Tilda Swinton
Scottish-British actress
Katherine Matilda "Tilda" Swinton (born 5 November 1960) is a Scottish actress. Known for her performances on both stage and screen, she has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, two BAFTAs, and a Volpi Cup, in addition to nominations for five Actor Awards and four Golden Globe Awards. In 2020, The New York Times ranked her as one of the greatest actors of the 21st century.
Swinton began her career by appearing in Derek Jarman's experimental films Caravaggio (1986), The Last of England (1987), War Requiem (1989), and The Garden (1990). For her portrayal of Isabella of France in Edward II (1991), she won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress. She next starred in Orlando (1992), Female Perversions (1996), and The Beach (2000), and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of a desperate mother in The Deep End (2001).
Swinton received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for playing a corporate attorney in Michael Clayton (2007). Other notable credits include Vanilla Sky (2001), Adaptation (2002), Young Adam (2003), Constantine, Broken Flowers (both 2005), Burn After Reading, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (both 2008), I Am Love (2009), We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011), Only Lovers Left Alive (2013), Snowpiercer (2014), Trainwreck (2015), Suspiria (2018), Memoria (2021), The Eternal Daughter (2022), and The Room Next Door (2024). Swinton garnered mainstream recognition with her roles as the White Witch in the Chronicles of Narnia series (2005–2010) and the Ancient One in the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise (2016–2019). She frequently collaborates with filmmaker Wes Anderson, appearing in Moonrise Kingdom (2012), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), The French Dispatch (2021), and Asteroid City (2023).
The public source identifies “Tilda Swinton” as scottish-British actress. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Tilda, Swinton and Scottish-British.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Tilda Swinton”, the useful work is to connect “scottish-British actress” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q200534. VIAF identifies the subject as 117443790. The Library of Congress control number is no94027098. 5 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1960, 2020, 1986 and 1987.
A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Tilda Swinton”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Tilda Swinton primary sources, Tilda Swinton archive and Tilda research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Tilda Swinton”?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Tilda Swinton” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.