The phrases “heroin chic” and “waif” might describe some models, but they could never apply to Elle Macpherson. At six feet tall, with long, tanned limbs and an aptitude for pretty much all sports, Elle was nicknamed “The Body” when she burst onto the scene in the 1980s. The next two decades proved that she could also be nicknamed “The Brain”—read on.  

Elle was born in Killara, a suburb of Sydney, Australia, on March 29, 1963. She was born Eleanor Gow, but changed her last name to that of her stepfather after her parents divorced. Elle lived in Sydney until she was 17, where she was active in aquatic sports—water ballet, sailing, freestyle swimming, and backstroke. Elle was a smart cookie, too, and was accepted at Sydney’s Macquarie University to study law.

While skiing in Aspen, Colorado, in 1982, she was spotted and invited to New York for some test shots. The rest is history. A contract with Click Model Management soon followed. When asked about choosing modeling as a career in an interview, Elle points out, “I didn’t choose it...this industry chose me. But I did choose to make it fulfilling.”

And that she did. Elle is one of the most financially successful of all the world’s supermodels. She initially became a staple model of Elle magazine, working regularly with the magazine for six years. In 1986, Time ran a cover on her career entitled “The Big Elle,” which is where she got her nickname “The Body.” This was the same year she did the first of her prestigious covers for Sports Illustrated’s annual swimsuit issue. She made the cover again in 1987, 1988, and 1994. When she realized there was a market for an Elle Macpherson calendar, she started producing her own, the first of her many successful business ventures.

In 1990 Elle launched a lingerie line, Elle Macpherson Intimates. As chairperson, she has piloted the company to become Australia’s most recognized lingerie brand, growing into a multimillion-dollar enterprise available in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Gulf States. When asked if she always wears matching underwear, she replies, “Always, always, always! It’s absolutely essential...if I’m wearing a bra that doesn’t match the knickers, I feel like I’m walking with a limp.”  

In 1994 Elle filmed her own highly successful fitness video, “Your Personal Best with Elle Macpherson,” also known as “Elle Macpherson: The Body Workout.”

She acts as executive director on the board of Hot Tuna, one of the world’s longest-established Australian surf wear brands. The supermodel also has her own skincare line called—what else?—The Body.

A string of successful film and television roles has included several 1994 appearances on the hit TV series “Friends” as Joey’s roommate and love interest. Her first movie role was a walk-on part in the Woody Allen film “Alice” in 1990. In 1993, Elle scored a meatier role in “Sirens,” opposite Hugh Grant and Sam Neil, as an artist’s model. Other film credits include Franco Zeffirelli’s “Jane Eyre,” “If Lucy Fell” with Sarah Jessica Parker, “The Mirror Has Two Faces” with Barbara Streisand, and “Batman & Robin” with George Clooney. Elle recently costarred in “The Edge” with Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin, and has finished production on “Mom’s Up on the Roof” with Adam Arkin.

Macpherson was married to Gilles Bensimon, photographer and creative manger of Elle magazine, from 1985 to 1989, and then had a long relationship with financier Arpad “Arki” Busson, with whom she has two children: Arpad Flynn, born in 1998, and Aurelius Cy, born in 2003. She and Arki split in 2006. Despite her massive achievements, Elle describes having children as her “greatest achievement” and credits them with switching “my focus from the outside to the inside.”

Although Elle hasn’t lived in Australia since she was 17, it is still part of her soul. “I travel ’round the world, I speak a few languages, but I’m basically just an Aussie surfer chick,” she says. The Australian government offered her a post on the tourism commission as an unofficial ambassador, and in 1999 Elle became the first living Australian entertainer to be put on a postage stamp.