Hilary Swank
Hilary Swank and her mom moved to Hollywood to follow her dream of seeing her name in lights after a childhood spent in local and school productions. For the first four years, some of which they spent living in their car, she guested on series like Growing Pains and Buffy The Vampire Slayer and hooked up with her future husband Chad Lowe at a Hollywood party in 1992 before flamingo kicking her way through1994's The Next Karate Kid. (We're guessing her past as a junior Olympian in swimming and a state-ranked gymnast came in handy.) More TV followed including year-long gigs on Leaving L.A. and Beverly Hills, 90210. She switched predominantly to films in 1999 with her career-defining, Oscar-winning role in Boys Don't Cry, for which she reportedly earned $75 a day. She was back at the big show with Million Dollar Baby, a boxing film from Clint Eastwood, in 2005, which made her the third youngest woman to win two Academy Awards. The Hollywood Walk of Fame star holder has yet to live up to those two roles, but not for lack of trying (The Reaping, Freedom Writers, The Black Dahlia, Amelia, Conviction, and New Year's Eve.) She will next be seen in Mary and Martha, a TV movie about malaria activists in Africa. She spent several months trying save her marriage, but ultimately Lowe and Swank divorced in 2006 and blamed his substance abuse
