a college scholarship to the London Studio Centre,
which taught courses for dance and theater.
Elizabeth 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, Elizabeth 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 in the Wesley Snipes action movie Passenger
57. Disappointed, however, at the lack of meaty roles she received
after two years of auditioning, Hurley returned to England.
Unbeknownst to Elizabeth Hurley, her fame was soon
to skyrocket for several reasons. Reason one was the London premiere
of Four Weddings and a Funeral, where Elizabeth Hurley
wowed the crowd with her black Versace dress that was held together
by nothing more than safety pins. Elizabeth 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, Hurley was
thrust into the public eye. Despite the Brown incident, Hurley and
Grant founded Simian Films 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). 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. Elizabeth Hurley found
out about Extreme Measures after Simian Films was established, during
her first meeting with executives from Castle Rock Entertainment.
Elizabeth Hurley 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. 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 and in Ed TV and My Favorite Martian.
