‘MAKE A CHOICE, MAKE IT HAPPEN’
Her Twitter bio reads ‘Never be bored’, and Oscar-winning actor turned designer turned philanthropist Hilary Swank clearly isn’t, as Ella Dove discovers
How actor Hilary Swank made this a mantra to live by
Ihave to laugh when two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank opens our chat by asking me about the weather. The question is endearing, particularly to a British interviewer. ‘It’s grey in London,’ I reply. But speaking to me from her Los Angeles home, I imagine she must be in beautiful sunshine? ‘It’s pretty nice, yeah,’ she concedes, her tone as warm as the sun glinting across the ‘great mountain range’ that she tells me she’s looking out upon. Throughout our conversation, I hear tropical-sounding birds squawking in the background. Yep, ‘pretty nice’ sounds about right.
For all of her awards and majestic surroundings, Swank carries no air of grandeur. She strikes me as down-to-earth and thoughtful, someone who has been interviewed a million times before yet still retains a genuine interest in every question she’s asked. From a trailer park in Lincoln, Nebraska, to the star-studded Hollywood Hills, her story is true rags to riches, which is why she has never taken anything for granted.
‘I was an outsider,’ she tells me. ‘I grew up in a lower socio-economic background, which meant that I quickly learned what classism was by the way I was treated, mostly by adults, because of where and how I lived. That made for a lonely childhood. I found solace in nature and books. I was a curious kid. I would float in a lake and just hang out, or immerse myself in reading, finding characters that I could relate to that would make me feel less alone. We had this mobile library that ran through our trailer park. That’s how storytelling became such an important part of my life.’
Swank discovered acting aged nine, when she was asked to write a sketch and perform it in front of her class. ‘I came alive,’ she recalls. ‘Something happened inside me that I didn’t know at the time was my calling. I loved it. After that, I auditioned for the school play, then I started doing more theatre, and one thing led to another.’ When Swank was 15, her parents split up. Her mother, ‘at a crossroads in her life’, decided to move the two of them to Los Angeles, where teenage Hilary could pursue her acting dream. ‘She just said, “Hey, if you really wanna do this, we need to move to California,”’ says Swank with a smile in her voice. ‘So we did, with $75 and a Mobil gas card. For a short time we lived in our car, until my mom got a job and we were able to rent a room from a single mother. We lived with her for just over a year, until I started working. Then, Mom and I got a little house together. I moved out when I was about 18.’
She tells me she learned from her mother ‘how to be resilient, how to make ends meet and how to persevere’. And her determination soon paid off. Following her 1992 film debut in Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Swank’s career progressed quickly, resulting in two Academy Awards and two Golden Globes before the age of 30 for her standout roles in Boys Don’t Cry and Million Dollar Baby. ‘It was kind of like I was shot out of a cannon into fame,’ she says. ‘It was a strange world to navigate without any build-up, and I was uncomfortable with the idea of not being able to get a coffee without people knowing who I was. I guess I never really thought about what the side-effects of being a well-known actor would be.’
With more than 25 years in the industry, the longevity of her career is staggering. How has she seen Hollywood change? ‘It’s becoming more inclusive, but it’s slow going. The industry has been run by white males for so long that most of the stories are from their point of view. A man would never be told whether they’re right for a part because they look a certain way. Inequality is rampant. But it’s great and exciting that, in my lifetime, I’ve been able to see the beginnings of change. There are a lot of stories that weren’t being told, which is unfortunate because we’re a rainbow of people, right? I’m hoping that we’ll start telling these stories now and better represent the colourful world in which we live.’
‘IT WAS KIND OF LIKE I WAS SHOT OUT OF A CANNON INTO FAME’
Full immersion into any role she takes on is something that is very important to Swank. ‘I love an emotional and physical challenge,’ she says. Her latest project, Netflix series Away, combines both things. Swank plays Emma Green, a NASA astronaut juggling work and family commitments, who embarks on a three-year mission to Mars. ‘It was a lot of hard work pretending to be in space,’ she says. ‘We had these heavy spacesuits on and we had to make it appear like we were in zero gravity and look like it was effortless, but it was strenuous. I actually wanted to be an astronaut before I wanted to be an actor. I have this passion for adventure and exploration. I love that Emma Green also has vulnerability. She has a career dream, but she’s trying to be the best mother and wife that she can, too. She’s being pulled both ways, like a lot of modern-day women. I think that’s something we can all relate to.’
Swank knows this juggle only too well. In 2015, she took a three-year career break to look after her father when he had a lung transplant. He is still living with her and her husband of two years, entrepreneur Philip Schneider. ‘What was supposed to be a year quickly became two, and then three, because there were complications,’ she says. ‘We had a lot of touch-and-go moments, but he’s now thriving, independent and doing very well.’ Did she worry about taking time out of acting? ‘There is nothing more important than health,’ she says without hesitation. ‘If someone is struggling, everything else just falls to the side. I feel like that’s what we’re here to do, to be there for our loved ones.’
The experience altered her perspective. ‘It’s made me worry less about the little things,’ she muses. ‘It’s clichéd, but it’s clichéd for a reason. There are so many things we stress over that should never take up our time and energy.’
Returning to acting wasn’t a concern. ‘I’d already been doing it for so long, and I love it, it’s my greatest passion. But when I stepped away from it, I realised that it had defined me, and there’s so much more to who I am. It was while I was in the hospital with my dad every day that I created Mission Statement, my clothing line. One of the beautiful things about life is that if we really sit with ourselves, we’ll discover there’s more than one thing that has our passion.’
Passion is a word that Swank uses a lot. ‘I’m a Leo,’ she laughs by way of explanation. ‘One of my mottos is “make a choice, make it happen”. My fear in my 20s was that I wouldn’t be able to live my fullest purpose, so I decided to lean in to that. I think that’s where my drive comes from – to create, to work with other like-minded people, to make change. I decided, aged 18, that I would never be bored again, because if I’m bored, it means I’m being lazy.’
Lazy is not a word that crosses my mind when it comes to Swank. As well as her acting and clothing line, she also runs her charity, The Hilaroo Foundation, which pairs abandoned dogs with disadvantaged young people. ‘I feel like animals in my childhood could see me for who I really was and not for the things that human beings see people for, so I essentially took that idea,’ she explains. ‘Five years later, we’re making a real difference. When the kids see these dogs that have been kicked to the kerb like they feel they have, there’s an instant healing connection. It sows a seed of responsibility in them to get up every day and show some empathy towards another sentient being. The outcome is extraordinary.’
Her greatest joy in life is hiking with her own four rescue dogs. ‘I live in the middle of a forest right now, and it’s my happy place. You don’t see a soul for days. Everyone said self-isolation was hard, but I’ve realised I’m a self-isolator by nature. When I’m not on set and collaborating, I’m rejuvenating and recharging myself in nature with long dog walks, sitting next to a river or lake, or among beautiful trees – it’s the quickest way for me to feel calm.’
Her husband – also a Leo – shares her love of the outdoors. ‘We like to get an RV, drive across the country and go camping,’ she says. The pair met on a blind date arranged by a friend and married in 2018 in a private ceremony deep in the California mountains. Schneider is Swank’s second husband, following her split from actor Chad Lowe in 2007.
‘The biggest thing I’ve learned about relationships is that you can never change anyone,’ she says with a telling laugh. ‘You have to see someone’s qualities for what they are, and hopefully the good outweighs the negative. There needs to be respect that goes both ways. In this disposable world, everything is so quick and easy, but relationships aren’t. Like everything, it’s the love and hard work you put into them that makes them work.’
It’s clear Schneider also shares her love of learning, to the point where they surprised guests at their wedding by performing a tap dance routine. ‘It was super fun,’ she enthuses. ‘Doing something like that with your partner is great, because you’re seeing how the other person learns and you’re supporting each other.’
Next on her list? To learn French and continue guitar lessons. As Swank’s Twitter bio succinctly puts it: ‘Never be bored. There is so much to see and do in this great world.’ A mantra we should all hold on to.
‘I’VE REALISED I’M A SELF-ISOLATOR BY NATURE’
Away launches on Netf lix on 4th September