Quotes from Hilary Swank

I grew up in a trailer park in Bellingham, Washington.

I really chase the things that I want.

Saving just one pet won't change the world but surely the world will change for that one pet.

One of the great things about my job is I get to do all of these things that I may not experience had I not been an actor.

I feel like I've had a really great intense relationship with every single Director I've ever worked with. I can't say there's one that hasn't been deep and profound in its own way.

I think that we're all continually searching for who we are, and that's ever-evolving and changing.

I don't think people should have boundaries put on them, by themselves or society or another gender, because it's our birthright to experience life in whatever way we feel best suits us.

One thing I've learned: you never know where life is taking you, but it's taking you.

I had to fight my whole life to break out of my circumstances. That's just part of my makeup.

The past is gone. I know it sounds cliché, but you're here. Like be in it. And boxing was a really good analogy for me to try and carry that in my everyday life all the time.

There's so much more to life than looking a certain way.

Learning how to fly, for me, was so euphoric.

I had teachers who I could tell didn't want to be there. And I just couldn't get inspired by someone who didn't want to be there.

I wouldn't change my past for anything, because I think it's made me who I am. I'm so enormously grateful for all that I have in my life.

I pretty much have made a career out of playing real life people.

I wake up so full of life and feeling so alive and so full of joy when I get to go to a set and tell a story. I just - I couldn't imagine not having that, and what a gift it's been in my life.

It's something that you have to experience in your life, but I think my first kiss, I was 7 and it was really yucky.

My relaxation has always been my animals - going to the dog park with them, going to the beach.

It's a quality of my life that I wouldn't change for the world, having grown up with such a humble background.

You only have one life and if you're not doing what you love, what's the point?

Few people know this about me, but I love baking pies.

My job is about playing people. And I think once you lose touch with people, what do you play?

I'm certainly not very book smart, but I started traveling at 16, and it has enriched me in ways I could never begin to explain.

There's no negatives. You just have to trust that what's happening in your life is unfolding in exactly the right way.