People
Tilda Swinton
Acting · follow into films and chains
Biography
Katherine Matilda Swinton (born November 5, 1960) is an award-winning British actress of Scottish descent, known for her versatile roles in independent films and blockbusters. She is a recipient various accolades throughout her long career, including an Academy Award and two BAFTA Awards, in addition to being nominated for three Golden Globe Awards and five Screen Actors Guild Awards. Swinton began her career by appearing in experimental films starting with Caravaggio (1986), followed by The Last of England (1988), War Requiem (1989), and The Garden (1990). She won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival for her portrayal of Isabella of France in Edward II (1991). She next starred in Sally Potter's Orlando (1992), for which she received a nomination for the European Film Award for Best Actress. She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her performance in The Deep End (2001), and followed this with appearances in Vanilla Sky (2001), Adaptation (2002), Constantine (2005), Julia (2008), and I Am Love (2009). For the film Young Adam (2003), she won the British Academy Scotland Award for Best Actress. Her performance in Michael Clayton (2007) won her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Additionally, she won the European Film Award for Best Actress and received a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for the psychological thriller We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011). Swinton has also played the White Witch in The Chronicles of Narnia series (2005–2010) and the Ancient One in the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise. Swinton was awarded the Richard Harris Award by the British Independent Film Awards in recognition of her contributions to the British film industry. In 2013, she was given a special tribute by the Museum of Modern Art. In 2020, Swinton was awarded the British Film Institute Fellowship, the highest honour presented by the institution, for her "daringly eclectic and striking talents as a performer and film-maker and recognizes her great contribution to film culture, independent film exhibition and philanthropy." That same year, The New York Times ranked her thirteenth on its list of the greatest actors of the 21st century up to that point.
Notable films
Where to start
Highlights from credits and KinoChain journeys.
The Souvenir
Appears in a KinoChain journey
A Bigger Splash
Appears in a KinoChain journey
Suspiria
Appears in a KinoChain journey
Okja
Appears in a KinoChain journey
We Need to Talk About Kevin
Appears in a KinoChain journey
Doctor Strange
As The Ancient One
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
As White Witch
The Grand Budapest Hotel
As Madame D.
Chains
KinoChain journeys
Public chains that pass through their films — or name them as a bridge.
Remakes That Missed but Matter
From Neil LaBute's Wicker Man to Luca Guadagnino's Suspiria, a journey through remakes that stumbled yet reveal why we keep returning to the classics.
8 films
When the Camera Refuses to Blink
A chain of films about people who have crossed a line, and the directors who hold the lens steady. No absolution, no easy exits, only the long look at what we a...
7 films
Five Essential Summer Films
A curated selection of films that capture summer's heat, languor, and menace, sidestepping the usual suspects for more surprising, evocative choices.
5 films
What We Make Monsters Of
A creature feature is rarely about the creature. From Na Hong-jin's Hope to a Scottish island burning its own kindness, this is a chain about communities that d...
8 films
The Summer Was Never Going To Last
From the last sun-drenched days of July to the first rustle of October, this chain follows the slow turn of the season through films that understand the ache of...
7 films
Dancing Against the Current: Eight Films of Rebellion in Motion
From the steel mills of Pittsburgh to the streets of Baltimore, these films trace the dancer's fight for selfhood against the weight of expectation. A curated j...
8 films
Topics
Explore by topic
Related people
Collaborators & neighbours
Acted
The End
2024 · Mother
The Killer
2023 · The Expert
Asteroid City
2023 · Dr. Hickenlooper
The Eternal Daughter
2022 · Julie / Rosalind
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
2022 · Wood Sprite / Death (voice)
The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun
2021 · J.K.L. Berensen
The Souvenir: Part II
2021 · Rosalind
Memoria
2021 · Jessica Holland
Last and First Men
2020 · Narrator (voice)
The Personal History of David Copperfield
2019 · Betsey Trotwood
The Souvenir
2019 · Rosalind
The Dead Don't Die
2019 · Zelda Winston
Suspiria
2018 · Madame Blanc / Dr. Klemperer / Helena Markos
Isle of Dogs
2018 · Oracle (voice)
Okja
2017 · Lucy Mirando / Nancy Mirando
Letters from Baghdad
2017 · Gertrude Bell (voice)
Doctor Strange
2016 · The Ancient One
Hail, Caesar!
2016 · Thora Thacker / Thessaly Thacker
A Bigger Splash
2015 · Marianne Lane
Trainwreck
2015 · Dianna
The Grand Budapest Hotel
2014 · Madame D.
Only Lovers Left Alive
2013 · Eve
The Zero Theorem
2013 · Dr. Shrink-Rom
Snowpiercer
2013 · Mason
David Bowie: Five Years
2013 · Self (archive footage)
Moonrise Kingdom
2012 · Social Services
We Need to Talk About Kevin
2011 · Eva Khatchadourian
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2008 · Elizabeth Abbott
Burn After Reading
2008 · Katie Cox
Michael Clayton
2007 · Karen Crowder
Galapagos
2006 · Self - Presenter
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
2005 · White Witch
Broken Flowers
2005 · Penny
Constantine
2005 · Gabriel
The Statement
2003 · Annemarie Livi
Young Adam
2003 · Ella Gault
Adaptation.
2002 · Valerie Thomas
Vanilla Sky
2001 · Rebecca Dearborn
The Beach
2000 · Sal
Conceiving Ada
1999 · Ada Augusta Byron King, Countess of Lovelace
Orlando
1992 · Orlando