A dark turn

NOT MANY actresses earn two Academy Awards before they turn 40 years old, and yet Hilary Swank is one such woman.

In truth, she is quite possibly one of the least high-profile Oscar winners still at the top of their game, but that is just the way she likes it. The 36 year old has enjoyed a true rags-to-riches story, growing up in the impecunious surroundings of a trailer park in Bellingham, Washington, where at a very young age she learned the cruel truth of people’s preconceptions. Now that’s she’s an A-list star, she’s happy to live a simple life, out of the limelight.

“I noticed other people’s perceptions of me and my family when I was about seven,” begins Swank, “and I was like, ‘My friends’ parents don’t want me playing with their kids, and I don’t understand why.’ Then I started to realise. It was only then that I realised that if you live in a trailer park, other people don’t look on you fondly.”