Rosalie Anderson MacDowell is an American actress and fashion model. She made her film debut in 1984's , before receiving critical acclaim for her role in Sex, Lies, and Videotape, for which she won Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama. She also received Golden Globe Award nominations for her performances in Green Card and Four Weddings and a Funeral. MacDowell starred in Groundhog Day, Short Cuts, Michael, and Multiplicity. She had roles in a number of less successful movies, including The End of Violence, The Muse and Town & Country. She later went on to star in a number of independent films, and to play supporting parts in movies such as Beauty Shop, Footloose, and Magic Mike XXL. She received critical acclaim for the 2017 drama filmLove After Love. MacDowell has modeled for Calvin Klein Inc. and has been a spokeswoman for L'Oréal since 1986, celebrating 30 years with the company in 2016.
Early life
MacDowell was born in Gaffney, South Carolina, the daughter of Pauline "Paula" Johnston, a music teacher, and Marion St. Pierre MacDowell, a lumber executive. Her ancestry includes English, French, Scottish, Irish, and Welsh. Her family owned an Antebellum period summer house in Arden, North Carolina, which has since been made into a bed-and-breakfast named the Blake House Inn. Graffiti from her childhood visits are preserved in an upstairs bedroom closet. Her mother was an alcoholic and her parents divorced when she was 6 years old. MacDowell’s mother died of a heart attack at the age of 53 after living sober for a year. When MacDowell was 8 years of age her father remarried, this time to the former Mary Frances Stone. This union lasted until his death. MacDowell attended Winthrop University for 2 years before moving briefly to Columbia, South Carolina. After having been initially spotted by a rep from Wilhelmina Models while she was on a trip to Los Angeles, MacDowell signed a modeling contract with Elite Model Management in New York City in 1978.
Career
In the early 1980s, MacDowell modelled for Vogue magazine and appeared in ad campaigns for Yves Saint Laurent, Vassarette, Armani perfume, Sabeth-Row, Mink International, Anne Klein, and Bill Blass. A series of billboards in Times Square and national television commercials for Calvin Klein won attention and led to her 1984 film debut in . In this role, MacDowell’s lines were dubbed by Glenn Close because her Southern accent was considered too pronounced for her role as an Englishwoman. In 1985, MacDowell filled a supporting role as a doctor in St. Elmo's Fire. MacDowell studied method acting with teachers from the Actors Studio in addition to working privately with the renowned coach Harold Guskin. Four years later, director Steven Soderbergh cast her in the independent filmSex, Lies, and Videotape. Her performance earned her an Independent Spirit Award, a Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress, and several other award nominations, attentions which led to a series of starring roles in films such as Green Card, The Object of Beauty, and Short Cuts. In the 1990s, MacDowell achieved stardom due to the box office success of director Harold Ramis's 1993 comedy, Groundhog Day, and Four Weddings and a Funeral, opposite Hugh Grant. Since 1986, MacDowell has appeared in print and television advertisements for cosmetic and haircare company L'Oréal. In later years she has acted primarily on television and in independent films. In 2012, she co-starred in the short-lived ABC Family series Jane by Design. From 2013 to 2015, she starred in the Hallmark Channel family series Cedar Cove. In 2019, she starred in the BBC sitcom Cuckoo.
Personal life
MacDowell's mother was an alcoholic and MacDowell cared for her from an early age. In 1986, MacDowell married Paul Qualley, a rancher and fellow former model. The two met while posing for Gap ads. They had a son, Justin, and two daughters, Rainey Qualley, named Miss Golden Globe 2012, and Margaret, an actress. MacDowell and Qualley divorced in 1999. Following her divorce from Qualley, MacDowell entered a year-long affair with actor Dennis Quaid. In 1999, thanks to her sister Julia, MacDowell met up with her former high school classmate, Rhett Hartzog, a businessman whom she married on November 10, 2001. The couple subsequently divorced in October 2004. As of 2013, MacDowell has resided in Marina del Rey, California.
