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Two-time Oscar-winning actress and producer
Swank became one of the youngest actresses to win two Academy Awards for Best Actress, earning Oscars for Boys Don't Cry (1999) and Million Dollar Baby (2004).
Hilary Swank, born July 30, 1974, is a two-time Academy Award-winning actress who achieved international recognition for her transformative performances in Boys Don't Cry (1999) and Million Dollar Baby (2004). She made her film debut in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992) after breaking through on television with Camp Wilder. Standing 5'6", this Leo actress later became a producer with her company 2S Films and appeared in projects ranging from Alaska Daily to a memorable cameo in The Office.
Swank grew up in Bellingham and Spokane, Washington, competing in the Junior Olympics for swimming and ranking fifth in state gymnastics. When her parents separated at age 15, she and her supportive mother moved to Los Angeles, living in their car until they could afford an apartment. She dropped out of South Pasadena High School to pursue acting, feeling like an outsider who found belonging only through characters in books and films.
Swank married actor Chad Lowe in 1997 and they divorced in 2007 after a decade together. She married entrepreneur Philip Schneider in 2018 in a private ceremony at the Saint Lucia Preserve in Carmel, California. In 2022, at age 48, she gave birth to twins, becoming a first-time mother while living on her sustainable ranch in Colorado where she practices organic farming and rescues animals.
Swank is NOT in Yellowjackets; confusion may arise from her other television work including Alaska Daily (2022).
She appeared in The Office season 2 cold open where the Dunder Mifflin employees debated whether she is attractive or not.
For Boys Don't Cry, she earned only $75 per day (totaling $3,000), lived as a man for a month, and reduced her body fat to 7%.
She gained 19 pounds of muscle for Million Dollar Baby, training extensively with professional boxer Grant L. Roberts.
As a Leo born July 30, 1974, Swank embodies the zodiac's competitive drive and theatrical flair that defined her Oscar-winning transformations.
Her maternal grandmother was of Mexican descent from El Centro, California, and her surname Swank originally was the German "Schwenk."
I felt like such an outsider. I didn't feel like I fit in. It was natural that I became an actor because I longed so much to be those other people, or at least to play them.
My mother is the inspiration for my acting career and my life. She was supportive of my desire to act and moved with me to Los Angeles when I was 15.
Twenty-one years later, I feel a trans actor should have played the role in Boys Don't Cry, and had I been offered it today, I would have refused it.
Made television breakthrough on Camp Wilder and film debut in Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Starred in first leading film role as Julie Pierce in The Next Karate Kid
Married actor Chad Lowe and joined Beverly Hills, 90210 as Carly Reynolds before being written out after 16 episodes
Won first Academy Award for Best Actress for Boys Don't Cry, playing Brandon Teena
Won second Academy Award for Best Actress for Million Dollar Baby and named one of Time's 100 most influential people
Received star on Hollywood Walk of Fame and divorced Chad Lowe after 10 years of marriage
Starred as and produced Amelia, portraying pioneering aviator Amelia Earhart through her company 2S Films
Married entrepreneur Philip Schneider in private ceremony at Saint Lucia Preserve in Carmel, California
Gave birth to twins at age 48, becoming a first-time mother, and starred in television drama Alaska Daily