She made her film debut with a minor role in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992), and The Next Karate Kid (1994). She received further recognition for starring as Carly Reynolds on the eighth season of the Fox teen drama Beverly Hills, 90210 (1997–1998). Swank received critical acclaim for her performances as Brandon Teena, a trans man, in the biopic Boys Don't Cry (1999) and an aspiring boxer in Clint Eastwood's sports drama Million Dollar Baby (2004). She won the Academy Award for Best Actress and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama for both performances.
Swank's other notable films include The Gift (2000), Insomnia (2002), P.S. I Love You (2007), Conviction (2010), New Year's Eve (2011), The Homesman (2014), Logan Lucky (2017), I Am Mother (2019), and The Hunt (2020). Her television projects include leading roles in the FX drama series Trust (2018) and the Netflix science fiction series Away (2020).
