Early life
Swank was born in Lincoln, Nebraska to Stephen Swank, an officer in the Air National Guard and later a traveling salesman, and Judy Clough. She has a brother, Dan. Many of her family members hail from Ringgold County, Iowa. Swank came from humble beginnings, particularly as a child growing up in a trailer park near Lake Samish in Bellingham, Washington, where she moved when she was six. Swank has also described her younger self as an "outsider" who felt that she belonged "only when [reading] a book or [seeing] a movie, and could get involved with a character", and was thus inspired to become an actress.
When she was nine years old, Swank made her first appearance on stage starring in The Jungle Book, and thereafter became heavily involved in her school and community theater programs, including those of the Bellingham Theatre Guild. She went to Sehome High School in Bellingham until she was sixteen. Swank also competed in the Junior Olympics and the Washington State championships in swimming; she ranked 5th in the state in all-around gymnastics (which would come in handy when starring in The Next Karate Kid (1994) years later). Swank's parents separated when she was thirteen, and her mother, supportive of her daughter's desire to act, moved the two of them to Los Angeles, California, where they lived out of their car until Swank's mother saved enough money to rent an apartment. Swank has described her mother as the inspiration for her acting career and her life during this time period and subsequently.[6] In California, Swank enrolled in South Pasadena High School (although she later dropped out of high school[7]) and started acting professionally. She also helped pay the rent with the money she earned appearing in television programs such as Evening Shade and Growing Pains.
Career
In September 1997, Swank was cast as single mother Carly Reynolds on Beverly Hills, 90210. She was initially promised it would be a two-year role, but saw her character written out after 16 episodes in January 1998. Swank later said that she was devastated at being cut from the show, thinking, "If I'm not good enough for 90210, I'm not good enough for anything." As it turned out, the firing was the best thing to happen to Swank, as it freed her to audition for the role of Brandon Teena in Boys Don't Cry. Swank dropped her body fat down to seven percent in preparation for the role.[8] Many critics hailed hers as the best female performance of 1999; her co-star of the film, Chloë Sevigny, had her performance singled out for praise also, Swank and Sevigny were often ranked as the best two leads of 1999 in film. The performance ultimately won her the Golden Globe and Oscar for Best Actress. She subsequently won the Best Actress Oscar again for playing a boxer in 2004's Million Dollar Baby, a role for which she underwent training and gained 19 pounds of muscle.[8] Swank's Oscar success meant that she had joined the ranks of Vivien Leigh, Helen Hayes, Sally Field, and Luise Rainer as the only actresses to have been nominated twice and win both times (both times she won over fellow actress and nominee Annette Bening). She is also the third-youngest double Best Actress Oscar winner (after Luise Rainer and Jodie Foster.) After winning her second Best Actress Oscar, she said, "I don't know what I did in this life to deserve this. I'm just a girl from a trailer park who had a dream." Swank had earned only $75/day for her work on Boys Don't Cry, culminating in a total of $3,000.[9][10] Her earnings were so low, that (according to an anecdote on 60 Minutes) she had not even earned enough to qualify for health insurance.
Swank in Freedom Writers, 2007
On February 28, 2006, it was announced that Swank had signed a three-year contract "to be both the muse and the spokesperson for a new women's fragrance by Guerlain to be launched later this year".[11] In 2007, Swank starred in Freedom Writers, a drama released on January 5; in the film, Swank, who also executive produced,[12] played Erin Gruwell, a real-life teacher who inspired a California high school class. Many reviews of Swank's performance were positive, with one critic noting that she "brings credibility" to the role[13] and another stating that her performance reaches a "singular lack of artifice, stripping herself back to the bare essentials".[14] Later the same year, Swank starred The Reaping, a horror film scheduled for an April 5 release, in which she plays a debunker of religious phenomena. Swank convinced the producers to move the film's setting from New England to the Deep South, and the movie was filmed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana when Hurricane Katrina struck.[15] Swank has also completed filming on the romantic comedy PS, I Love You.[15]
Swank received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Monday, January 8, 2007. Hers was the 2,325th star given.[16][17]
Personal life
Swank has said that she is "an actor, not a celebrity" and has described herself as a "homebody".[15] She considers herself a spiritual person, though not a member of an organized religion. She has said that she is "athletically inclined" and that she "love[s] sports".[12] Swank developed potential health problems, including elevated mercury levels in her body, because of certain preparations for her roles, including weight gain and loss for Boys Don't Cry and The Black Dahlia. She has stated that she would "do what [she] need[s] to make [the role] believable and to make it work" and that her "battle scars are a reminder that you're alive and human and that you bleed".[8] In 2007, Swank noted that she "feel[s] like in the last couple of years I’ve really come into my own and a lot of that has come from figuring out who I really am and what I want in life".
Swank married actor Chad Lowe on September 28, 1997. The two met in 1992, on the set of Quiet Days in Hollywood, a direct-to-video film. Swank infamously forgot to thank Lowe during her acceptance speech after winning her first Oscar in 2000, and she spent nearly every public appearance afterward making up for it. Upon winning her second Oscar in 2005, Lowe was the first person she thanked. However, in January 2006, the couple separated. In subsequent interviews, Swank expressed hope that they could reconcile, but they announced in May 2006 that they were divorcing.[18][19] In December 2006, Swank confirmed that she is dating John Campisi, her agent.[20]
On January 15, 2005, after arriving at a New Zealand airport, she was fined NZ$230 by the Manukau District Court for not declaring an apple and orange she had in her purse when she landed. Swank appealed the fine, but it was upheld on March 30, 2005.
