Kate Fischer

Kate Fischer was born on 30 November 1973 in Adelaide, South Australia, the daughter of future Australian politician Pru Goward and university lecturer Alastair Fischer.[1] She is the eldest of three daughters.[2] She attended the Canberra Girls' Grammar School[3] before going to Narrabundah College.[4]

In 1987, at the age of 13, Fischer won the Dolly Covergirl of the Year competition[3] and was touted as the next Elle Macpherson.[5] By the early 1990s, she had become a high-profile model working in Sydney and New York.[6][7] She did shoots for Bloomingdales, Glamor magazine and Mademoiselle,[6] and was featured on the covers of Black + White magazine[8] and Vogue Australia.[4] In 2005–2006, Fischer was the face of AMP Capital Shopping Centres in Australia.[9]

In 1993, Fischer had a role in the Australian film Sirens, playing alongside Elle Macpherson, Portia de Rossi, Sam Neill and Hugh Grant[10] as one of the three life models of painter Norman Lindsay.[11] In 1995, Fischer was recruited for an ongoing role in the Network 10 TV soap opera Echo Point which aired for six months.[12] She appeared in several of the Elle McFeast (Libbi Gorr) comedy specials on ABC TV such as Breasts (1996) and The Whitlam Dismissal (1996).[13]

For two years (1996–1997), Fischer was the host of the Looney Tunes cartoon show What's Up Doc? on the Nine Network. In 1997, she had a small part in the Australian film Dust Off the Wings, a drama set amidst Sydney's surfing culture.[14] In 2000, she starred in the horror film Blood Surf, filmed in South Africa.[15]

Fischer starred as a blind girl who is courted by a struggling comedian in the Australian film comedy The Real Thing (2002)[16] and had a small role as a CIA agent in the Steven Seagal direct-to-video action film The Foreigner (2003).[17][18] In 2002, she appeared in three episodes of the Channel 7 medical drama series All Saints.[19]

In 2005, Fischer resurfaced on the Nine Network's Celebrity Overhaul, a show in which celebrities try to regain their fitness through good diet and exercise habits.[20]

In 2006, Fischer appeared as a guest judge on the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) program Song For The Socceroos and as a contestant on the Seven Network TV show It Takes Two.[1] The same year, she also made a guest appearance on the first series of The Chaser's War on Everything on ABC TV and also became the host of the short-lived weekly clip show Top 40 Celebrity Countdown on the Seven Network.[21]

In 2007, she filmed a short comedy video, Supermodel Hotdog, which aired on YouTube. The sketch, filmed at her LA apartment, self-satirised her popular image as a celebrity and movie star.[22]

In January 2017, Malkah (having legally changed her name several years earlier) became a contestant on the Australian version of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! [23] She was evicted by a public vote on day 31 after spending 30 days in the African jungle.[24] Following her departure, she made news headlines after some awkward post-eviction interviews.[25]

Fischer was engaged to businessman James Packer until the couple separated in 1998 after five years together and a two-year engagement.[26] Their breakup received wide coverage in both the mainstream and tabloid press, fueled by rumours regarding the extent of the financial settlement.[27] Fischer later stated she received "a few hundred thousand dollars" and the house they had formerly shared.[1] She eventually sold the house for A$2,825,000 in 2000.[28] Since 1998, Fischer has spent much of her time living in the United States. While there, she converted to Judaism and changed her name to Tziporah Atarah Malkah.[1]

According to the Sydney Morning Herald in 2010, Malkah described herself as a political conservative and a supporter of the US Republican Party and the Australian Liberal Party.[29]

After returning to Australia in 2011, she resided at a boarding house for 22 months due to reduced circumstances.[30]

In 2016 it was reported that Malkah was living in Toorak, Victoria, and employed as an aged care worker.[31]

• Sirens (film), 1993
• Full Moon, Dirty Hearts by INXS (music video), 1993
• Echo Point (TV series), 1995 (ongoing role)
• What's Up Doc? (Australian TV series), 1996–1997 (host)
• Elle McFeast Special: Breasts (TV special)- 1996 (guest appearance)
• Elle McFeast Special: The Whitlam Dismissal (TV special), 1996 (guest appearance)
• Twisted Tales (TV series), 1996 (1 episode)
• The Munsters Scary Little Christmas (TV movie), 1996
• Dust Off the Wings (film), 1997
• Pigeon (film), 1998
• Murder Call (TV series), 1998 (1 episode)
• Blood Surf (film), 2000
• All Saints (TV series), 2002 (3 episodes)
• The Real Thing (film), 2002
• The Foreigner (film), 2003
• Celebrity Overhaul (TV series), 2005
• The Chaser's War on Everything (TV series), 2006 (guest appearance)
• Top 40 Celebrity Countdown (TV), 2006 (host)
• I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, 2017

In 1997, "Kate and Barbie", a portrait of Fischer by Australian painter Paul Newton was a finalist in the annual Archibald Prize exhibition[32] and is now in her private art collection. Newton also painted another portrait of Fischer the same year titled "Homage to Madame X", now owned by her mother, Pru Goward.[33] David Bromley painted her portrait in 2001.[8]

• Official website at Archive.org
• Profile on the Rotten Tomatoes website
• Kate Fischer at IMDb