| Hilary Swank |
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BIOGRAPHY Early life Swank was born in near Lake Samish in Bellingham, Washington , where she moved to when she was six. Swank has also described her younger self as an "outsider" who felt that she belonged "only when a book or [seeing a movie, and could get involved with a character", and was thus inspired to become an actress.3 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 4 Biography spreads across 9 web pages. High School information is on page 2. 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.5 In California, Swank enrolled in South Pasadena High School (although she later dropped out of High School 6) and started acting professionally. She also helped pay the rent with the money she earned appearing in Television Program s 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.7 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. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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