Known throughout Britain for her idiosyncratic performances and long-time
association with the late filmmaker Derek Jarman, Tilda Swinton is nothing if not
one of the more unique actresses to come along during the second half of the
20th century. Born in London on November 5, 1961, Swinton attended Cambridge
University, where she received a degree in social and political sciences. While
at Cambridge, she became involved in acting, performing in a number of stage
productions. Following graduation, Swinton began her professional theater
career, working for Edinburgh's renowned Traverse Theatre and the Royal
Shakespeare Company.
In 1985, Swinton began her long collaboration with Derek Jarman, both as a
friend and fellow artist. She made her screen debut in his Caravaggio (1986) and appeared in every
one of the director's films until his death from AIDS in 1994. It was for her
role as the spurned queen in Jarman's anachronistic, controversial Edward II (1992) that Swinton earned her
first dose of recognition, becoming a familiar face to arthouse audiences on
both sides of the Atlantic and earning a Best Actress prize at the Venice Film
Festival for her work in the film. The acclaim and recognition Swinton garnered
was amplified the same year with her title role in Sally Potter's adaptation of
Orlando, Virginia Woolf's classic tale of an Elizabethan courtier who
experiences drastic changes in both gender and lifestyle over the course of 400
years.
Following appearances in Jarman's Blue (1993) and in his acclaimed biopic, Wittgenstein (1994), Swinton earned some
of her strongest notices to date for her lead in Female Perversions (1996), in which
she played a successful lawyer trying to cope with her own insecurities and
self-destructive tendencies. She then portrayed another brilliant, troubled
woman in Conceiving Ada (1997), a science
fiction piece that cast her as the real-life daughter of Lord Byron, a woman who
was widely held to be the inventor of the first computer.
Never one to choose films for their simplicity or mainstream appeal, Swinton
subsequently appeared in Love
Is the Devil (1998), John Maybury's controversial
account of the life and times of artist Francis Bacon. She then portrayed a
battered wife in The War Zone (1999), Tim Roth's hellish portrait of
extreme family dysfunction. Following on a slightly lighter note with Trainspotting director Danny Boyle's The Beach in 2000, Swinton would later take
the lead in The Deep End (2001). Noted for her
delicately textured performance as an isolated and protective mother who makes a
desperate bid to protect her son after assuming he has committed murder, many
critics noted Swinton's performance as a key element to the film's success. The
next year, the talented actress took on multiple roles in a complex tale of
cyborg fantasy and speculative science fiction, Teknolust, and appeared in a small role in
Adaptation, written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Spike Jonze.
In 2003, Swinton delivered strong performances opposite Michael Caine in the
thriller The Statement and Ewan McGregor in the erotic drama Young Adam. She
went on to star in the ensemble comedy Thumbsucker and appeared with Keanu
Reeves in the supernatural thriller Constantine. In 2005, she would play the
White Witch in the much-anticipated live-action adaptation of C.S. Lewis'
Chronicles of Narnia.
For her work in 2007's legal thriller Michael Clayton, Swinton earned her
first Oscar. That organization was one of many to recognize her portrayal of a
cold, controlling corporate achiever as one of the best of the year. ~ Rebecca
Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
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