Matinee Classics - Hilary Swank Biography & Filmography

Hilary Swank ACTOR

HILARY SWANK BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Hilary Swank was born on July 30th, 1974 in Bellingham, Washington with the middle name Ann, born to parents, Judy Kay and Stephen Michael Swank. She began her involvement in the entertainment industry from a young age, She was taking acting lessons and by the age of nine was working on her first stage play, "The Jungle Book". Along with her acting in a number of school plays she also excelled at swimming and at the age of sixteen, Swank competed in the Junior Olympics as well as the Washington State Championships for swimming. In addition to her athletic talents in swimming she was also an excellent gymnast and was ranked 5th in the state-all-around gymnastics.

By 1990, she relocated with her mother and lived in Los Angeles attending South Pasadena High School. Her mother and her lived out of their car until her mother made enough money to afford an apartment. Swank never fit in during high school and she left before earning a high school diploma. She began becoming more involved in acting and within two years she was making appearances on such series as, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer".

The role that really helped kick off her career in the right direction was when she starred in the film, "The Next Karate Kid" (1994). Soon she was being seen on the big screen in such films as, "Kounterfeit" (1995) and "Boys Don't Cry" (1999) for which she won a golden globe as well as an Oscar for Best Actress.

Although she was now a working actress, she was not compensated what she was worth only earning a total of $3000 for her work on "Boys Don't Cry". That was however, about to change with her casting on her next big film role, "Million Dollar Baby" (2004) directed by and also starring Clint Eastwood, for which Swank won another Best Actress Oscar as well as another Golden Globe for her amazing performance.

Along with her career as a actress in demand, Swank has also added to her resume the experience of working as an executive producer on such projects as, "Celebrity Charades" (2005), 'Freedom Writers" (2007), "Conviction" (2010), "Choose You" (2011) and she was the producer for, "Something Borrowed" (2011).

Some of her more recent work has been on the films, "Freedom Writers" (2007), "The Reaping" (2007), "P.S I Love You" (2007), "Amelia" (2009), "Conviction" (2010), "The Resident' (2011) and "New Year's Eve" (2011).

Swank was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007 for her contribution to the Motion Picture Industry. People's magazine also named her, "One of the 50 Most Beautiful People" in 2000, 2004 and 2005. She has married only once to Chad Lowe in 1997 but this marriage ended in 2006. She has not re-married nor does she have any of her own children yet.