Hilary Swank's Real Name: Hilary Ann Swank

Quick answer: Hilary Swank's documented full name is Hilary Ann Swank. She was born on July 30, 1974, in Lincoln, Nebraska. She won Academy Awards for best actress for Boys Don't Cry (1999) and Million Dollar Baby (2004) (Britannica).

Real name and early life

Britannica lists her as also known as Hilary Ann Swank, born July 30, 1974, in Lincoln, Nebraska. The Library of Congress heading is "Swank, Hilary." A note in that record gives the July 30, 1974, date and Lincoln as the birthplace. Britannica says she spent most of her early childhood in Bellingham, Washington, and that after her parents divorced in 1990 she and her mother moved to Los Angeles so she could pursue acting. In the early 1990s she had guest roles on television, including Harry and the Hendersons, Evening Shade, and Growing Pains, and made her film debut as a high-school student in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992).

Career highlights

She starred in The Next Karate Kid (1994) and spent a season (1997–98) on Beverly Hills, 90210 before being offered the role of Brandon Teena in Boys Don't Cry. Britannica describes the part as that of a young transgender man and says that in preparation Swank spent several weeks living as a man. The performance won her the Academy Award for best actress. After a stretch of less successful films, including The Affair of the Necklace (2001), Insomnia (2002), and The Core (2003), she was praised for playing the suffragist Alice Paul in the television film Iron Jawed Angels (2004). She then won a second best-actress Oscar for Clint Eastwood's boxing drama Million Dollar Baby (2004). Britannica says she transformed herself for the part, working out and gaining some 20 pounds of muscle mass. Later films include The Black Dahlia (2006), Freedom Writers (2007), P.S. I Love You (2007), the Amelia Earhart biopic Amelia (2009), Trust (2018), What They Had (2018), and I Am Mother (2019). She had also appeared in the short-lived sitcom Camp Wilder early in her career.

Name notes for searchers

Hilary Ann Swank is the documented full name; she is billed as Hilary Swank. The first name is commonly spelled Hilary, with one l, not Hillary. Searchers looking for Hilary Ann Swank or Hilary Swank are usually aiming at the same person. She should not be confused with other entertainers who use the name Hillary.