Tilda Swinton
Acting • Born 1960-11-05
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.
Filmography
188 credits
Young Adam
Movie • 2003
Ella Gault
Broken Flowers
Movie • 2005
Penny
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Movie • 2005
White Witch
Constantine
Movie • 2005
Gabriel
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Movie • 2010
White Witch
Thumbsucker
Movie • 2005
Audrey Cobb
Vanilla Sky
Movie • 2001
Rebecca Dearborn
The Beach
Movie • 2000
Sal
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Movie • 2008
White Witch
Adaptation.
Movie • 2002
Valerie Thomas
Michael Clayton
Movie • 2007
Karen Crowder
Stephanie Daley
Movie • 2007
Lydie Crane
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Movie • 2008
Elizabeth Abbott
Burn After Reading
Movie • 2008
Katie Cox
Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon
Movie • 1998
Muriel Belcher
Caravaggio
Movie • 1986
Lena
The End
Movie • 2024
Mother
Julia
Movie • 2008
Julia
The Killer
Movie • 2023
The Expert
The Man from London
Movie • 2008
Camélia
The Deep End
Movie • 2001
Margaret Hall
The Limits of Control
Movie • 2009
Blonde
Orlando
Movie • 1992
Orlando
I Am Love
Movie • 2010
Emma Recchi
The Statement
Movie • 2003
Annemarie Livi
Durmiente
Movie • 2022
Female Perversions
Movie • 1996
Evelyn Stephens
War Requiem
Movie • 1989
The Nurse
The War Zone
Movie • 1999
Mum
Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes
Movie • 2013
Narrator (voice)
Edward II
Movie • 1991
Isabella
Possible Worlds
Movie • 2000
Joyce
Aria
Movie • 1987
Young Girl
David Bowie: Five Years
Movie • 2013
Self (archive footage)
Teknolust
Movie • 2002
Rosetta / Ruby / Marinne / Olive
We Need to Talk About Kevin
Movie • 2011
Eva Khatchadourian
Climate of Change
Movie • 2010
Narrator (voice)
The Invisible Frame
Movie • 2009
The Cyclist
Cannes Uncut
Movie • 2023
Self
Blue
Movie • 1993
(voice)
Wittgenstein
Movie • 1993
Lady Ottoline Morrell
Conceiving Ada
Movie • 1999
Ada Augusta Byron King, Countess of Lovelace
Cinema Is Everywhere
Movie • 2011
Self
Glitterbug
Movie • 1994
Self
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Movie • 2014
Madame D.
Snowpiercer
Movie • 2013
Mason
The Garden
Movie • 1990
Madonna/Voice Overs
Strange Culture
Movie • 2007
Hope Kurtz
Only Lovers Left Alive
Movie • 2013
Eve
The Protagonists
Movie • 1999
Actress
The Zero Theorem
Movie • 2013
Dr. Shrink-Rom
Love Flesh
Movie • 2013
Self
The Party: Nature Morte
Movie • 1991
Queenie
Radioman
Movie • 2012
Self
Friendship's Death
Movie • 1987
Friendship
Here’s Looking at You, Boy
Movie • 2007
Self
The Dilapidated Dwelling
Movie • 2000
Narrator (voice)
Goliath: Playing with Reality
Movie • 2021
Narrator (voice)
Death for a Unicorn
Movie • 2013
Narrator (voice)
Egomania: Island Without Hope
Movie • 1987
Sally
Moonrise Kingdom
Movie • 2012
Social Services
Some Thoughts On The Common Toad
Movie • 2023
Narrator (voice)
Degrees of Blindness
Movie • 1988
Cycling the Frame
Movie • 1988
The Cyclist
Thumbsucker - Behind the Scenes
Movie • 2006
Self
The Sluggard
Movie • 1986
The Sluggard
Trainwreck
Movie • 2015
Dianna
Hail, Caesar!
Movie • 2016
Thora Thacker / Thessaly Thacker
Travelling at Night with Jim Jarmusch
Movie • 2014
Self
The Room Next Door
Movie • 2024
Martha / Michelle
Untitled Apichatpong Weerasethakul Dreams Project
Movie
All Kinds of Love
Movie • 2023
Self
Uncut Gems
Movie • 2019
Anne - Adley's Auction Manager (voice)
A Bigger Splash
Movie • 2015
Marianne Lane
Volcano Saga
Movie • 1989
Gudrun
Exploring the Set of 'Moonrise Kingdom'
Movie • 2015
Self / Social Services
Dreams Rewired
Movie • 2015
Narrator (voice)
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio: Handcarved Cinema
Movie • 2022
Self
The Gospel According to St Derek
Movie • 2014
Self
Sleepwalkers
Movie • 2007
Violinist Working As a Copy Clerk
Deep Water
Movie • 2006
Narrator (voice)
Remembrance of Things Fast: True Stories Visual Lies
Movie • 1994
B-Movie: Lust & Sound in West-Berlin 1979-1989
Movie • 2015
Self
Behind Jim Jarmusch
Movie • 2010
Self
Ballad of a Small Player
Movie • 2025
Cynthia Blithe
The Human Voice Q&A With Pedro Almodovar And Tilda Swinton, Hosted By Mark Kermode
Movie • 2020
Self
The Hexagonal Hive and a Mouse in a Maze
Movie • 2024
Self
Suspiria
Movie • 2018
Madame Blanc / Dr. Klemperer / Helena Markos
The Seasons in Quincy: Four Portraits of John Berger
Movie • 2017
Self
Transparent
Movie • 2024
The Stars (Are Out Tonight)
Movie • 2013
Okja
Movie • 2017
Lucy Mirando / Nancy Mirando
Chroma
Movie • 2024
War Machine
Movie • 2017
German Politician
The Somme
Movie • 2005
Narrator (voice)
Isle of Dogs
Movie • 2018
Oracle (voice)
A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things
Movie • 2024
Wilhelmina Barns-Graham (voice)
Play Me Something
Movie • 1989
Hairdresser
Derek
Movie • 2008
Narrator (voice)
Your Cheatin' Heart
Movie • 1990
Letters from Baghdad
Movie • 2017
Gertrude Bell (voice)
When Björk Met Attenborough
Movie • 2013
Narrator (voice)
Song 1
Movie • 2012
Self
async - first light
Movie • 2017
Antarctica: On the Edge
Movie • 2014
Narrator (voice)
Memoria
Movie • 2021
Jessica Holland
The Souvenir
Movie • 2019
Rosalind
Letters from Generation Rx
Movie • 2017
Narrator (voice)
The Personal History of David Copperfield
Movie • 2019
Betsey Trotwood
The Open Universe
Movie • 1993
Carla
The Dead Don't Die
Movie • 2019
Zelda Winston
Three Thousand Years of Longing
Movie • 2022
Alithea
A Call to Arms
Movie • 1989
The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun
Movie • 2021
J.K.L. Berensen
Tilda Swinton: The Love Factory
Movie • 2002
Self
Last and First Men
Movie • 2020
Narrator (voice)
Faceless
Movie • 2007
Narrator (voice)
The Souvenir: Part II
Movie • 2021
Rosalind
Caprice
Movie • 1986
Lucky
Depuis le Jour
Movie • 1987
One Water
Movie • 2013
Snowpiercer: Transperceneige, From the Blank Page to the Black Screen
Movie • 2014
Self
The Last of England
Movie • 1987
The Maid
Man to Man
Movie • 1992
Ella / Max Gerike
Visions of Heaven and Hell
Movie • 1994
Narrator (voice)
Cannes: All Access
Movie • 2007
Self
The Human Voice
Movie • 2020
Woman
Schlingensief – A Voice That Shook the Silence
Movie • 2020
Self (archive footage)
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
Movie • 2022
Wood Sprite / Death (voice)
Doctor Strange
Movie • 2016
The Ancient One
Avengers: Endgame
Movie • 2019
The Ancient One
Derek Jarman: A Portrait
Movie • 1991
Self
The Eternal Daughter
Movie • 2022
Julie / Rosalind
Tania Libre
Movie • 2017
Narrator (voice)
The Storms of Jeremy Thomas
Movie • 2021
Self
Asteroid City
Movie • 2023
Dr. Hickenlooper
Ashes
Movie • 2012
Self
Problemista
Movie • 2024
Elizabeth
Moments on the Set of I Am Love
Movie • 2009
Self
January Stories
Movie • 2024
Sleep Song
Movie • 2022
Death of a World Star
Movie • 1994
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
The New Ten Commandments
Movie • 2008
Self
Phantom of the Universe
Movie • 2016
Narrator
Impulse: Playing with Reality
Movie • 2024
Narrator
Instant Coffee
Movie • 2025
Self
Hitler's Favourite Royal
Movie • 2007
Narrator
Death in Her Hands
Movie
Vesta Gul
Hamlet
Movie • 1992
Ophelia
Broken English
Movie • 2026
The Overseer
WOLF
Movie
Karl
Movie • 2025
Self
Jenjira’s Magnificent Dream
Movie
Finding the Burn
Movie • 2008
Self / Katie Cox (archive footage)
DC Insiders Run Amuck
Movie • 2008
Self
Camaraderie
Movie • 2025
Phantoms
Movie • 2025
Die Coen-Brüder - Eine amerikanische Geschichte
Movie • 2025
Self
The Tree
Movie • 2025
Absent Presence
Movie • 2005
Timeslip
Movie • 2025
Hot Dollar
Movie • 2014
Heart of Light: Eleven Songs for Fiji
Movie • 2026
Orlando In Uzbekistan
Movie • 2010
Self
Flat 19
Movie • 2025
Obertura
Movie • 2024
The Gardenerette
Personal History
Movie • 2023
Planet Tilda
Movie • 2011
Tilda in de Menil Land
Movie • 2014
The Daily Show
TV • 1996
Self
Your Cheatin' Heart
TV • 1990
Cissie Crouch
Galapagos
TV • 2006
Self - Presenter
Zastrozzi: A Romance
TV • 1986
Julia
What If...?
TV • 2021
The Ancient One (voice)
Women, War & Peace
TV • 2011
Narrator (voice)
Marvel Studios Legends
TV • 2021
The Ancient One (archive footage) (uncredited)
Late Night with Seth Meyers
TV • 2014
Self - Guest
Getting On
TV • 2009
Elke
Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema
TV • 2018
Narrator (voice)
Made in Hollywood
TV • 2005
Self
Variety Studio: Actors on Actors
TV • 2014
Self
What We Do in the Shadows
TV • 2019
Tilda
Shakespeare: The Animated Tales
TV • 1992
Ophelia (voice)
The Boys
TV • 2019
Ambrosius (voice)
Fantasmas
TV • 2024
Water (voice)
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
TV • 2015
Self
Golden Globe Awards
TV • 1944
Self - Nominee
The Oscars
TV • 1953
Self