Hanne Norgaard: The Verified Biography of Idris Elba’s First Wife and Makeup Artist

If you searched “Hanne Norgaard,” there’s a good chance you landed here from an Idris Elba rabbit hole. Fair enough – that’s how most people find her. But if you actually read through what’s out there about her, you’ll notice something odd: no two articles agree on where she was born, what her net worth is, or even some basic facts about her family. Some say Denmark, some say Atlanta, some say the UK. That’s not a knock on her – it’s just what happens when a real person’s story gets copied and reshuffled by content sites for years without anyone checking the original source.

So here’s what we actually know, what’s still murky, and why her story is worth more than a one-line mention next to a celebrity’s name.

Who Is Hanne Norgaard? (Quick Facts)

Full name	Hanne Kim Norgaard
Also known as	Kim Elba
Profession	Makeup artist, beauty entrepreneur
Known for	First wife (and later ex-wife) of actor Idris Elba
Birth date	Widely reported as April 5, 1977 (unconfirmed by primary source)
Married	Idris Elba (1999–2003)
Daughter	Isan Elba, born 2002
Businesses	Make Up Your Mind, Kim Elba Cosmetics
Currently	Remarried, based in the US

In short: Hanne Norgaard is a professional makeup artist who built a real career in film and fashion before, during, and after her marriage to Idris Elba – and most of what circulates about her online focuses on the marriage instead of the career.

Early Life and Background

This is where the internet starts contradicting itself. Several sites report she was born in Denmark. Others say Atlanta, Georgia. At least one says the United Kingdom. Her parents’ background gets the same treatment – most sources describe an African American father and a South Korean mother, though the details of where she actually grew up shift from article to article.

When it comes to Hanne Norgaard’s ethnicity, what she has said herself is clearer: she identifies as “Blasian,” a term blending Black and Asian heritage, and has used it publicly on her own social media. That’s a detail worth taking at face value, since it comes from her rather than a secondhand blog post. Beyond that, treat specific claims about her exact birthplace and childhood with a healthy dose of “reportedly” – nobody covering her has linked to a birth record, an early interview, or anything else that would settle it.

Not to Be Confused With

If your search results are turning up a Danish footballer or a Norwegian ceramist, you’re not losing your mind – there are several other women named some version of Hanne Nørgaard or Hanne Nørregaard who show up in searches. Hanne Nørregaard, for example, is a Danish former international footballer who played in the 1999 Women’s World Cup. Different person, different country’s spelling convention, different life entirely. If you’re specifically looking for Idris Elba’s ex-wife, you want “Hanne Norgaard” or “Hanne Kim Norgaard,” sometimes styled as Kim Elba.

Career as a Makeup Artist

Here’s the part almost every other article rushes past, which is a shame, because it’s the most interesting one. Norgaard trained at the International Artist Makeup Academy in London and reportedly graduated with honors, going on to land work with the BBC within her first week out of school – a genuinely fast start in an industry where most people spend years assisting before getting real credits.

From there, her client list grew to include Columbia Tristar productions and fashion houses like Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren. Reported celebrity clients include Robin Williams and Hugh Laurie, which tells you she wasn’t just doing runway work – she was doing character and continuity makeup for film and TV, a different (and harder) skill set than red-carpet glam.

The through-line in her approach, based on how she’s described her own philosophy, is enhancement over transformation: making someone look like the best version of themselves rather than covering them up. It’s a small distinction, but it’s the kind of thing that separates a working professional from someone who just does makeup as a side hustle – and it’s worth noting that her career was already established before she ever met Idris Elba, not built off the association.

Business Ventures: Make Up Your Mind and Kim Elba Cosmetics

Norgaard didn’t stop at freelance artistry. She founded Make Up Your Mind, a beauty services company, and later launched her own product line, Kim Elba Cosmetics. That second move matters more than it might seem – plenty of people with celebrity-adjacent name recognition license their name to an existing brand. Building and running your own line is a different, more hands-on commitment, and it’s the clearest evidence that she’s treated beauty as a long-term business, not just a job title that follows her around in headlines.

Marriage to Idris Elba and Daughter Isan Elba

The timeline here is the one thing every source actually agrees on. Idris Elba, Hanne Norgaard’s husband from 1999 to 2003, married her before his career had taken off internationally. Their daughter, Isan Elba, was born in 2002. The marriage ended in divorce in 2003 – a relatively short run, especially given how much longer she’s been known publicly because of it.

What’s notable is that she kept the Elba surname after the divorce, which is part of why she’s still searched under “Kim Elba” as much as her birth name. It wasn’t about staying attached to the marriage; by most accounts, it had more to do with sharing a name with her daughter.

Life After Divorce and Second Marriage

This is the stretch almost nobody covers in any real detail, and it’s arguably the most important gap to fill if you actually want to understand who she is. Between the 2003 divorce and her remarriage roughly a decade later, Norgaard was doing what most working professionals do after a major life change: rebuilding. She continued working in makeup artistry, kept raising her daughter, and – based on the timing of her business ventures – was likely laying the groundwork for Make Up Your Mind and Kim Elba Cosmetics during this window rather than launching them overnight.

In 2013, she remarried – her current husband, Pastor Andrew L. Friar II. That detail alone tells you her post-divorce life took a notably different direction than her first marriage: less entertainment industry, more faith-centered. She’s since settled into life in Georgia, balancing her beauty business with family and community life, out of the spotlight by choice rather than circumstance.

Mental Health Advocacy

In 2019, her daughter Isan spoke publicly about her mother’s experience with mental health challenges, including anxiety, bipolar disorder, and depression. That disclosure came from Isan, not from Hanne directly making a public statement – an important distinction, since a lot of the coverage blurs the line between “she opened up” and “her daughter opened up on her behalf.”

Whatever the source, the moment mattered. Conversations about bipolar disorder, anxiety, and depression are still underrepresented in general, and even more so within Black communities, where stigma around mental health can run deep. Isan’s willingness to talk about it – and the fact that mother and daughter reportedly grew closer through the conversation – is a more meaningful story than the two-line mention it usually gets.

Hanne Norgaard Net Worth

For context alongside other celebrity net worth estimates, estimates for her net worth range widely depending on which site you check – anywhere from around $900,000 to as high as $3–5 million. None of these figures trace back to a disclosed source, a business filing, or a statement from Norgaard herself. The honest answer is: nobody outside her circle actually knows, and any specific number you see online is an estimate, not a fact. What we can say with more confidence is that her income comes from a real, decades-long career – makeup artistry, her business, and her product line – rather than from her marriage.

Frequently Asked Questions

How old is Hanne Norgaard?

She’s widely reported to have been born on April 5, 1977, though this date hasn’t been independently confirmed through a primary source.

Is Hanne Norgaard still married?

Yes. She remarried Pastor Andrew L. Friar II in 2013, roughly a decade after her divorce from Idris Elba.

What is Hanne Norgaard’s net worth?

Estimates online range from about $900,000 to $3–5 million, but no figure has been officially confirmed.

Where is Hanne Norgaard from?

Reports conflict – Denmark, the UK, and Atlanta have all been cited. Her parents are commonly described as African American and South Korean, and she identifies as “Blasian.”

What is Hanne Norgaard’s ethnicity?

She identifies as “Blasian,” reflecting African American and South Korean heritage. See the Early Life and Background section above for more on what’s confirmed versus widely reported.

Who is Isan Elba?

Isan Elba is the daughter of Hanne Norgaard and Idris Elba, born in 2002. She’s the one who first spoke publicly about her mother’s mental health journey in 2019. Read more in our full profile on Isan Elba.

Is Hanne Norgaard related to the Danish footballer Hanne Nørregaard?

No. They’re two different people who happen to share a similar name and Scandinavian spelling.

The gaps and contradictions across public sources are a reminder that a lot of what circulates about lesser-known public figures online is recycled rather than reported. Where the facts about Hanne Norgaard are solid – her career, her businesses, her family timeline – they tell the story of a professional who built something real, independent of the marriage that first put her name in headlines.

Curious about the man behind the headlines? Read our full profile on Idris Elba’s career and family life →