Hilary Swank

Born: 30th July 1974
Where: Bellingham, Washington, USA

The junior Olympic swimmer and state-qualified gymnast landed a best actress Oscar as Brandon Teena in Boys Don't Cry, and also as a female boxer in Million Dollar Baby.

She was nine years old when she starred as Mowgli in her first play, The Jungle Book, and went on to appear in local theatre.

As a youngster she was spotted by revered film producer Suzy Sachs who encouraged her to make acting a career.

Junior Olympics

At the same time she competed in the Junior Olympics and Washington State championships in swimming.

She was also ranked 5th in the state in all-around gymnastics.

In 1990, 16-year-old Swank and her mother moved to LA, where she enrolled in South Pasadena High School and started acting professionally.

At one stage, they were so poor they were living out of a car before she landed roles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Camp Wilder.

In 1994, she beat off the challenge from hundreds of other actresses to land the role of Julie Peirce in The Next Karate Kid.

Subsequent roles in unremarkable films including Kounterfeit and Heartwood followed before lying to win the role of Brandon/Teena in Boy's Don't Cry.

(she cut of all her hair and lived as a boy for a month to prepare herself for the role of the sexually confused youngster).

Next up was the supernatural thriller The Gift with Cate Blanchett and lacklustre period drama The Affair of the Necklace with Adrien Brody.

Back on track

Back on track, she starred opposite Al Pacino in the accomplished crime thriller Insomnia and switched genres as a NASA pilot for the sci-fi disaster movie The Core.

In 2004, she starred in the South African drama Red Dust and received critical acclaim as a wannabe boxer in Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby.