Born in South London, Michelle De Swarte was scouted as a model at 19 while working in Segaworld in the Trocadero Centre at Piccadilly Circus.

She soon moved to New York where she modelled for the likes of Burberry, Missoni, Tommy Hilfiger and Cartier and featured in fashion spreads for Harper's Bazaar, Italian Vanity Fair, i-D and V Magazine.

Her career as a runway model stopped abruptly after she twice fell over on the Gucci runway and she moved back to London, where she turned to stand-up comedy and acting in the mid 2000s.

She was a regular in Katherine Ryan’s Netflix series The Duchess and had her first leading role in Sky/HBO’s The Baby.