Tilda Swinton was born in London in 1960 but has made Scotland her home and considers herself to be Scottish – her great-grandfather was Scottish politician George Swinton and her great-great-grandfather was Scottish botanist John Hutton Balfour.
As a child she attended Fettes College in Edinburgh for a short while and studied social and political sciences at Cambridge University before embarking on an acting career with the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1984.
More theatre work followed, including at Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre, and she was cast by director Derek Jarman in her first film, Caravaggio, in 1986.
Since then she has starred in numerous independent films and Hollywood blockbusters, including Orlando, Vanilla Sky, Adaptation, Michael Clayton, We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Chronicles of Narnia series, Doctor Strange, Avengers: Endgame, and The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Along the way Swinton has won numerous awards, including an Academy Award and a British Academy Film Award, and has been nominated for three Golden Globe Awards and five Screen Actors Guild Awards. She was also awarded the Richard Harris Award by the British Independent Film Awards in recognition of her contributions to the British film industry, given a special tribute by the Museum of Modern Art, and recieved the British Film Institute Fellowship for her "daringly eclectic and striking talents as a performer and filmmaker and recognises her great contribution to film culture, independent film exhibition and philanthropy”.
Here are 13 interesting quotes from her many interviews over the years.
1. Tilda Swinton on...how she looks
"I don't really look like people in films; I look like people in paintings." Photo: Gareth Cattermole
2. Tilda Swinton on...having children
"I remember noticing, when I had my babies, how much I liked them, and not just loved them, but I was really into them. I knew I was going to be curious about them and up for the mayhem ahead. But at the same time, I remember noticing I was relieved this thing was present in me. And I hadn't realised there might be a doubt." Photo: Marc Piasecki
3. Tilda Swinton on...theatre acting
"My understanding is that it's quite difficult for actors in the theater to know anybody but actors in the theater. It's the whole concept of the amniotic fluid surrounding one industry, holding people in place. I've never had a season ticket. I'm always a tourist." Photo: Pascal Le Segretain
4. Tilda Swinton on...relationships
"We never know about anybody else's relationship and how they work - particularly the ones that work for a really, really long time. I was going to say only the people in it, but often, not even they understand how it works." Photo: ADALBERTO ROQUE