Elena Lyons

From the Runway to American Prime Time

Elena Lyons was born in Madrid, but her compass always pointed west. At eighteen, she landed in Los Angeles with a suitcase and the unwavering ambition of someone who knows the camera doesn't lie.

She started out walking the runway for haute couture houses. Her face appeared in magazines such as Maxim and Style during the 1990s. Modeling was the necessary price to break into television studios in California.

In 1997, she landed the role of Nicole Loomis in the series USA High. That teen comedy gave her the experience she needed to understand how the industry worked from the inside.

And the gamble paid off.

But movies soon came knocking with projects that wanted more than just a pretty face. In 2004, she appeared in the cult film Club Dread, directed by Jay Chandrasekhar. That shoot in Mexico was a physical and mental trial by fire for the entire cast.

The Turn Toward a Real Estate Empire

Lyons's life changed pace after she met Grant Cardone. They married in 2004, and from that moment on, her professional career took a direction few film critics saw coming.

She set aside fictional scripts to focus on asset management and corporate communications. The actress became a strategist in real estate investments.

In 2011, she launched The G & E Show alongside her husband. The show broke down the ins and outs of business and romantic relationships from a raw, unfiltered perspective.

She never fully walked away from acting.

During 2014, she returned to television with a appearance on the iconic soap opera The Young and the Restless. She played a health inspector in several episodes, reminding audiences of her ability to keep the drama moving.

Numbers and Cameras

Her social media presence grew exponentially starting in 2015. Lyons understood before many of her generation's peers that a personal brand was worth as much as a good agent in Hollywood.

She published the book Build an Empire in 2018. In its pages, she details how to manage a successful family life while overseeing multimillion-dollar investment portfolios.

She is a data-driven woman.

In 2021, her participation in the reality series Undercover Billionaire on Discovery Channel showcased her more technical side, in building businesses from scratch. The show averaged 1.2 million viewers per episode during its original broadcast.