Hilary Swank rushes into a hotel suite, all sharp angles and big bones, plops down on a seat and dazzles with a toothy, very attractive smile. She's lanky and friendly and looks All-American smashing in a black dress and heels. A tomboy with sex appeal, Swank is the totally hot jock girlfriend you took (or wish you did) to the senior prom.
The 32-year-old actress is in town to publicize Freedom Writers, a new film in which she plays real-life high school teacher Erin Gruwell, who turned her Long Beach, Calif., classroom of at-risk students into a bunch of high achievers, and taught them that writing their own, often sordid, life histories was an empowering act.
"It's just such a human story," says Swank, who was Gruwell's first and only choice for the part, and is also a co-executive producer of the film. "I think there's so much more to any person than anyone gives them credit for, and I just loved that behind this was a person who believed in someone enough that they were able to fully realize themselves."
You can see why Swank wanted to play Gruwell. Both are scrappers who came out of nowhere, took on the big boys and emerged victorious. Both also take what they do very seriously, but do it with a joy that is utterly infectious.
"Hilary is very passionate, and she's a fighter," says Gruwell. "She's also like my students in that she's street smart, and she's driven. And she takes that same fighter spirit into the role."
Swank once described herself as "a girl from a trailer park who had a dream." That portrayal plays a little bit with the facts - her dad was a mobile home salesman, and Hilary and her older brother Daniel grew up in a three-bedroom double-wide surrounded by the lakes and mountains of Bellingham, Wash. But there's little doubt the two-time Oscar winner (for Boys Don't Cry and Million Dollar Baby) had to claw her way to the top.
After her parents separated when she was in her teens, Swank and her mother moved to Hollywood to pursue the daughter's acting dreams.
Although she found work relatively quickly, Swank bounced along the fringes of the industry for years, appearing in what seems like an endless series of sitcoms (Growing Pains, Evening Shade) and second-tier feature films (The Next Karate Kid).
It didn't help matters that she wasn't a classic glamour girl and was being given advice that wasn't designed to bolster her confidence. Like, says Swank, "my lips were too big, and I should never wear lipstick, and my name was horrible and I should change it."
