Katherine Mathilda "Tilda" Swinton (born 5 November 1960) is a Scottish[1] actress known for both arthouse and mainstream films. She has appeared in a number of films including The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Burn After Reading, The Beach, and was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performances in The Deep End and We Need to Talk About Kevin. She won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Michael Clayton.
[edit] Early life
Swinton was born in London, England.[2] Her father, Major-General Sir John Swinton, KCVO, OBE, DL, who was Lord Lieutenant of Berwickshire (1989–2000), is Scottish, and her mother, Judith Balfour, Lady Swinton (née Killen), was Australian.[3][4][5][6][7] Her paternal great-grandfather was Scottish politician and officer-of-arms George Swinton, and her maternal great-great-grandfather was Scottish botanist John Hutton Balfour.[8] The Swinton family is an ancient Anglo-Scots family that can trace its lineage to the High Middle Ages.[7]
Swinton attended three independent schools, Queen's Gate School in London, the West Heath Girls' School, and also Fettes College for a brief period.[citation needed] In 1983, she graduated from New Hall (now known as Murray Edwards College) at Cambridge University with a degree in Social and Political Sciences. While at Cambridge, she joined the Communist Party.[9]
[edit] Career
[edit] Arthouse work
Swinton worked with the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, starring in Mann ist Mann by Manfred Karge,[10] and the Royal Shakespeare Company, before embarking on a career in film in the mid-1980s. She appeared as Julia in the 1986 television mini-series Zastrozzi: A Romance based on the Gothic novel by Percy Bysshe Shelley.[citation needed] Her early film work included several film roles for director Derek Jarman, notably War Requiem (1989) playing a nurse opposite Laurence Olivier as an old soldier. In 1991, Swinton won the Volpi Cup Best Actress award for her role in the postmodern film Edward II.
Swinton also played the title role in Orlando, Sally Potter's film version of the novel by Virginia Woolf. The part allowed Swinton to explore matters of gender presentation onscreen which reflected her life-long interest in androgynous style. Swinton later reflected on the role in an interview accompanied by a striking photoshoot. “People talk about androgyny in all sorts of dull ways,” said Swinton, noting that the recent rerelease of Orlando had her thinking again about its pliancy. She referred to 1920s French artist and playful gender-bender Claude Cahun: “Cahun looked at the limitlessness of an androgynous gesture, which I’ve always been interested in.”[11]
In 1995, with producer and friend Joanna Scanlan, Swinton developed a performance/installation live art piece in the Serpentine Gallery, London, where she was on display to the public for a week, asleep or apparently so, in a glass case, as a piece of performance art. The piece is sometimes credited to Cornelia Parker, whom Swinton invited to collaborate for the installation in London. The following year, the performance, entitled The Maybe, was repeated at the Museo Barracco in Rome. She also appeared in the music video for Orbital's "The Box". She has collaborated with the fashion designers Viktor & Rolf. She was the focus of their 'One Woman Show' 2003, in which they made all the models look like copies of Swinton, and she read a poem (of her own) that included the line, "There is only one you. Only one".[12]
[edit] Mainstream films
Recent years have seen Swinton move towards more mainstream projects, including the leading role in the American film The Deep End (2001), in which she plays the mother of a gay son she suspects of killing his boyfriend. For this performance she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award. She appeared as a supporting character in the films The Beach (2000), featuring Leonardo DiCaprio, Vanilla Sky (2001) with Tom Cruise and, as the archangel Gabriel in Constantine (2005) with Keanu Reeves. Swinton has also appeared in the British films The Statement (2003) and Young Adam (2003), and sat on the jury of the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.
In 2005, Swinton performed as the White Witch Jadis, in the film version of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and as Audrey Cobb in the Mike Mills film adaptation of the novel Thumbsucker. Swinton later had cameos in Narnia's sequels,The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
In 2007, Swinton's performance as Karen Crowder in Michael Clayton earned her both a BAFTA award for Best Supporting Actress as well as the Oscar for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role at the 2008 80th Academy Awards, the film's sole win.[13][14][15]
Swinton next appeared in the 2008 Coen Brothers film, Burn After Reading. Swinton said of the film, in which she plays opposite George Clooney, "I don’t know if it will make anybody else laugh, but it really made us laugh while making it."[16]
She was cast for the role of Elizabeth Abbott in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, alongside Brad Pitt.
She had a starring role as the irresponsible eponymous character in Erick Zonca's Julia, which premiered at the 2008 Berlin International Film Festival and later saw a limited U.S. release in May 2009. Several critics praised her performance and some claimed it should have won her an Academy Award.[17][18][19]
She stars in the new film adaptation of the novel We Need to Talk about Kevin, released in October 2011. She portrays the mother of the title character, a teenage boy who commits a high school massacre.[20]
She has joined the cast of Jim Jarmusch's untitled vampire film which will shoot in early 2012.[21]
[edit] Other projects
In 1988, she was a member of the jury at the 38th Berlin International Film Festival.[22]
In August 2006, she opened the new Screen Academy Scotland production centre in Edinburgh.[23]
In July 2008, she founded the film festival Ballerina Ballroom Cinema Of Dreams.[24] The event took place in a ballroom in Nairn on Scotland's Moray Firth in August.
Swinton has collaborated with artist Patrick Wolf on his 2009 album The Bachelor, contributing four spoken word pieces.[25]
Swinton appeared at the 2009 Academy Awards, helping to present the 2009 Best Supporting Actress Awards.
In 2009, Swinton and Mark Cousins embarked on a project where they mounted a 33.5-tonne portable cinema on a large truck, hauling it manually through the Scottish Highlands, creating a travelling independent film festival. The project was featured prominently in a documentary called Cinema is Everywhere. The festival was repeated again in 2011.[26][27][28]
[edit] Personal life
Swinton lives in Nairn, overlooking the Moray Firth in the Highland region of Scotland, with her partner Sandro Kopp, a German/New Zealander painter, and her twin children: a son, Xavier and a daughter, Honor. Rumours from a few years ago that Swinton, Kopp and Swinton’s former partner, John Byrne, were all cohabiting, were false.[29]
[edit] Filmography
| Year |
Title |
Role |
Notes |
| 1986 |
Egomania – Insel ohne Hoffnung |
Sally |
|
| 1986 |
Zastrozzi: A Romance |
Julia |
Mini TV series |
| 1986 |
Caravaggio |
Lena |
|
| 1987 |
Aria |
Young Girl |
|
| 1987 |
Friendship's Death |
Friendship |
|
| 1988 |
Last of England, TheThe Last of England |
|
|
| 1988 |
Das Andere Ende der Welt |
|
|
| 1988 |
Degrees of Blindness |
|
|
| 1988 |
L' Ispirazione |
|
|
| 1989 |
Play Me Something |
Hairdresser |
TV |
| 1989 |
War Requiem |
Nurse |
|
| 1990 |
Your Cheatin' Heart |
Cissie Crouch |
TV series |
| 1990 |
Garden, TheThe Garden |
Madonna |
|
| 1991 |
Edward II |
Isabella |
Volpi Cup |
| 1991 |
Party: Nature Morte, TheThe Party: Nature Morte |
Queenie |
|
| 1992 |
Shakespeare: The Animated Tales |
Ophelia |
Mini TV series; voice |
| 1992 |
Orlando |
Orlando |
Seattle International Film Festival Award for Best Actress
Thessaloniki Film Festival Award for Best Actress
Nominated–European Film Award for Best Actress |
| 1992 |
Man to Man |
Ella/Max Gericke |
|
| 1993 |
Blue |
|
Voice |
| 1993 |
Das Offene Universum |
Carla |
TV |
| 1993 |
Wittgenstein |
Lady Ottoline Morrell |
|
| 1994 |
Remembrance of Things Fast: True Stories Visual Lies |
|
|
| 1994 |
Visions of Heaven and Hell |
Narrator |
TV |
| 1996 |
Female Perversions |
Eve Stephens |
|
| 1997 |
Conceiving Ada |
Ada Augusta Byron King |
|
| 1998 |
Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon |
Muriel Belcher |
|
| 1998 |
Protagonists, TheThe Protagonists |
|
|
| 1999 |
War Zone, TheThe War Zone |
Mum |
|
| 2000 |
Possible Worlds |
Joyce |
Nominated–Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role |
| 2000 |
Beach, TheThe Beach |
Sal |
|
| 2001 |
Vanilla Sky |
Rebecca Dearborn |
|
| 2001 |
Deep End, TheThe Deep End |
Margaret Hall |
Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated–Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated–Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress
Nominated–Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated–Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Female
Nominated–Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated–Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated–Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama |
| 2002 |
Adaptation |
Valerie Thomas |
Nominated–Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
Nominated–Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture |
| 2002 |
Teknolust |
Rosetta/Ruby/Marinne/Olive |
|
| 2003 |
Statement, TheThe Statement |
Annemarie Livi |
|
| 2003 |
Young Adam |
Ella Gault |
BAFTA Scotland for Best Actress in a Scottish Film
Nominated–British Independent Film Award for Best Actress
Nominated–London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the Year |
| 2005 |
Constantine |
Angel Gabriel |
|
| 2005 |
Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, TheThe Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe |
Jadis, the White Witch |
Nominated–London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated-MTV Movie Award for Best Villain
Nominated–Saturn Award for Best Actress |
| 2005 |
Broken Flowers |
Penny |
|
| 2005 |
Thumbsucker |
Audrey Cobb |
Gijón International Film Festival Award for Best Actress |
| 2006 |
Stephanie Daley |
Lydie Crane |
Nominated–Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama |
| 2006 |
Galápagos |
Narrator |
BBC Documentary |
| 2007 |
Sleepwalkers |
Violinist |
|
| 2007 |
Strange Culture |
Hope Kurtz |
|
| 2007 |
Man from London, TheThe Man from London |
Camélia |
|
| 2007 |
Michael Clayton |
Karen Crowder |
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated–Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated–Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated–Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
Nominated–London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated–Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated–Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
Nominated–Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role |
| 2008 |
Julia |
Julia |
Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress
International Cinephile Society Award for Best Actress[30]
Village Voice Film Poll - Best Actress
Nominated–César Award for Best Actress
Nominated–London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the Year
Nominated–Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress |
| 2008 |
Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, TheThe Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian |
Jadis, the White Witch |
Cameo |
| 2008 |
Burn After Reading |
Katie Cox |
Nominated–BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role |
| 2008 |
Curious Case of Benjamin Button, TheThe Curious Case of Benjamin Button |
Elizabeth Abbott |
London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress[31]
Nominated–Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
Nominated–Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture |
| 2009 |
Limits of Control, TheThe Limits of Control |
Blonde |
|
| 2009 |
I Am Love |
Emma Recchi |
Dublin Film Critics Award for Best Female Performance
European Silver Ribbon
Nominated–London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the Year
Nominated–San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated–Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama |
| 2010 |
Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, TheThe Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader |
Jadis, the White Witch |
Cameo |
| 2011 |
We Need to Talk about Kevin |
Eva Khatchadourian |
Austin Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
European Film Award for Best Actress
Houston Film Critics Award for Best Actress
National Board of Review Award for Best Actress
Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Telluride Film Festival (tribute)
Nominated – BIFA Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a British Independent Film
Nominated - Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated - Indiana Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated - San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated - Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress (runner-up)
Nominated – Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated - Women Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Nominated - Women Film Critics Circle Award for Best Courage in Acting
Nominated - AACTA International Award for Best Actress
Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated - London Film Critics Circle Award for Actress of the Year
Nominated - London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the Year
Nominated - Alliance of Women Film Journalists Award for Best Actress
Nominated - Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role |
| 2012 |
Moonrise Kingdom |
|
|
[edit] References
- ^ Toby McDonald (2011-11-20). "Scots actress Tilda Swinton quits movie promo to help out at sons' school". The Daily Record. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/showbiz/2011/11/20/scots-actress-tilda-swinton-quits-movie-promo-to-help-out-at-sons-school-86908-23576091/. Retrieved 2012-02-02.
- ^ "Tilda Swinton biography at TildaSwinton.net". http://tildaswinton.net/?page_id=81.
- ^ "The Peerage.com". The Peerage.com. http://thepeerage.com/p26935.htm#i269348. Retrieved 2011-02-11.
- ^ Dewar, Peter Beauclerk, Burke's Landed Gentry of Great Britain – The Kingdom in Scotland, 19th edition, vol.1, Wilmington, Delaware, 2001, p.1317. ISBN 0-9711966-0-5
- ^ "Tilda Swinton Biography". Tiscali.co.uk. http://www.tiscali.co.uk/entertainment/film/biographies/tilda_swinton_biog/3. Retrieved 2011-02-11.
- ^ "SWINTON: Chart 2B, Sheet 2." Swinton Family Society.org.
- ^ a b "Tilda Swinton, one of our most unique actors, talks to Gaby Wood | Magazine | The Observer". London: Observer.guardian.co.uk. 9 October 2005. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,11913,1587905,00.html. Retrieved 2011-02-11.
- ^ "Tilda the Bruce; Genealogists reveal the extraordinary family link between actress and Scotland's warrior king." 19 September 2009, The Daily Mail
- ^ Gray, Sadie (2005-11-27). "Profile Tilda Swinton White Witch takes a red and pink ride to stardom". The Times (London). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/article597081.ece.
- ^ "Tilda Swinton". Leiron Reviews. 2009. http://www.leiron.be/exttopics2/tilda-swinton.php.
- ^ "Planet Tilda" August 2011, W MAgazine
- ^ Elle 'the muses' Tilda Swinton[dead link]
- ^ Ebert, Roger (2007-10-05). "Michael Clayton". Chicago Sun-Times. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071004/REVIEWS/710040302/-1/REVIEWS01. Retrieved 2007-12-15.
- ^ "Hollywood Foreign Press Association 2008 Golden Globe Awards". Hollywood Foreign Press Association. 2007-12-13. Archived from the original on 2007-12-14. http://web.archive.org/web/20071214020838/http://www.goldenglobes.org/news/id/81. Retrieved 2007-12-15.
- ^ "Winners Announced" (Press release). BAFTA. 2008-02-10. http://www.bafta.org/press/winners-announced,17,SNS.html. Retrieved 2008-02-10.
- ^ "Tilda Swinton". W magazine. September 2008. http://www.wmagazine.com/celebrities/2008/09/tilda_swinton?currentPage=1.
- ^ Karina Longworth (2010-01-06). "Why the Academy Will Ignore Nicolas Cage and Tilda Swinton's Oscar-worthy Turns". Vanity Fair. http://www.vanityfair.com/online/oscars/2010/01/why-the-academy-will-ignore-nicolas-cage-and-tilda-swintons-oscar-worthy-turns.html. Retrieved 2010-01-06.
- ^ Nathaniel Rogers (2010-02-03). "Oscar Noms: Ten Talking Points". TribecaFilm.com. http://www.tribecafilm.com/news-features/features/Oscar_Noms_Ten_Talking_Points.html. Retrieved 2010-02-03.
- ^ Anna Robinson (2009-12-22). "Tilda Swinton Best Performer of 2009 – indieWIRE Poll". Alt Film Guide. http://www.altfg.com/blog/awards/tilda-swinton-best-performer-of-2009-indiewire-poll-894/. Retrieved 2009-12-22.
- ^ Editors (2009-03-18). "Producer Says Tilda Swinton to Star in "Kevin," Adaptation of Lionel Shriver Novel". New York Times Blogs. http://carpetbagger.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/18/producer-says-tilda-swinton-to-star-in-kevin-adaptation-of-lionel-shriver-novel/. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
- ^ Macnab, Geoffrey (16 May 2011). "Swinton, Fassbender and Wasikowska line up for Jarmusch's vampire story". ScreenDaily. http://www.screendaily.com/news/production/swinton-fassbender-and-wasikowska-line-up-for-jarmuschs-vampire-story/5027597.article. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
- ^ "Berlinale: 1988 Juries". berlinale.de. http://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/1988/04_jury_1988/04_Jury_1988.html. Retrieved 2011-03-04.
- ^ "Sir Sean Connery Named Patron of Screen Academy Scotland". 2006-11-02. http://news.napier.ac.uk/press/articles/article_10334.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-25.
- ^ "Ballerina Ballroom". Spanglefish.com. 2008-08-23. http://www.spanglefish.com/ballerinaballroom/. Retrieved 2011-02-11.
- ^ "'Tilda Swinton to appear on Wolf's new album". Kwamecorp.com. 2009-01-12. http://www.kwamecorp.com/bandstocksnews/2009/01/tilda-swinton-to-appear-on-pat.html. Retrieved 2011-02-11.
- ^ Details Pilgrimage.org
- ^ "Our gal Tilda and her magical perambulating film festival" August 5, 2009, Sun Times
- ^ "Entertainment | Actress Swinton hauls cinema". BBC News. 2009-08-04. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8183717.stm. Retrieved 2012-02-02.
- ^ "Alien Laborer in the Hollywood Factory" December 30, 2011, New York Times
- ^ "2010 ICS AWARD WINNERS". International Cinephile Society. http://icsfilm.org/awards/2010/14-2010-ics-awards-winners.
- ^ ""The Dark Knight" receives five Saturn Awards at the 35th Annual Saturn Awards". The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. http://www.saturnawards.org/.
[edit] External links
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Awards for Tilda Swinton
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Note: The years are listed as per convention, usually the year of film release; the ceremonies are usually held the next year.
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| Persondata |
| Name |
Swinton, Tilda |
| Alternative names |
Swinton, Katherine Mathilda |
| Short description |
Actress |
| Date of birth |
5 November 1960 |
| Place of birth |
London, England |
| Date of death |
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| Place of death |
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