'''Elizabeth Jane Hurley''' (born 10 June, 1965 in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England) is a British actress, fashion model, producer and designer.
Biography
Early life
Hurley's father, who was of Irish Catholic descent,1 was an army major, while her mother was a schoolteacher. She has an older sister, Katie, and a younger brother, Michael. Hurley took ballet classes as a child and at the age of twelve, received a scholarship at a boarding school, although she was subsequently expelled for poor grades. She then moved to the Harriet Costello School. Hurley later attended the London Studio Centre and Basingstoke College of Technology.
Career
In the late 1980s, Hurley won a "Face of the Year" competition at a local newspaper in Winchester, England, and gained a year's modelling contract with a prestigious London firm as the first prize.2 Hurley also launched an acting career, appearing in several low budget English and Hollywood films, including the 1992 thriller ''
Passenger 57'' in which Hurley played a terrorist. She also appeared on television on both sides of the Atlantic, appearing in the British series ''Rumpole of the Bailey'' and the George Lucas-produced ''The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles''
In 1994 Hurley attended the London première of the film ''Four Weddings and a Funeral'' starring her then-companion Hugh Grant. Hurley's appearance in a black Versace dress held together with gold safety pins gained her considerable media attention. It has often been referred to simply as "''that'' dress" and, following Versace's murder in 1997, the London ''Times''' obituary cited it as the thing for which the subject was best known. In 1995 Hurley began working with top cosmetics company Estée Lauder as their main spokesmodel. Within her first month with the company Hurley launched the best-selling perfume ''Pleasures''. In 1997 Hurley was cast as the female lead in the hit Mike Myers spy comedy ''
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery''. After the success of that film Hurley appeared in several more high-profile films, including ''
EdTV'', ''
Bedazzled'' and 2002's ''
Serving Sara'', which was her last major American film to date. In 2006 Hurley's contract with Estée Lauder was renewed for the 12th year with a subsequent contract extension.
Hurley and Grant also joined forces to create Simian Films, a production company. Through this joint venture Hurley produced two films starring Grant, ''Extreme Measures'' (1996) and ''Mickey Blue Eyes'' (1999). She also produced the 2004 film ''
Method'' in which she starred. In 2006 the company was dissolved as both Hurley and Grant focused on other projects.
In 2005 Hurley's beachwear line Elizabeth Hurley Beach debuted in
