Jillian Edelstein grew up in Cape Town, South Africa and began her photographic career learning the ropes by assisting before becoming a newspaper press photographer in Johannesburg. After which she moved to London to attended the London College of Printing's photojournalism course. It was while she was still studying that she began getting commissions from The Sunday Times.

Her portraits have appeared internationally in just about every major publication you can name, including The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The FT Weekend Magazine, Vanity Fair, Interview, Vogue, Port, The Guardian Weekend, The Sunday Times Magazine, Time, Fortune, Forbes, GQ and Esquire and her photographs have been exhibited internationally including in the National Portrait Gallery, The Photographers' Gallery, The Royal Academy, OXO Gallery in London, Sot ...