Hilary Ann
Swank was born in Lincoln, Nebraska on July 30, 1974. She
grew up in Bellingham, Washington and as a child, devoted
much of her time to athletic pursuits. Swank swam in the
Junior Olympics, state championships and ranked fifth in her
state for gymnastics.
At the age of sixteen, Swank moved to
Los Angeles to realize her dream of becoming an actress. She
moved to Los Angeles when she was 16 and soon landed a guest
starring role on the syndicated "Harry and the Hendersons".
She then played recurring characters on both "Evening Shade"
(CBS) and "Growing Pains" (ABC) during the 1991-92 season
before making her feature debut as Kristy Swanson's Valley
Girl pal in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1992). Swank beat
out thousands of actresses coast to coast for the coveted
lead part of Julie in "The Next Karate Kid" (1994), a role
that required her to call on her athletic prowess and marked
her most prominent role to that time. A regular on ABC's
short-lived series "Camp Wilder" (1992-93), likewise on
ABC's even briefer "Leaving L.A." (1997), Swank gained some
notice when she joined the cast of Fox's popular "Beverly
Hills, 90210" in 1997 playing a single mom who served as a
love interest for Ian Ziering's Steve. Her career
transforming role of Teena Brandon, a Nebraska woman
undergoing a "sexual identity crisis" who opts to live as a
man, in "Boys Don't Cry" (1999) earned numerous accolades.
Predictably, Swank's workload increased significantly after
her Oscar win in 2001, and the actress found herself
starring in several lesser known but nonetheless challenging
roles, including Sam Raimi's psychological thriller "The
Gift" (2001), as well as "The Affair of the Necklace" with
then future Oscar winner Adrien Brody. Swank also co-narrated
the Barbra Streisand-produced documentary "Reel Models: The
First Women of Film", and would take on gender equality
issues once again in HBO's "Iron Jawed Angels"(2003), which
featured Swank, Anjelica Houston, and Frances O'Connor as
leaders in the women's suffrage movement. However, Swank did
take a break from brooding period pieces and serious
explorations of sexuality for one unapologetic big-budget
summer blockbuster -- Jon Amiel's "The Core" (2003), in
which Swank co-starred as one of several individuals chosen
to journey to the Earth's core in hopes of jump-starting the
collapsing electromagentic forces. She also accepted a
supporting role as an eager-to-please rookie detective
alongside Hollywood veteran Al Pacino and Robin Williams in
2002's "Insomnia".
