She then starred in a series of films including Green Card (1990), Groundhog Day (1993), Short Cuts (1993), Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Unstrung Heroes (1995), Michael (1996), Multiplicity (1996), and The Muse (1999).

MacDowell played supporting film roles in Beauty Shop (2005), Footloose (2011), Magic Mike XXL (2015), The Last Laugh (2019), Ready or Not (2019), The Other Zoey (2024) and Red Right Hand (2024).

MacDowell graduated from Gaffney High School in 1976,[9] then went on to attend Winthrop University for two years before moving briefly to Columbia, South Carolina.

[5] In the early 1980s, MacDowell modeled 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 Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes.

[12][13] MacDowell studied method acting with teachers from the Actors Studio in addition to working privately with coaches Harold Guskin and Warren Robertson.

After her big break with Sex, Lies, and Videotape, MacDowell went on to star in the romantic comedy film Green Card directed by Peter Weir.

The screenplay focuses on an American woman who enters into a marriage of convenience with a Frenchman so he can obtain a green card and remain in the United States.

[16] The following year she starred alongside John Malkovich in the crime comedy-drama The Object of Beauty, and opposite Bruce Willis in the action comedy Hudson Hawk.

The film fared poorly at the box office, grossing only $608,866 in the United States during its limited run opposite $24 million production budget.

In 1993, MacDowell achieved stardom due to the box office success of director Harold Ramis's fantasy romantic comedy film Groundhog Day, starring opposite Bill Murray.

[24] Later that year she starred alongside Madeleine Stowe in the Western film Bad Girls: it was a box office disappointment, grossing $23 million worldwide.

The film received mixed reviews, but Roger Ebert praised her performance writing: "Andie MacDowell is a sympathetic actress who finds plausible ways to occupy this implausible role.

"[31] The following year she starred in two romantic comedy films: Town & Country alongside Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton, and received star-billing in Crush.

[32] Also in 2001, she made her first television appearance in more that ten years starring in the anthology film On the Edge and the Primetime Emmy Award-nominated comedy-drama Dinner with Friends.

[42][43] David Ehrlich from IndieWire wrote in his review: "Andie MacDowell Gives the Performance of Her Life"[44] while Nell Minow called her "a radiant",[45] and Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times "a remarkable".

In 2018, MacDowell starred in and produced the Hallmark Hall of Fame film The Beach House, directed by Roger Spottiswoode and based on the novel by Mary Alice Monroe.

[53] She later starred opposite Frank Grillo in the Western film No Man's Land and guest-starred an episode of NBC sitcom Mr. Mayor playing a fictionalized version of herself.

In 2021, MacDowell starred alongside her daughter, Margaret Qualley, in the Netflix miniseries Maid, playing her mother with an undiagnosed mental health disorder.

[54] For her performance, MacDowell received positive reviews from critics,[55][56][57] and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film.

Reigning over her kingdom from a large red brick mansion, complete with a roaring fireplace, oak-paneled built-in bookcases, and leather armchairs, Big Cat is the kind of baddie who cuts the thumbs off of men who cross her with her own shears in one scene, then uses the hot bodies of her underlings for sexual pleasure in the next.