Kate Moss was born on 16 January 1974 in Addiscombe, Croydon, London to Linda Rosina (Shepherd), a boutique manager, and Peter Edward Moss, an airline clerk. Moss attended Ridgeway Primary School and Riddlesdown High School. Moss was not particularly noted for her academic success, although she did excel at sports. According to Fred Vermorel's Addicted to Love: Kate Moss, "Out of eight GCSEs she scraped through with one C (in Science) and all the rest were Ds, Es and Fs".

In 1988, actress was discovered by Sarah Doukas, the founder of Storm model agency, at JFK airport at the age of just 14, as she prepared to board a flight home to London with her father. After a series of shoots for teenage magazines, it was Harper's Bazaar that finally launched her into the international arena. In 1992, she became the Face of Calvin Klein.

Kate originally spearheaded the controversial "waif" look which critics claimed encouraged anorexia in impressionable teenagers. The girl from Croydon, who once said she "might've been a bank manager" now divides her time between London and LA, where she is often seen at The Viper Rooms, the controversial club owned by her one-time actor boyfriend Johnny Depp. Moss has appeared in several notable documentaries about the fashion world and in 1995, released a hard-back book of pictures entitled simply "Kate". In London she is still represented by Storm.