She is a two-time Oscar winner and Hollywood icon.
But Hilary Swank has never forgotten her humble beginnings.
Before chasing her dreams in Hollywood, Swank spent her childhood living in a trailer park with her family in Bellingham, Washington – a memory that has never left her.
She now has a lakefront home in Bellingham, but was prompted to take stock of just how far she has come as she visited a lake she was raised by.
On Sunday, Swank, 51, shared a photo of herself clad in a wet suit as she stood on the edge of a watercraft, a tranquil lake just behind her.
‘I grew up on this lake and life looked a lot different,’ she began in the caption. ‘I try to take moments of pause to look back and see how far I’ve come, and allow myself to feel proud, on top of the enormous mountain of gratitude.
Hilary Swank shared a poignant post reflecting on her humble beginnings in a trailer park
The fact her own childhood looks much ‘different’ than the ones her own children have has not gone unnoticed by her.
‘I used to ride my bike down the same road I walk my dogs and toddlers down now,’ Swank, who has two-year-old twins Aya and Ohm with husband Philip Schneider, said. ‘My children’s childhoods obviously look a lot different than mine did, but I try to inspire that same wonder and dreaming I had as a little girl, biking through a neighborhood much different than the trailer park I lived in.
‘So often we are so focused on the road ahead we forget to take pit stops to look back and see how far we’ve traveled, and in reality there is no moment of arrival ever, simply a life of travel.
‘Sending gratitude and love to my community today who have chosen to travel through this life with me, I hope you can take a moment to be proud of yourself and how far you’ve come too.’
Swank was just a kid when she resided in the trailer park with her family.
While she didn’t have any issue with her home, she learned her residence made her a bit of a social pariah.
‘In Bellingham, we lived in a trailer park, which wasn’t a negative for me. I had food and a roof over my head. It wasn’t until my friends’ parents excluded me from dinners and playdates that I realized living in a trailer park made me an outcast,’ Swank, who now lives in both Bellingham and Colorado, told the Wall Street Journal in 2024.
‘Though I knew I was perceived as different, I didn’t immediately understand the classism. Then I did. I also understood that where we lived was a bigger issue for people than who I was.’
Swank now is a mother of two, sharing twin children Aya and Ohm with husband Philip Schneider
She credits her role in the 1992 film Buffy The Vampire Slayer as her big break
The lead role in 1994’s The Next Karate Kid would follow Buffy
Swank soon got the acting bug and eventually moved out to Los Angeles with her mother, where they endured more strife in her path to stardom.
The star’s parents had split up by then, and Swank and her mother lived out of a car before eventually moving into a bedroom.
‘In LA, my mother and I first lived in her Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme on quiet residential streets,’ Swank said.
‘When we weren’t sleeping in the car, we stayed at the house of a new friend my age whose family had just moved out and were trying to sell their home. We slept on an air mattress.
‘After about a month, Mom found secretarial work and we rented a bedroom from a single mother in Burbank. Starting out, I booked just OK television parts, but I didn’t care. I was excited to be living my dream,’ she continued.
She earned an Oscar at age 25 for Boys Don’t Cry
Swank did not have an easy path to stardom, living out of a car with her mother during her early days in Hollywood; pictured 1994
‘Eventually, I signed with Bonnie Liedtke, who discovered and represented Leonardo DiCaprio, among other wonderful talents. I couldn’t afford acting lessons, so I treated my auditions as free acting classes. Casting directors helped guide me and taught me a lot.
‘My first big film break was “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” in 1992. My dad came down for the premiere and continued to see me in everything until he passed away in 2021. Mom still shares great excitement for all my projects.’
The sacrifice all paid off, with Swank nabbing the lead role in 1994’s The Next Karate Kid before she earned an Oscar at just age 25 for Boys Don’t Cry.
The critical acclaim continued six years later with another Academy Award win for Million Dollar Baby.
