Hilary Swank was 24 years old when she completely transformed herself to play Brandon Teena in ‘Boys Don’t Cry’. She reduced her body fat, bound her chest, and took the role to the extreme. The result: the Oscar for Best Actress in 2000, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.
But the check she received for that film was only $3,000. At the time, qualifying for health insurance required $5,000. Swank did not realize she was uninsured until she went to fill a prescription and the pharmacy asked her for $160, which she had no way of paying out of pocket.
She told the story herself in 2016, sitting next to Chelsea Handler on Netflix’s ‘Chelsea’ show. And it was not the only time the industry underestimated her: years later, with the Oscar already on her résumé, she was offered $500,000 for a role in which her male co-star was being paid $10 million. She said no. The role ended up in the hands of a new actor, for $50,000.
