Tilda Swinton: Enigmatic chameleon actor

In the first English-language feature film by acclaimed Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar, Tilda Swinton stars alongside Julianne Moore. They portray two friends who reconnect during a difficult phase: Swinton's character is terminally ill and plans to end her life. "The Room Next Door" celebrated its premiere at the 2024 Venice Film Festival, where it won the Golden Lion.

One of Tilda Swinton's trademarks is her androgynous, impeccable style. Her status as a non-gendered actor was most prominently established through her title role in Sally Potter's award-winning film, "Orlando" (1992), loosely based on Virginia Woolf's classic feminist novel. The story's main protagonist has a mysterious change of sex and lives on for centuries without visibly ageing.

Swinton's early roles were generally in experimental, avant-garde works that didn't land among Oscar favorites. But her performance as a corporate lawyer in Tony Gilroy's "Michael Clayton" allowed her to win an Academy Award and a BAFTA for best supporting actress. The legal thriller starring George Clooney was highly acclaimed.

This unsettling psychological thriller also led to several accolades: In "We Need to Talk About Kevin," directed by Lynne Ramsay, Swinton stars as the mother of a psychotic boy who has committed horrors. She was nominated for the Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild Award and the BAFTA for best lead actress and won the European Film Award for her exceptional performance.

In "Hail, Caesar!" Tilda Swinton plays identical twin sisters, Thora and Thessaly Thacker, who are two gossip columnists always trying to dig up dirt on Hollywood stars. A black comedy about the machinations of 1950s film industry, "Hail Caesar!" was Swinton's second collaboration with the Coen brothers, following "Burn After Reading" (2008).

Tilda Swinton is just as classy in experimental works as in mega-blockbusters. In Marvel's "Doctor Strange," she completely shaved her head to portray the Ancient One, once again playing with androgyny. However, some critics accused the production of "whitewashing" the character by turning the mysterious sorcerer into a Celt; in the original Doctor Strange comics, he was originally Asian.

Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-Ho (director of the Oscar-winning "Parasite") has also cast Swinton in two of his movies, "Snowpiercer" (2013) and then "Okja." In the latter, she plays the role of an eccentric CEO aiming to profit from a genetically modified "super pig" called Okja. In Bong's films, she "manages to be both gloriously over-the-top and subtle," wrote a "Vulture" magazine critic.

Joanna Hogg's semi-autobiographical film was one of the critical hits of 2019. It also marked the acclaimed film debut of Honor Swinton Byrne, Tilda Swinton's daughter. In the film, Honor is a film student and Tilda plays her posh mother. "Their on-screen rapport is tremendous," wrote "The Guardian" critic.

You'll often find her in films that bring together an ensemble cast of preternaturally cool actors, such as Jim Jarmusch's "The Dead Don't Die." Along with Tilda Swinton, the 2019 absurdist zombie comedy features Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Chloë Sevigny, Steve Buscemi, Tom Waits, Danny Glover, Caleb Landry Jones, Rosie Perez, Iggy Pop, Carol Kane, RZA, Austin Butler and Selena Gomez.

She is also among the actors regularly appearing in Wes Anderson's stylized movies, from "Moonrise Kingdom" (2012) to "Asteroid City" (2023). Swinton poses here with Timothee Chalamet, Wes Anderson and Bill Murray at the Cannes premiere of "The French Dispatch" (2021). Their contrasting outfits inspired a meme that had social media users labeling the stars with four related but different vibes.

The Berlinale is the first film fest Tilda Swinton attended as an actor. It was in 1986, for the premiere of her feature debut, Derek Jarman's "Caravaggio." It won the Silver Bear. The Scottish actor presided over the competition's international jury in 2009 and has starred in 26 films in the festival program. On February 13, she will be awarded the Honorary Golden Bear for her lifetime work.