Katherine Matilda Swinton (born 5 November 1960) is a British actress. Known for her roles in independent films and blockbusters, she has received various accolades throughout her career, including an Academy Award and a British Academy Film Award, in addition to nominations 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 filmmaker and recognises 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.
Movie | The End | Unknown | 2025 |
Movie | Untitled Apichatpong Weerasethakul Project | Unknown | 2025 |
Movie | The Room Next Door | Martha | 2025 |
Series | Parasite | 2025 | |
Movie | “…and then we dance?” | Dancer | 2024-03-06 |
Movie | Problemista | Elizabeth | 2024-03-01 |
Movie | Cannes Uncut | Self | 2023-06-12 |
Movie | Asteroid City | Dr. Hickenlooper | 2023-06-08 |
Movie | All Kinds of Love | Herself | 2023-06-20 |
Movie | The Killer | The Expert | 2023-10-25 |
Movie | Some Thoughts On The Common Toad | Narrator | 2023-06-17 |
Movie | Three Thousand Years of Longing | Alithea | 2022-08-24 |
Movie | Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio | Wood Sprite / Death (voice) | 2022-10-22 |
Movie | Durmiente | Unknown | 2022-11-10 |
Movie | Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio: Handcarved Cinema | Self | 2022-12-09 |
Movie | The Eternal Daughter | Julie / Rosalind | 2022-12-02 |
Series | What If...? | The Ancient One (voice) | 2021-08-11 |
Movie | Memoria | Jessica Holland | 2021-09-30 |
Series | Marvel Studios Legends | The Ancient One (archive footage) | 2021-01-08 |
Movie | The Souvenir: Part II | Rosalind | 2021-10-11 |
Movie | The Storms of Jeremy Thomas | Self | 2021-12-10 |
Movie | Goliath: Playing with Reality | Narrator | 2021-11-01 |
Movie | The French Dispatch | J.K.L. Berensen | 2021-10-21 |
Movie | Last and First Men | Narrator (voice) | 2020-02-25 |
Movie | Schlingensief – A Voice That Shook the Silence | Self (archive footage) | 2020-08-20 |
Movie | The Human Voice | Woman | 2020-09-03 |
Series | What We Do in the Shadows | Tilda | 2019-03-27 |
Movie | Avengers: Endgame | The Ancient One | 2019-04-24 |
Movie | The Dead Don't Die | Zelda Winston | 2019-05-15 |
Movie | Uncut Gems | Anne - Adley's Auction Manager (voice) | 2019-08-30 |
Movie | The Personal History of David Copperfield | Betsey Trotwood | 2019-11-07 |
Movie | The Souvenir | Rosalind | 2019-05-17 |
Movie | Isle of Dogs | Oracle (voice) | 2018-03-23 |
Series | Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema | Narrator (voice) | 2018-09-01 |
Movie | Suspiria | Madame Blanc / Helena Markos / Dr. Klemperer | 2018-10-26 |
Movie | Tania Libre | Narrator | 2017-02-14 |
Movie | War Machine | German Politician | 2017-05-26 |
Movie | async - first light | Unknown | 2017-04-01 |
Movie | Letters from Generation Rx | Narrator (voice) | 2017-07-18 |
Movie | Okja | Lucy Mirando / Nancy Mirando | 2017-06-28 |
Movie | The Seasons in Quincy: Four Portraits of John Berger | Herself | 2017-06-23 |
Movie | Hail, Caesar! | Thora Thacker / Thessaly Thacker | 2016-02-05 |
Movie | Letters from Baghdad | Gertrude Bell (voice) | 2016-10-06 |
Movie | Doctor Strange | The Ancient One | 2016-10-25 |
Movie | Dreams Rewired | Narrator | 2015-02-01 |
Movie | B-Movie: Lust & Sound in West-Berlin 1979-1989 | Self | 2015-02-05 |
Movie | Exploring the Set of 'Moonrise Kingdom' | Self / Social Services | 2015-09-22 |
Movie | Trainwreck | Dianna | 2015-07-17 |
Movie | A Bigger Splash | Marianne Lane | 2015-11-26 |
Movie | The Grand Budapest Hotel | Madame D. | 2014-02-26 |
Series | Late Night with Seth Meyers | Self | 2014-02-25 |
Movie | Snowpiercer: Transperceneige, From the Blank Page to the Black Screen | Self | 2014-04-02 |
Movie | The Gospel According to St Derek | Self | 2014-10-20 |
Series | Variety Studio: Actors on Actors | Self | 2014-12-21 |
Movie | Travelling at Night with Jim Jarmusch | Herself | 2014-04-22 |
Movie | Antarctica: On the Edge | Narrator | 2014-10-19 |
Movie | The Making of The Grand Budapest Hotel | Self / Madame D. | 2014-06-17 |
Movie | One Water | Unknown | 2013-04-05 |
Movie | Love Flesh | Self | 2013-02-06 |
Movie | David Bowie: Five Years | Self (archive footage) | 2013-05-25 |
Movie | Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes | Narrator | 2013-01-01 |
Movie | The Zero Theorem | Dr. Shrink-Rom | 2013-09-20 |
Movie | When Björk Met Attenborough | Narrator | 2013-07-26 |
Movie | Only Lovers Left Alive | Eve | 2013-12-12 |
Movie | Death for a Unicorn | Narrator (voice) | 2013-09-05 |
Movie | Snowpiercer | Minister Mason | 2013-08-01 |
Movie | Song 1 | Self | 2012-03-22 |
Movie | Ashes | Self | 2012-05-19 |
Movie | Moonrise Kingdom | Social Services | 2012-05-16 |
Movie | Radioman | Self | 2012-12-07 |
Movie | We Need to Talk About Kevin | Eva Khatchadourian | 2011-09-28 |
Movie | Cinema Is Everywhere | Herself | 2011-10-22 |
Series | Women, War & Peace | Self - Narrator (voice) | 2011-10-11 |
Movie | 14 Actors Acting | Self | 2010-12-08 |
Movie | Climate of Change | Narrator (voice) | 2010-05-12 |
Movie | The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader | The White Witch | 2010-12-02 |
Movie | Moments on the Set of I Am Love | Herself | 2009-01-01 |
Movie | The Limits of Control | Blonde | 2009-05-01 |
Movie | The Invisible Frame | The Cyclist | 2009-11-12 |
Series | Getting On | Elke | 2009-07-08 |
Movie | I Am Love | Emma Recchi | 2009-09-05 |
Movie | Julia | Julia | 2008-03-12 |
Movie | Derek | Narrator | 2008-02-19 |
Movie | The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian | White Witch | 2008-05-15 |
Movie | Burn After Reading | Katie Cox | 2008-09-05 |
Movie | The Curious Case of Benjamin Button | Elizabeth Abbott | 2008-12-25 |
Movie | Here’s Looking at You, Boy | Self | 2007-02-16 |
Movie | Strange Culture | Hope Kurtz | 2007-02-09 |
Movie | Sleepwalkers | Violinist working as a Copy Clerk | 2007-01-16 |
Movie | Faceless | Narrator (voice) | 2007-03-20 |
Movie | Cannes: All Access | Self | 2007-10-27 |
Movie | La Sorcière Blanche | la sorcière blanche | 2007-12-31 |
Movie | Michael Clayton | Karen Crowder | 2007-09-28 |
Movie | The Man from London | Camélia | 2007-05-23 |
Movie | Stephanie Daley | Lydie Crane | 2007-04-20 |
Movie | Thumbsucker - Behind the Scenes | Self | 2006-01-24 |
Movie | Deep Water | Narrator | 2006-12-15 |
Series | Galapagos | Self - Presenter | 2006-09-26 |
Movie | Thumbsucker | Audrey Cobb | 2005-01-23 |
Movie | Broken Flowers | Penny | 2005-08-05 |
Movie | Constantine | Gabriel | 2005-02-08 |
Movie | The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe | White Witch | 2005-12-07 |
Series | Made in Hollywood | Self | 2005-09-30 |
Movie | The Somme | Narrator | 2005-11-14 |
Movie | The Statement | Annemarie Livi | 2003-12-12 |
Movie | Young Adam | Ella Gault | 2003-09-26 |
Movie | Teknolust | Rosetta / Ruby / Marinne / Olive | 2002-01-10 |
Movie | Adaptation. | Valerie Thomas | 2002-12-06 |
Movie | Tilda Swinton: The Love Factory | Herself | 2002-10-10 |
Movie | Vanilla Sky | Rebecca Dearborn | 2001-12-14 |
Movie | The Deep End | Margaret Hall | 2001-01-21 |
Movie | The Beach | Sal | 2000-02-03 |
Movie | Possible Worlds | Joyce | 2000-09-04 |
Movie | The Dilapidated Dwelling | Narrator | 2000-10-06 |
Movie | Conceiving Ada | Ada Augusta Byron King, Countess of Lovelace | 1999-02-19 |
Movie | The War Zone | Mum | 1999-06-11 |
Movie | The Protagonists | Actress | 1999-09-10 |
Movie | Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon | Muriel Belcher | 1998-09-16 |
Movie | The Box | The Traveler | 1996-01-01 |
Series | The Daily Show | Self | 1996-07-22 |
Movie | Female Perversions | Eve Stephens | 1996-11-21 |
Movie | Visions of Heaven and Hell | Narrator | 1994-01-31 |
Movie | Remembrance of Things Fast: True Stories Visual Lies | Unknown | 1994-05-01 |
Movie | Glitterbug | Herself | 1994-03-05 |
Movie | Wittgenstein | Lady Ottoline Morrell | 1993-03-26 |
Movie | Blue | (voice) | 1993-08-19 |
Movie | The Open Universe | Carla | 1993-10-16 |
Movie | Orlando | Orlando | 1992-12-11 |
Movie | Man to Man | Ella / Max Gerike | 1992-08-26 |
Series | Shakespeare: The Animated Tales | Ophelia (voice) | 1992-11-09 |
Movie | Derek Jarman: A Portrait | Herself | 1991-01-25 |
Movie | Edward II | Isabella | 1991-10-18 |
Movie | The Party: Nature Morte | Queenie | 1991-09-06 |
Movie | The Garden | Madonna/Voice Overs | 1990-09-06 |
Movie | Your Cheatin' Heart | Unknown | 1990-10-11 |
Series | Your Cheatin' Heart | Cissie Crouch | 1990-10-11 |
Movie | Play Me Something | Hairdresser | 1989-02-18 |
Movie | A Call to Arms | Unknown | 1989-01-01 |
Movie | Volcano Saga | Gudrun | 1989-01-01 |
Movie | War Requiem | The Nurse | 1989-01-06 |
Movie | Cycling the Frame | The Cyclist | 1988-08-30 |
Movie | Degrees of Blindness | Unknown | 1988-01-01 |
Movie | Egomania: Island Without Hope | Sally | 1987-05-20 |
Movie | Depuis le Jour | Unknown | 1987-05-27 |
Movie | The Last of England | The Maid | 1987-08-23 |
Movie | Friendship's Death | Friendship | 1987-08-17 |
Movie | Aria | Young Girl | 1987-09-15 |
Movie | The Sluggard | The Sluggard | 1986-01-01 |
Series | Zastrozzi: A Romance | Julia | 1986-04-13 |
Movie | Caravaggio | Lena | 1986-08-29 |
Movie | Caprice | Lucky | 1986-01-01 |