Michelle de Swarte (born 1980) is an English actress, comedian, presenter, and former model. She starred in the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

series '' The Duchess,'' and created, wrote and starred in the BBC series ''Spent.''

Early life

De Swarte was born in

Lewisham Lewisham ( ) is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified in ...

, South London to a Jewish mother and a Jamaican father and grew up in

Brixton Brixton is an area of South London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th century ...

. She was diagnosed with

dyslexia Dyslexia (), previously known as word blindness, is a learning disability that affects either reading or writing. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, reading quickly, wri ...

as a child.

Career

De Swarte was scouted by a modeling agency at the age of 19, while working at

SegaWorld London SegaWorld London was an indoor theme park located inside the London Trocadero in London, England. The venue opened in September 1996 and operated as a joint-venture between Chorion (company), Chorion, then-owners of the Trocadero, and Sega. At 1 ...

. She subsequently relocated to New York to continue her modelling career, before returning to Britain and moving into comedy. De Swarte's beauty product campaigns include

Make-up Art Cosmetics M A C Cosmetics is a Canadian cosmetics manufacturer founded in Toronto in 1984 by Frank Toskan and Frank Angelo. The company has been headquartered in New York City since becoming a subsidiary of Estée Lauder Companies in 1998. MAC is an acro ...

Sephora Sephora is a French multinational retailer of personal care and beauty products, offering nearly 340 brands alongside its own private label, the Sephora Collection. Its product range includes cosmetics, skincare, fragrance, nail color, beauty t ...

and

Neutrogena Neutrogena Corporation, trading as Neutrogena, is an American company that produces cosmetics, skin care and hair care, is owned by parent company Kenvue and is headquartered in Skillman, New Jersey.

. She has also been photographed for

Burberry Burberry Group plc is a British luxury fashion house established in 1856 by Thomas Burberry and headquartered in London, England. It designs and distributes ready to wear, including trench coats, leather accessories, and footwear. It is l ...

Tommy Hilfiger Thomas Jacob Hilfiger ( ; born March 24, 1951) is an American fashion designer and the founder of Tommy Hilfiger (company), Tommy Hilfiger Corporation. After starting his career by co-founding a chain of jeans/fashion stores called People's P ...

Cartier Cartier may refer to: People * Cartier (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) * Cartier Martin (born 1984), American basketball player Places * Cartier Island, an island north-west of Australia that is part of Australi ...

Betsey Johnson Betsey Johnson (born August 10, 1942) is an American fashion designer best known for her colorful, cute and whimsical designs. Many of her designs are considered "over the top" and embellished. She also is known for doing a cartwheel ending ...

Michael Kors Michael David Kors (born Karl Anderson Jr. August 9, 1959) is an American fashion designer. He is the chief creative officer of his brand, Michael Kors, which sells men's and women's ready-to-wear, accessories, watches, jewelry, footwear, and f ...

Baby Phat Baby Phat by Kimora Lee Simmons is a privately held American apparel brand originally established in 1999 by entrepreneur, Russell Simmons. Initially launched as a womenswear offshoot of the menswear label, Phat Farm, Baby Phat by Kimora Lee Si ...

, H&M, Gap and Levis, by photographers such as

Mario Testino Mario Eduardo Testino Silva Order of the British Empire, OBE Royal Photographic Society#Distinctions and qualifications, HonFRPS (born 30 October 1954) is a Peruvian fashion and portrait photographer. His work has featured internationally in ...

Peter Lindbergh Peter Lindbergh (born Peter Brodbeck; 23 November 1944 – 3 September 2019) was a German fashion photographer and film director. He had studied arts in Berlin and Krefeld, and exhibited his works before graduation. In 1971, he turned to phot ...

Patrick Demarchelier Patrick Demarchelier (; 21 August 1943 – 31 March 2022) was a French fashion photographer. Early life and education Born near Paris in 1943 to a modest family, Demarchelier spent his childhood in Le Havre, Normandy, with his mother and fo ...

and

Steven Meisel Steven Meisel (born June 5, 1954) is an American fashion photographer, who obtained popularity and critical acclaim with his work in '' Vogue'' and '' Vogue Italia'' as well as his photographs of friend Madonna in her 1992 book, '' Sex''. He is ...

, and featured in fashion spreads for ''

Harper's Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' (stylized as ''Harper's BAZAAR'') is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. Bazaar has been published in New York City since November 2, 1867, originally as a weekly publication entitled ''Harper's Bazar''."Corporat ...

'', Italian '' Vanity Fair'' and '' V''. She modeled for Copperwheat Blundell (Ready-to-Wear Fall/Winter 2000 fashion show), Luella,

Missoni Missoni is an Italian luxury fashion house based in Varese, Italy, Varese, and known for its colourful knitwear designs. The company was founded by Ottavio Missoni, Ottavio ("Tai") and Rosita Missoni in 1953. History Early beginnings The busin ...

(Ready-to-Wear Spring/Summer 2002 fashion shows), and during the Ready-to-Wear Fall/Winter 2002 fashion week she modeled for

Dolce & Gabbana Dolce & Gabbana (), also known by initials D&G, is an Italian Luxury goods, luxury fashion house founded in 1985 in Legnano by Italian designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana. The house specializes in ready-to-wear, handbags, accessories, ...

Gucci Guccio Gucci S.p.A., doing business as Gucci ( , ), is an Italian Luxury goods, luxury fashion house based in Florence. Its product lines include handbags, ready-to-wear, footwear, accessories, and home decoration; and it licenses its name and ...

John Galliano John Charles Galliano (born 28 November 1960) is a British fashion designer. He was the creative director of his eponymous label John Galliano and French fashion houses Givenchy and Dior. From 2014 to 2024, Galliano was the creative director ...

and Versus Versace. But her career as a runway model stopped abruptly after she fell down repeatedly and removed her shoes while walking for the Gucci Fall/Winter 2002 Ready-to-Wear fashion show, where the catwalk was covered in faux sheepskin. Turning to television, her TV credits include presenting celebrity gossip show '' Dirty Digest'' for E4, '' The Fashion Show'', a 10-episode mini-series with

George Lamb George Martin Lamb (born 20 December 1979) is an English former radio and television presenter, farmer and businessman. In 2012, he presented the Channel 4 game show ''The Bank Job''. He is the son of actor Larry Lamb. Education Born in Hammer ...

and

Abbey Clancy Abigail Marie Clancy (born 10 January 1986) is an English model and television personality. She was the runner-up of ''Britain's Next Top Model (series 2)'' in 2006 and won series 11 of ''Strictly Come Dancing'' in 2013. She presented ''Britain ...

which aired on

ITV2 ITV2 is a Television in the United Kingdom, British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the fiv ...

from September to November 2008, hosting the live broadcast of

Arthur's Day Arthur's Day was an annual series of music events worldwide, originally organised by Diageo in 2009 to promote the 250th anniversary of its Guinness brewing company. It was named after the founder of Guinness brewing, Arthur Guinness. Backgrou ...

celebrations, and being a

talking head A talking head is a television pundit. Talking head or talking heads may also refer to: Music * Talking Heads, an American rock band ** ''Talking Heads'' (album), a 2005 box set by Talking Heads * "Talking Head", a song by Motörhead from the ...

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's ''The Noughties.. Was That It?'' in 2009. She also appeared on a number of panel shows for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: Television TV stations/networks/channels ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network and company, including: **ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network in the United Kingd ...

and

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...

. In 2015, she began reporting for

Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, Habit (psychology), habit or item generally considered morally wrong in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character trait, a defect, an infirmity, or a bad or unhe ...

America doing a range of documentaries covering issues from

FGM Female genital mutilation (FGM) (also known as female genital cutting, female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and female circumcision) is the cutting or removal of some or all of the vulva for non-medical reasons. FGM prevalence varies ...

to female magicians, as well as the Emmy-nominated series ''Woman'', produced by

Gloria Steinem Gloria Marie Steinem ( ; born March 25, 1934) is an American journalist and social movement, social-political activist who emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. ...

for

Viceland Viceland (stylized in all caps; also known as Vice TV in the United States) is a brand used for television channels owned and programmed by Vice Media. The brand launched on February 29, 2016, with two cable channels in North America. The Vice ...

USA. She has also starred in the 2020 British comedy-drama series, '' The Duchess'', and the 2022 British horror comedy limited series, '' The Baby''. On '' Live at the Apollo'', she tells about her

Jeffrey Epstein Jeffrey Edward Epstein ( , ; January 20, 1953August 10, 2019) was an American financier and child sex offender. Born and raised in New York City, Epstein began his professional career as a teacher at the Dalton School, despite lacking a col ...

- Jean-Luc Brunel encounter. 2024 saw the release of de Swarte's self-written sitcom, ''Spent'', on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

, which was loosely based on her own experiences in the modelling industry.

Personal life

De Swarte is bisexual. She lives between London and Greenpoint, Brooklyn. De Swarte was previously married to professional skateboarder

Jason Dill Jason Dill (born November 21, 1976) is an American professional skateboarder, photographer, and co-founder of Fucking Awesome—an American skate company. Early life Dill was born in Huntington Beach, California, United States. When he was eig ...

; he filed for divorce in 2020.

TV productions

*2008: ''The Fashion Show'' (

Princess Productions Princess Productions was a Londonbased television production company, formed by Henrietta Conrad and Sebastian Scott. It produced broadcast shows and pilots across a variety of genres for numerous major British broadcasters, mainly specialisin ...

for ITV2 with George Lamb and Abigail Clancy) *2009: Arthur's Day Celebrations (ITV2 and Sky, with

Cat Deeley Catherine Elizabeth Deeley (born 23 October 1976) is an English television presenter. She is currently the main co-presenter for ITV's '' This Morning'', alongside Ben Shephard. Deeley began her career as a co-presenter of the ITV children' ...

and

Ronan Keating Ronan Patrick John Keating (born 3 March 1977) is an Irish singer, songwriter, actor and presenter. He debuted in 1993 alongside Keith Duffy, Michael Graham, Shane Lynch, and Stephen Gately, as the co-lead singer (with Gately) of Irish pop g ...

) *2009: '' I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here Now!'' (ITV2, filmed in Australia) *2011: ''Dirty Digest'' (E4) *2024: ''Spent'' (BBC Two)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:De Swarte, Michelle Living people 1980 births Actors from the London Borough of Lambeth Actors from the London Borough of Lewisham Actors with dyslexia Models with dyslexia Actresses from London Bisexual comedians Bisexual Jews Bisexual women models Black British actresses Black British fashion people Black British women comedians Black British comedians Black Jewish people Comedians from the London Borough of Lambeth Comedians from the London Borough of Lewisham English bisexual actresses English expatriates in the United States English female models English LGBTQ comedians English LGBTQ models English people of Jamaican descent English people with disabilities English television presenters English women comedians Jewish English actresses Jewish English comedians Jewish women comedians LGBTQ people from London People from Brixton People from Lewisham Jewish LGBTQ women