A South Carolina native, Rosalie Anderson MacDowell was born on April 21, 1958, the youngest of four girls. Not long after her birth, MacDowell's parents broke up and the children were raised by their mother. After the divorce her mother became depressed and sought alcohol to make it through. At the age of 23, MacDowell would loose her mother. In 1978, MacDowell would drop out of college and move to New York where she was immediately signed by Elite Model Management. It wouldn't be long before Andie, as she was known, would become the exclusive model for L'Oreal. She would remain so until 1989 and continue modeling until 1990 in the U.S. Andie continues to represent L'Oreal in Europe though.

Knowing that modeling was a limited timeline job, Andie sought to follow the footsteps of so many models before her and become an actress. In 1984 she made her debut in acting in 'Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes'. At the end of filming, though, the director thought her southern accent was too distracting so they dubbed over her lines with Glenn Close's voice. It wasn't until "Sex, Lies, and Videotapes" that MacDowell would prove her abilities as an actress with comic timing. Since then she hasn't looked back.

About the same time as she was launching her acting career, MacDowell would meet her husband Paul Qualley during a GAP fashion shoot. The couple were married in 1986 and have three children - son Justin in 1986 and two daughters, Rainey born in 1989 and Sarah Margaret born in 1995. Andie and her family reside in Montana on a 1,200-hectare ranch.