Hilary and Nell

Hilary Ann Swank (born July 30, 1974) is a two-time Oscar winning American actress. Her Hollywood film career began with a small part in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992) and then a major part in The Next Karate Kid (1994), where she played Julie Pierce, the first female prot?g? of the sensei Mr. Miyagi. She has become known for her two Academy Award-winning performances: first as Brandon Teena, a transgender man in the movie Boys Don't Cry, and a struggling waitress-turned- boxer, Maggie Fitzgerald, in Million Dollar Baby. She will have a cameo in Iron Man, an upcoming film based on fictional Marvel Comics character due for release in May 2008.

Nell Mcandrew was born on November 6th, 1973, in Leeds, England, to a working-class family. Nell was ever the athletic one and throughout childhood, dreamed of becoming a policewoman. Working in a bank after she finished school, McAndrew realized that she had a higher calling, and it was modeling, not law enforcement, that lay in her future. Moving to London, McAndrew aggressively shopped her look around. It was The Daily Star newspaper that first put her on its front cover. Not much time passed before other publications were asking about this new face, and, after entertaining a few other offers, McAndrew took on her first big job as the real-life representation of the video game character, Lara Croft. Following in the footsteps of such established models as Rhona Mitra, McAndrew toured as the Tomb Raider heroine for over a year, attracting attention at conventions and in print. This experience was regarded by McAndrew as invaluable, though a sour note was left after being denied the opportunity to appear at the British movie premiere of Tomb Raider, starring Angelina Jolie. After all, McAndrew was partly responsible for making Lara Croft the cult figure she is.