"One of the great things about my job is I get to do all of these things that I may not experience had I not been an actor."
Hilary Ann Swank (born July 30, 1974) is an American actress. While her interest started at the age of 9 when she starred in a stage production of The Jungle Book, her first appearance in Hollywood was a small part in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, followed by her first leading role as Julie Pierce, Mr. Miyagi's first female student in The Next Karate Kid. She has been nominated for two Academy Awards and won both times, for Boys Don't Cry and Million Dollar Baby.
Films and TV shows associated with Hilary Swank:
- Evening Shade
- Harry and the Hendersons
- Growing Pains
- Camp Wilder
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- The Next Karate Kid
- Cries Unheard: The Donna Yaklich Story
- Sometimes They Come Back... Again
- Terror In The Family
- Kounterfeit
- Quiet Days In Hollywood
- The Sleepwalker Killing
- Leaving L.A.
- Dying To Belong
- Beverly Hills, 90210
- Heartwood
- Boys Don't Cry
- The Gift (2000)
- Scary Movie
- The Audition
- The Affair of the Necklace
- The Space Between
- Insomnia
- 11:14
- The Core
- Million Dollar Baby
- Red Dust
- Iron Jawed Angels
- The Black Dahlia
- Freedom Writers
- The Reaping
- P.S. I Love You
- Birds Of America
- Amelia
- The Resident
- Conviction (2010)
- Logan Lucky
- Away
- Fatale
- Alaska Daily
- Ordinary Angels
Tropes associated with Hilary Swank:
- Actor-Inspired Element: The Reaping was to be set in New England. Hilary persuaded them to move it to the Deep South. Then Hurricane Katrina struck.
- Actor-Shared Background:
- She has a similar upbringing to her character Maggie in Million Dollar Baby.
- She's also from Lincoln, Nebraska like her character Brandon in Boys Don't Cry.
- The Cast Show Off: She got to show off her gymnastics background in The Next Karate Kid.
- Chronically Killed Actor: "I usually die in my movies. I don't live to see the credits."
- Dawson Casting: She was in her mid-twenties playing a teen on Beverly Hills, 90210.
- Dye Hard: She's naturally blonde but is best known for being brunette.
- Doing It for the Art: She earned just $75 a day on Boys Don't Cry but did the film out of sheer love for the subject matter.
- Dyeing for Your Art:
- For Boys Don't Cry she cut her long hair short and dyed it chestnut brown, as well as losing weight. She lived as a boy for weeks, and her neighbours thought the person leaving her house every morning was her brother visiting.
- Although she had an athletic background, she had to gain twenty pounds of muscle for Million Dollar Baby. Her former clothes didn't fit for years afterwards.
- Funny Character, Boring Actor: Inverted. Usually plays
Iron Woobies and serious driven characters. The director of Freedom Writers noted she was more of a goofball than her characters, and cast her in P.S. I Love You to show this side. - Lying Creator: She lied to Kimberly Peirce that she was the same age as her character in Boys Don't Cry. When she was found out, she defended herself saying "that's what Brandon would do."
- Method Acting: While filming Million Dollar Baby she contracted a serious bacterial infection and only took a week's medicated rest off, not telling the producers or Clint Eastwood. Because she felt her character wouldn't be honest about her injury.
- The Other Marty: Ginnifer Goodwin became this to her after she dropped out of Something Borrowed.
- Playing Against Type:
- She plays a Femme Fatale in The Black Dahlia.
- In P.S. I Love You she goes against type as a more dorky character, which was director Richard LaGravenese wanting to cast her in a role closer to her own personality.
- Separated-at-Birth Casting: She was noted to have a strong resemblance to Amelia Earhart, hence why she was cast in Amelia.
- Star-Derailing Role: The failures of P.S. I Love You and The Reaping are thought to have damaged her star power, and Amelia's flopping didn't help matters. She then took a break from acting in order to care for her sick father.
- Star-Making Role: Before Boys Don't Cry she hadn't been doing a lot of high-profile work. Then her Oscar win rocketed her to stardom almost overnight.
- Tom Hanks Syndrome: She got her start in Teen Dramas and a lot of sitcoms that didn't make it past one season. Her Oscar win solidified her as a dramatic actress.
- Typecasting: In the 2000s Hilary found herself playing a lot of Iron Woobies who are determined to achieve their goals in life.
- What Could Have Been:
- She campaigned really hard for the lead role in Changeling, which ultimately went to Angelina Jolie.
- She was cast on Beverly Hills, 90210 for two years but fired after only sixteen episodes.
