After Hilary Swank played single mom Carly Reynolds for 13 episodes, she was unexpectedly fired. Despite signing a two-year contract, leaving her “devastated” after learning fans didn’t love her character paired with Steve Sanders.

The American actress and film producer Hilary Swank was born on July 30, 1974, in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States.

Hilary attended Happy Valley Elementary School, Fairhaven Middle School, then Sehome High School in Bellingham until she was 16.

She made her first appearance on stage when she was nine years old, starring in The Jungle Book.

Hilary first became known in 1992 for her role in the television series Camp Wilder and made her film debut with a minor role in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

She then had her breakthrough by starring as Julie Pierce in The Next Karate Kid (1994), the fourth installment of The Karate Kid franchise, and as Carly Reynolds on the eighth season of Beverly Hills, 90210 (1997–1998).

Hilary came to international recognition for her performances as Brandon Teena, a transgender man, in Kimberly Peirce’s Boys Don’t Cry (1999), and as Maggie Fitzgerald, an aspiring boxer, in Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby (2004).

Both of her performances earned her critical acclaim, and she earned numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, two Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

She later ventured into producing with the films Amelia (2009), Conviction (2010), You’re Not You (2014), and What They Had (2018), in all of which she also starred.

Her other notable films include the television film Iron Jawed Angels (2004) and the feature films Freedom Writers (2007), Logan Lucky (2017), The Hunt (2020), and Fatale (2020).