Katherine Mathilda Swinton (born November 5, 1960) is a British actress known for both arthouse and mainstream films.

Early life

Swinton was born in London to Judith (an Australian) and Sir John Swinton (a Scottish major-general in the Scots Guards). She attended the same school as Diana, Princess of Wales, West Heath Girls' School, and also Fettes College for a brief period. She graduated from New Hall at Cambridge University with a degree in the social and political sciences in 1983.

Carving out an international reputation as a risk taker, she has always eschewed conventional leading lady roles. She worked with the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, and the Royal Shakespeare Company before embarking on a career in film in the mid-1980s. She also has family in Whitley Bay.

Film career

Her early film work included several film roles for director Derek Jarman, and also the title role of Sally Potter's film version of Orlando. Swinton became notorious for a brief period in 1995 when she appeared as a live exhibit in the Serpentine Gallery, London. She was on display to the public for a week, asleep or apparently so, in a glass case. The following year, the performance, entitled The Maybe, was repeated at a gallery in Rome. She appeared in the video for Orbital's The Box.

Recent years have seen her move towards more mainstream projects, including the leading role in the well-reviewed American film The Deep End. She also appeared, as a supporting character, in films such as Vanilla Sky with Tom Cruise, Constantine with Keanu Reeves, and The Beach, featuring Leonardo DiCaprio. She has recently appeared in British films as well, Young Adam (2004) and The Statement (2003). She sat on the 2004 Cannes film jury.

In 2005, she starred as the White Witch Jadis, in the film version of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and two other (but perhaps lesser known) roles as Penny in the Jim Jarmusch film Broken Flowers and introverted housewife Audrey Cobb in the Mike Mills film adaptation of the novel Thumbsucker.

Personal life

She lives in Nairn, Scotland with her husband John Byrne, an artist, and their two children, Xavier Byrne and Honor Byrne.

External links

• Tilda Swinton at the Internet Movie Database

Interviews

• From The New Yorker (2002)
• From The Guardian
• From BBC (2004)
• From NarniaWeb (2005)
• From Dark Horizons (2005)
• From SPLICEDwire (2005)
• From JoBlo (2005)

Filmography