Eleanor Nancy Gow aka Elle biography

Real biography: thumb Introduction

Six feet tall and golden brown, Elle Macpherson is one of the sexiest human beings ever created.

Life Story

Born Eleanor Nancy Gow in New South Wales, Australia, Elle changed her last name to “Macpherson” after her mother remarried. (Which is good, because “Elle Gow” just doesn’t have the same Supermodel ring to it.) She was discovered while on holiday in Tasmania as a teenager and signed a management deal. Through her many appearances in Elle magazine (how appropriate), she became an international star. She would go on to appear in every issue of Elle for six straight years. (Sort of like how Jim Brown starred for the Cleveland Browns.) From 1986-1988, Elle appeared on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, tying Christie Brinkley’s, uh, streak. She would appear on the cover two more times, an SI swimsuit record. In 1994, Elle made headlines as an artist’s model in the 1930s-era Sirens (Tara Fitzgerald, Kate Fischer, Portia de Rossi). She famously put on 20 pounds of voluptuousness for the role—how voluptuous? Like 37D voluptuous—which called for her to appear nude in several scenes. She wasn’t the only one, either; all the main female characters appear naked at least once in Sirens. (Which reminds us: We need to buy Sirens.) Although she didn’t do a ton of acting after that, Elle did play Joey’s roommate in five totally realistic episodes of Friends (Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow), and she appeared in the nearly franchise-destroying Batman & Robin (Uma Thurman, Alicia Silverstone, Vivica A. Fox).Currently, having recovered from a tough bout of post-natal depression, Elle splits her time between her two sons, Arpad and Aurelius, her British actor boyfriend, Ray Fearon, and her lingerie line. Now if you’ll excuse us, we’ve got some shopping to do.