Facts

Name : Hilary Ann Swank
Known as Hilary Swank
Birthday : July 30, 1974
Birthplace : Lincoln, Nebraska
Occupation : Actress

She has become known for her two Oscar-winning performances: first as Brandon Teena, a transgender man in the movie Boys Don't Cry, and a struggling waitress-turned-boxer, Maggie Fitzgerald, in Million Dollar Baby.

Celebrity Movie Archive

1990 Evening Shade as Aimee #1

1990 ABC TGIF as Danielle

1992 Camp Wilder as Danielle

1992 Buffy the Vampire Slayer as Kimberly Hannah

1994 The Next Karate Kid as Julie Pierce

1994 Cries Unheard: The Donna Yaklich Story as Patty

1996 Sometimes They Come Back... Again as Michelle Porter

1996 Terror in the Family as Deena Martin

1996 Kounterfeit as Colleen

1997 Quiet Days in Hollywood as Lolita

1997 The Sleepwalker Killing as Lauren Schall

1997 Leaving L.A. as Tiffany Roebuck

1997 Dying to Belong as Lisa Conners

1997-98 Beverly Hills 90210 as Carly Reynolds

1998 Heartwood as Sylvia Orsini

1999 Boys Don't Cry as Brandon Teena

2000 The Gift as Valerie Barksdale

2000 The Affair of the Necklace as Jeanne St. Remy de Velois

2000 The Audition as

2002 The Space Between as

2002 Insomnia as Detective Ellie Burr

2003 11:14am as Buzzy

2003 The Core as Major Rebecca Childs

2004 Million Dollar Baby as Maggie Fitzgerald

2004 Red Dust as Sarah Barcant

2004 Iron Jawed Angels as Alice Paul

2006 The Black Dahlia as Madeline Linscott

2007 Freedom Writers as Erin Gruwell

2007 The Reaping as Katherine Winters

2007 P. S., I Love You as Holly Kennedy

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Biography

Hilary Swank was born in Lincoln, Nebraska to Stephen Swank, an officer in the Air National Guard and later a traveling salesman, and Judy Clough. She has a brother, Dan, who owns a marketing company in Edmonds, Washington. Swank makes no secret of her humble beginnings, particularly as a child growing up near Lake Samish in Bellingham, Washington. After winning her second Best Actress Oscar, she said: "I don't know what I did in this life to deserve this. I'm just a girl from a trailer park who had a dream".

When she was nine years old, Swank made her first appearance on stage starring as Mowgli in The Jungle Book, and thereafter became heavily involved in her school and community theater programs. She went to Sehome High School in Bellingham, where she lived with her family, until she was 16. She competed in the Junior Olympics and the Washington State championships in swimming; she ranked 5th in the state in all-around gymnastics (which would come in handy when starring in The Next Karate Kid (1994) years later).

Hilary Swank 's parents separated when she was 15, and her mother, supportive of her daughter's desire to act, moved the two of them to Los Angeles, California, where they lived out of their car until Swank's mother saved enough money to rent an apartment. She enrolled in South Pasadena High School, and started acting professionally. Swank also helped pay the rent with the money she earned appearing in television programs such as Evening Shade and Growing Pains.

hilary swank plays a boy

Her first notable screen credit was as the sidekick in the feature film, Buffy the Vampire Slayer in 1992. Two years later, she earned a modicum of fame when she was chosen to star in The Next Karate Kid, a critical and box-office failure.

Swank subsequently appeared in a number of minor films and gained recognition on Beverly Hills, 90210 for one season, as Steve's (Ian Ziering) girlfriend Carly. In 1999, Swank found a role that would change her life forever in the independent drama, Boys Don't Cry. Based on the story of Teena Brandon, a woman whose decision to lead her life as a man met with dire consequences, Boys Don't Cry was a runaway success.

hilary swank in million dollar baby

Particular praise went to Swank for her stunning performance, for which she won a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Actress. Subsequent projects included The Gift (2000), The Affair of the Necklace (2001), the thriller Insomnia (2002) with Al Pacino and Robin Williams, The Core (2003), the made-for-TV movie Iron Jawed Angels (for which she was nominated for a Best Actress Golden Globe), and Red Dust (2004).

In 2004, Hilary blew filmgoers away once again with her portrayal of a champion boxer in Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby, for which she won the Oscar, SAG and Golden Globe for Best Actress. In 2005, she will be seen in Brain De Palma's adaptation of the James Ellroy novel, The Black Dahlia.

Swank has been married to actor Chad Lowe since 1997.