Hilary Swank

Actress Hilary Swank had her major breakthrough when she earned the Academy Award for her gripping performance in the indie darling "Boys Don't Cry" (1999). Swank followed this with quality turns in Sam Raimi's supernatural thriller "The Gift" (2000), the period romantic drama "The Affair of the Necklace" (2001) and Christopher Nolan's excellent crime thriller "Insomnia" (2002). She went on to find her star-making niche playing steely women who succeeded against the odds, best exemplified by her performance as a female boxer who meets a tragic end in Clint Eastwood's moody drama "Million Dollar Baby" (2004), a role that earned her a second Oscar. From there, she etched powerful performances as real-life women such as American suffragist Alice Paul in "Iron Jawed Angels" (HBO, 2004), unorthodox teacher Erin Gruwell in "Freedom Writers" (2007) and groundbreaking aviatrix Amelia Earhart in "Amelia" (2009).

Swank proved herself one of Hollywood's more versatile actresses, one who drew upon her working-class roots to deliver one informed performance after another. She continued working steadily, starring in Tony Goldwyn's legal drama "Conviction" (2010) and British thriller "The Resident" (2011) and appearing in Garry Marshall's ensemble romantic comedy "New Year's Eve" (2011). After co-starring opposite writer-director Tommy Lee Jones in period western "The Homesman" (2014), Swank moved into producing with the drama "You're Not You" (2014) and returned to television opposite Brenda Blethyn in Richard Curtis' biographical drama "Mary and Martha" (BBC 2013). After her first voice role in 3D fantasy "Spark" (2016), Swank co-starred in Steven Soderbergh's comedy "Logan Lucky" (2017) and indie dramas "55 Steps" (2017) and "What They Had" (2018). Swank's first TV series since "Beverly Hills 90201," "Trust" (FX 2018) was a limited series about the 1973 kidnapping of John Paul Getty.