Andie MacDowell

Born: April 21st, 1958
Where: Gaffney, South Carolina, USA

The model and actress delivered her breakthrough performance as an unhappy wife in Steven Soderbergh's Sex, Lies and Videotape.

Its success led to lead roles in a series of movies including Green Card, Groundhog Day, Short Cuts, Four Weddings and a Funeral and Crush.

After her parents divorced when she was six, MacDowell was forced into a series of low-paid jobs including serving in MacDonalds and Pizza Hut.

(her mother died after a history of alcohol abuse in 1981).

She dropped out of Winthrop College aged 20 in order to become an Elite model in Paris and her appearance in a Calvin Klein advert attracted movie producers.

In 1984, she made her big screen debut as Jane Porter in Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes.

However, unable to overcome her natural Carolina accent, MacDowell's lines were dubbed by Glenn Close.

She was overwhelmed in her next outing - St Elmo's Fire - by the Hollywood bratpack but she fared better in Sex, Lies and Videotape.

Her role as a dissatisfied housewife earned her best actress awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and Indendent Spirit.

In 1990, she consolidated her success opposite Gerard Depardieu in the Peter Weir comedy Green Card although she did come a cropper with Hudson Hawke.

MacDowell forged a winning chemistry with Bill Murray in the 1993 romantic comedy Groundhog Day.

Director Robert Altman cast her in movie parody Short Cuts and she raised her profile higher as Carrie opposite Hugh Grant in Four Weddings and a Funeral.

MacDowell as nominated for a Golden Globe for best supporting actress in the movie, which also received two Oscar nominations.

Bad Girls in 1994 was a blip and MacDowell was soon back on firmer ground with the drama Unstrung Heroes and the Michael Keaton comedy Multiplicity.

Subsequent appearances include Muppets from Space and the Balkan war drama Harrison's Flowers in 2000.

In 2001, she starred in the critically derided all-star comedy Town & Country with Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton and Goldie Hawn.

However, she impressed as one of three lovelorn women living in a Cotswold village in the underrated Crush.

After a handful of low-budget offerings - Ginostra and The Last Sign - MacDowell played a customer of Queen Latifah's salon in Beauty Shop in 2005.