She’s one of the most successful supermodels of all time.

And it all started on this day in 1964 in Killara, a suburb in Sydney’s Upper North Shore.

That’s when a baby girl named Eleanor Nancy Gow was born.

Soon after her 14th birthday, when her mother remarried, she changed her surname to Macpherson.

For a girl who would earn the nickname ‘The Body’ and make millions off her striking looks, Elle was surprisingly unconcerned about her appearance as a young child.

Elle Macpherson at ‘Body of the Year’ in Sydney. Photo: Getty

By her own admission, she was a tomboy who preferred climbing trees and running around rather than playing with dolls.

Standing at 1.82 metres, or just under six feet in the old scale, it was little wonder Elle played the prime position of goal attack in netball.

She was intelligent, too.

Before a talent agent spotted her while on holiday in Aspen, Elle had been enrolled to study law at the prestigious University of Sydney.

It was to be the start of an extremely lucrative career, which led to her fortune being valued at an estimated $39 million in 1999.

But that figure more than doubled in the following decades, thanks to her foresight and savvy business ideas.

Accepting her modelling career had an expiry date, Elle moved modelling to licensing her name to products like lingerie.

Now, at age 56, she’s worth more than $90 million and holds the title for gracing five Sports Illustrated covers – more than any other model.