Andie MacDowell

Rosalie Anderson MacDowell, born April 21, 1958, is an American actress and former fashion model. Known for her starring roles in romantic comedies and dramas, she first gained prominence through her modeling career, which included national campaigns for Calvin Klein and a long-standing role as a spokeswoman for L'Oréal beginning in 1986. Her transition into feature films brought her wide critical recognition and commercial success across several decades.

MacDowell was raised in Gaffney, South Carolina, by her mother, Pauline Johnston, a music teacher, and her father, Marion St. Pierre MacDowell, a lumber executive. Called Rose by her family, she grew up alongside three older sisters. Her parents divorced when she was six years old, and her mother passed away in 1981. After graduating from Gaffney High School in 1976, MacDowell attended Winthrop University for two years before moving briefly to Columbia, South Carolina.

After being spotted by a Wilhelmina Models representative, MacDowell signed with Elite Model Management in New York City in 1978 and modeled in Paris for a year and a half. During the early 1980s, she appeared in Vogue magazine and represented brands including Yves Saint Laurent, Armani perfume, and Anne Klein. Her high-profile Calvin Klein advertisements brought her to the attention of filmmakers, leading to her movie debut in Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984). She followed this with a supporting role in St. Elmo's Fire (1985) and her television debut in the Italian miniseries The Secret of the Sahara (1988).

MacDowell achieved her critical breakout in Steven Soderbergh's independent drama Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989), winning an Independent Spirit Award and earning a Golden Globe Award nomination. Throughout the 1990s, she starred in prominent romantic comedies and dramas, including Green Card (1990), Groundhog Day (1993)—for which she won a Saturn Award—Short Cuts (1993), and Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994). Her performance in Four Weddings and a Funeral brought another Golden Globe nomination, while her ensemble work in Short Cuts earned a Volpi Cup and a Golden Globe Special Ensemble Cast Award.

Over the following decades, MacDowell maintained a steady career across film and television. Her screen credits included Michael (1996), Multiplicity (1996), The Muse (1999), Beauty Shop (2005), and Footloose (2011). On television, she starred in the Hallmark Channel series Cedar Cove from 2013 to 2015 and later starred in and produced the television movie The Beach House (2018). Her late 2010s feature film appearances included Love After Love (2017), The Last Laugh (2019), and Ready or Not (2019).

In 2021, MacDowell co-starred opposite her daughter Margaret Qualley in the Netflix miniseries Maid, receiving a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She joined the main cast of the Hallmark series The Way Home in 2023 and appeared in the feature films The Other Zoey (2023) and Red Right Hand (2024). MacDowell has three children—Justin, Rainey, and Margaret—from her marriage to Paul Qualley, which lasted from 1986 to 1999. She was married to Rhett Hartzog from 2001 to 2004, and she currently lives on the coast of South Carolina.