For 40 years, the award-winning Andie MacDowell has been charming audiences with performances in Four Weddings and a Funeral and Groundhog Day, to the 2021 Netflix drama Maid, with daughter Margaret Qualley, and Hallmark's time-travelling fantasy drama The Way Home.
So it's no surprise that the actress, who began her career as a model for Calvin Klein and is still an ambassador with L'Oreal after 41 years, admits that she has been left "humbled" as she looks back over a remarkable career. "I've gone from a young girl to having three babies and now having grandchildren, and my journey has been remarkable," Andie tells HELLO!
© Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal via GBorn in South Carolina in 1958 as Rosalie Anderson MacDowell, she was the youngest of four daughters and went by the name Rose. Her childhood was marked by tragedy; her parents divorced when she was six, and her mother, an alcoholic, died of a heart attack when Andie was 23.
At the age of 20, Andie signed a modeling contract with Elite Model Management and moved to Paris, where she appeared in Vogue, and worked for Yves Saint Laurent, Vassarette, Armani, Anne Klein, and Bill Blass. She made her film debut in 1984's Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes but her strong southern accent led producers to hire Glenn Close to dub Andie's lines.
Andie refused to let her history be erased though, and that distinct accent remains 42 years on as she speaks to HELLO! at the 2026 Gracie Awards, where she was honored with the Icon Award.
© GC Images"I'm humbled completely and feel so, so much gratitude to be sitting at the table with my whole family and L'Oreal [whom I've been an ambassador] for 41 years now, which is unheard of," she says.
Andie was one of the first Hollywood actresses to embrace turning grey, joking on stage that "this authenticity defines my life… I had the absolute audacity to age!"
"The reality of growing and changing is truly the most beautiful thing you put out into the world," she says. "Every day I feel like I'm embarking on a new quest and to be recognized for who I was, who I am, and who I'm constantly changing into is an honor."
© Variety via Getty ImagesAndie is mom to son Justin, and two daughters, Rainey, an actress and singer, and Margaret, an actress who appeared alongside her mom in the Emmy-nominated drama Maid. She divorced their father, Paul Qualley, in 1999. She entered into a romance with Dennis Quaid and a marriage with former high school classmate, Rhett Hartzog, whom she later divorced in 2004.
Andie, now an empty nester, lives alone in South Carolina on Kiawah Island, a sprawling resort with a tight-knit community.
When looking back over the past 40 years, Andie admits that, like any parent, she would say automatically that she is most proud of her three children, all of whom are married and beginning their own families. But perhaps more importantly, she is also proud of being able to "take care of myself".
© Penske Media via Getty ImagesWhat does that look like for Andie? "Being independent, self-reliant, strong, with a sense of dignity," she says.
"I think I'm proud of the opportunity as a woman to be multi-dimensional, to do the things that I wanted to do, to be able to raise my children and work and be creative and take care of myself."
© Getty ImagesIn 2023, Andie took on another new challenge; she joined Chyler Leigh and Sadie Laflamme-Snow as the patriarch of three generations of strong, willful, and independent Landry women in Hallmark's The Way Home.
Via time travel and a centuries-old curse, the women, all in different stages of life, embark on a journey to find their way back to each other while learning important lessons about their family's past.
No stranger to Hallmark – Andie also starred in two-season drama Cedar Cove for the network from 2013 to 2015 – the world of fantasy was a new career pivot for Andie, who at 68 is still "always learning, and always open to connecting with other actors, learning from them and sharing with them."
© Getty Images"It's been a great opportunity to spend four years playing the same character too – there's nothing quite like it because they really do become a part of who you are and how you think about developing that character. It's been a wonderful process."
The show will conclude after four seasons in June 2026, but Andie has a "sisterhood" for life now with Chyler and Sadie.
"The love and affection you can have for your co-stars is like none other, it's been amazing."
