2005 Oscars: Hilary Swank’s Double-Winning Feat

• 2005 Oscars: Million Dollar Baby star Hilary Swank has become the 21st century’s first two-time Academy Award winner in the acting categories.

2005 Oscars: Hilary Swank is new century’s first 2-time Academy Award winner in the acting categories

At the 2005 Academy Awards ceremony held on Feb. 27 at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, 30-year-old Hilary Swank became the first two-time Best Actress winner of the 21st century. In fact, Swank became the young century’s very first two-time winner in any of the Oscars’ acting categories.

Only five years ago, at the 2000* Oscar ceremony, she was named Best Actress for her work as a young woman passing for a man in Kimberly Peirce’s Boys Don’t Cry.

This second victory was for her performance in Clint Eastwood’s sentimental melodrama Million Dollar Baby, starring Swank in another “mannish” role: An all-but-unbeatable and steadfastly loyal boxer with whom a throaty-voiced, stone-faced trainer (Eastwood) develops a father-daughter relationship.

Swank’s Best Actress Oscar competition consisted of National Board of Review winner Annette Bening for Being Julia, Venice Film Festival winner Imelda Staunton for Vera Drake, Independent Spirit Award winner and Berlin Film Festival cowinner† Catalina Sandino Moreno for Maria Full of Grace, and Best Actress SAG Award nominee Kate Winslet for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. (Swank had previously won this year’s SAG Award, the Best Actress – Drama Golden Globe, and various U.S. critics awards.)

* For all purposes, the beginning of the 21st century, not the end of the 20th.

† Tied with Charlize Theron for Monster.

Previous 2-time Best Actress Oscar winners

Although the Hilary Swank Oscar Double Dose is the first in the 21st century, it’s definitely not the first one ever. Back at the 1938 Academy Awards ceremony, relatively recent German import Luise Rainer became the acting categories’ first double winner and first back-to-back winner.

Below are the Oscars’ previous two-time Best Actress honorees (in chronological order):

• Luise Rainer – The Great Ziegfeld (1936); The Good Earth (1937).
• Bette Davis – Dangerous (1935); Jezebel (1938).
• Olivia de Havilland – To Each His Own (1946); The Heiress (1949).
• Vivien Leigh – Gone with the Wind (1939); A Streetcar Named Desire (1951).
• Ingrid Bergman – Gaslight (1944); Anastasia (1956), in addition to a Best Supporting Actress win for Murder on the Orient Express (1974).
• Elizabeth Taylor – BUtterfield 8 (1960); Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966).
• Glenda Jackson – Women in Love (1970); A Touch of Class (1973).
• Jane Fonda – Klute (1971); Coming Home (1978).
• Sally Field – Norma Rae (1979); Places in the Heart (1984).
• Jodie Foster – The Accused (1988); The Silence of the Lambs (1991).

In a realm of her own, Katharine Hepburn won a total of four Best Actress Oscar statuettes:

• Morning Glory (1933).
• Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967).
• The Lion in Winter (1968), tied with Barbra Streisand for Funny Girl.
• On Golden Pond (1981).

Below are a trio of images from the 2005 Oscar ceremony, and further below is the list of this year’s winners and nominees.

2005 Oscars: Winners & nominations

Best Picture
The Aviator
Finding Neverland
* Million Dollar Baby
Ray
Sideways

Best Foreign Language Film
As It Is in Heaven (Sweden) – Kay Pollak
The Chorus (France) – Christophe Barratier
Downfall (Germany) – Oliver Hirschbiegel
* The Sea Inside (Spain) – Alejandro Amenábar
Yesterday (South Africa) – Darrell Roodt

Best Actress
Annette Bening – Being Julia
Catalina Sandino Moreno – Maria Full of Grace
Imelda Staunton – Vera Drake
* Hilary Swank – Million Dollar Baby
Kate Winslet – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Best Actor
Don Cheadle – Hotel Rwanda
Johnny Depp – Finding Neverland
Leonardo DiCaprio – The Aviator
Clint Eastwood – Million Dollar Baby
* Jamie Foxx – Ray

Best Supporting Actress
* Cate Blanchett – The Aviator
Laura Linney – Kinsey
Virginia Madsen – Sideways
Sophie Okonedo – Hotel Rwanda
Natalie Portman – Closer

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Alda – The Aviator
Thomas Haden Church – Sideways
Jamie Foxx – Collateral
* Morgan Freeman – Million Dollar Baby
Clive Owen – Closer

Best Director
* Clint Eastwood – Million Dollar Baby
Taylor Hackford – Ray
Mike Leigh – Vera Drake
Alexander Payne – Sideways
Martin Scorsese – The Aviator

Best Original Screenplay
The Aviator – John Logan
* Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – Charlie Kaufman; screen story by Kaufman, Michel Gondry, and Pierre Bismuth
Hotel Rwanda – Terry George and Keir Pearson
The Incredibles – Brad Bird
Vera Drake – Mike Leigh

Best Adapted Screenplay
Before Sunset – Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke and Kim Krizan; based on characters created by Richard Linklater and Kim Krizan for the film Before Sunrise
Finding Neverland – David Magee; based on the play The Man Who Was Peter Pan by Allan Knee
Million Dollar Baby – Paul Haggis; based on stories from Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner by F.X. Toole
The Motorcycle Diaries – José Rivera; based on the books Con el Che por America Latina by Alberto Granado and The Motorcycle Diaries by Che Guevara
* Sideways – Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor; based on the novel by Rex Pickett

Best Cinematography
* The Aviator – Robert Richardson
House of Flying Daggers – Zhao Xiaoding
The Passion of the Christ – Caleb Deschanel
The Phantom of the Opera – John Mathieson
A Very Long Engagement – Bruno Delbonnel

Best Film Editing
* The Aviator – Thelma Schoonmaker
Collateral – Jim Miller and Paul Rubell
Finding Neverland – Matt Chessé
Million Dollar Baby – Joel Cox
Ray – Paul Hirsch

Best Original Score
* Finding Neverland – Jan A.P. Kaczmarek
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – John Williams
Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events – Thomas Newman
The Passion of the Christ – John Debney
The Village – James Newton Howard

Best Art Direction
* The Aviator – Art Direction: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
Finding Neverland – Art Direction: Gemma Jackson; Set Decoration: Trisha Edwards
Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events – Art Direction: Rick Heinrichs; Set Decoration: Cheryl Carasik
The Phantom of the Opera – Art Direction: Anthony Pratt; Set Decoration: Celia Bobak
A Very Long Engagement – Art Direction and Set Decoration: Aline Bonetto

Best Documentary Feature
* Born into Brothels: Calcutta’s Red Light Kids – Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski
The Story of the Weeping Camel – Luigi Falorni and Byambasuren Davaa
Super Size Me – Morgan Spurlock
Tupac: Resurrection – Lauren Lazin and Karolyn Ali
Twist of Faith – Kirby Dick and Eddie Schmidt

Best Animated Feature Film
* The Incredibles – Brad Bird
Shark Tale – Bill Damaschke
Shrek 2 – Andrew Adamson

Best Original Song
“Accidentally in Love” from Shrek 2 – Music by Adam Duritz, Charlie Gillingham, Jim Bogios, David Immerglück, Matt Malley and David Bryson; Lyrics by Adam Duritz and Dan Vickrey
* “Al otro lado del río” from The Motorcycle Diaries – Music and Lyrics by Jorge Drexler
“Believe” from The Polar Express – Music and Lyrics by Glen Ballard and Alan Silvestri
“Learn to Be Lonely” from The Phantom of the Opera – Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber; Lyrics by Charles Hart
“Look to Your Path” from The Chorus – Music by Bruno Coulais; Lyrics by Christophe Barratier

Best Costume Design
* The Aviator – Sandy Powell
Finding Neverland – Alexandra Byrne
Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events – Colleen Atwood
Ray – Sharen Davis
Troy – Bob Ringwood

Best Visual Effects
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – Roger Guyett, Tim Burke, John Richardson and Bill George
I, Robot – John Nelson, Andrew R. Jones, Erik Nash and Joe Letteri
* Spider-Man 2 – John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara and John Frazier

Best Sound Mixing
The Aviator – Tom Fleischman and Petur Hliddal
The Incredibles – Randy Thom, Gary A. Rizzo and Doc Kane
The Polar Express – Randy Thom, Tom Johnson, Dennis S. Sands and William B. Kaplan
* Ray – Scott Millan, Greg Orloff, Bob Beemer and Steve Cantamessa
Spider-Man 2 – Kevin O’Connell, Greg P. Russell, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Joseph Geisinger

Best Sound Editing
* The Incredibles – Randy Thom and Michael Silvers
The Polar Express – Randy Thom and Dennis Leonard
Spider-Man 2 – Paul N.J. Ottosson

Best Makeup
* Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events – Valli O’Reilly and Bill Corso
The Passion of the Christ – Keith VanderLaan and Christien Tinsley
The Sea Inside – Jo Allen and Manolo García

Best Live Action Short Film
7:35 in the Morning – Nacho Vigalondo
Everything in This Country Must – Gary McKendry
Little Terrorist – Ashvin Kumar
Two Cars, One Night – Taika Waititi and Ainsley Gardiner
* Wasp – Andrea Arnold

Best Animated Short Film
Birthday Boy – Sejong Park and Andrew Gregory
Gopher Broke – Jeff Fowler and Tim Miller
Guard Dog – Bill Plympton
Lorenzo – Mike Gabriel and Baker Bloodworth
* Ryan – Chris Landreth

Best Documentary Short
Autism Is a World – Gerardine Wurzburg
The Children of Leningradsky – Hanna Polak and Andrzej Celinski
Hardwood – Hubert Davis and Erin Faith Young
* Mighty Times: The Children’s March – Robert Hudson and Robert Houston
Sister Rose’s Passion – Oren Jacoby and Steve Kalafer

Honorary Award
Sidney Lumet

Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
Roger Mayer

“2005 Oscars” notes/references

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences website.

Barbra Streisand, Dustin Hoffman, Tom Rosenberg, Albert S. Ruddy, Sean Penn, Clint Eastwood, Julia Roberts, and Hilary Swank Oscar ceremony images: © A.M.P.A.S.

See also: The mysterious link connecting George W. Bush, Jesus Christ, U.S. presidential elections, and the Academy Awards.

See also: ‘Faux documentary’ controversy following Mighty Times: The Children’s March Oscar win.

“2005 Oscars: Hilary Swank’s Double-Winning Feat” last updated in December 2024.