Hilary Swank
American actress who gained muscle mass for the role of the boxer Maggie Fitzgerald in Million Dollar Baby (2004) and won her second Oscar.
Quick Facts
United StatesBiography
Hilary Swank is an American actress. She was born on 30 July 1974 in Lincoln, Nebraska. She first encountered martial arts on screen in 1994, when she played Julie Pierce alongside Pat Morita in The Next Karate Kid; in the role she drew on her gymnastics experience.
She is most strongly linked with combat sports by the role of the boxer Mary Margaret "Maggie Mo Cuishle" Fitzgerald in Million Dollar Baby (2004). When casting, director Clint Eastwood said of her that she would be great "if we train her". According to the source, she then trained in the ring and in the gym for about five hours a day and under trainer Grant L. Roberts gained almost 9 kg (19 pounds) of muscle mass.
The film was released in the USA on 21 January 2005. For the role of Maggie she won her second Oscar for best actress at the 77th Academy Awards, as well as a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild award; she received her first Oscar in 2000 for the film Boys Don't Cry (1999). In 2005 Time magazine included her among the 100 most influential people in the world.
Filmography
A screen role does not mean the person actually practises the art — that is listed above.