Swank wins best actress Oscar
2005-02-28 06:23
Hollywood - Hilary Swank dealt a knockout blow to the competition on Sunday by winning the second best actress Oscar of her career for her role as boxer Maggie Fitzgerald in Million Dollar Baby.
Swank, who has faced many of the same challenges as her character in the film, is in rare company as a double Oscar winner at the tender age of 30.
Cate Blanchett of The Aviator and Morgan Freeman of Million Dollar Baby won Academy Awards as supporting players, the first Oscar wins for the two Hollywood stars.
Martin Scorsese's Howard Hughes epic The Aviator, which led contenders with 11 nominations, took four Oscars early in the show on Sunday night.
Freeman won for his portrayal of a worldly wise ex-prizefighter in Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby.
"I want to thank everybody and anybody who ever had anything at all to do with the making of this picture. But I especially want to thank Clint Eastwood for giving me the opportunity to work with him again," said Freeman, who previously co-starred in Eastwood's Unforgiven.