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Dominique Swain (born August 12, 1980) is an American actress and producer. She came to prominence playing the title character in
Adrian Lyne Adrian Lyne (born 4 March 1941) is an English film director, writer and producer. Having begun his career directing 1970s television commercials, Lyne made well-received short films which were entries in the London Film Festival. He started mak ...
's 1997
film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dia ...
of ''
Lolita ''Lolita'' is a 1955 novel written by Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. The novel is notable for its controversial subject: the protagonist and unreliable narrator, a middle-aged literature professor under the pseudonym Humbert Hum ...
'', alongside her supporting role as Jamie Archer in
John Woo John Woo Yu-Sen SBS (; born September 22, 1946) is a Hong Kong filmmaker, known as a highly-influential figure in the action film genre. He was a pioneer of heroic bloodshed films (a crime action film genre involving Chinese triads) and the gun ...
's ''
Face/Off ''Face/Off'' is a 1997 American science fiction action thriller film directed by John Woo, written by Mike Werb and Michael Colleary, and starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage. The first Hollywood film in which Woo was given major creativ ...
'' that same year. She worked predominantly in
independent cinema Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independen ...
throughout the late 90s and early 2000s. Her other film credits include ''
Girl A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. When a girl becomes an adult, she is accurately described as a ''woman''. However, the term ''girl'' is also used for other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary.c ...
'' (1998), '' The Intern'', '' The Smokers'' (both 2000), '' Happy Campers'', ''
Tart A tart is a baked dish consisting of a filling over a pastry base with an open top not covered with pastry. The pastry is usually shortcrust pastry; the filling may be sweet or savoury, though modern tarts are usually fruit-based, sometimes wit ...
'' (both 2001), ''
Pumpkin A pumpkin is a vernacular term for mature winter squash of species and varieties in the genus ''Cucurbita'' that has culinary and cultural significance but no agreed upon botanical or scientific meaning. The term ''pumpkin'' is sometimes use ...
'', '' Dead in the Water'' (both 2002), '' The Job'' (2003), ''
Alpha Dog ''Alpha Dog'' is a 2006 American crime film written and directed by Nick Cassavetes based on the true story of the kidnapping and murder of Nicholas Markowitz in 2000. The cast includes Emile Hirsch, Justin Timberlake, Ben Foster, Shawn Ha ...
'' (2006), and ''
Road to Nowhere "Road to Nowhere" is a rock song written by David Byrne for the 1985 Talking Heads album ''Little Creatures''. It also appeared on '' Best of Talking Heads'', '' Sand in the Vaseline: Popular Favorites'', the ''Once in a Lifetime'' box set and t ...
'' (2010). She has since starred in a succession of features in the
thriller Thriller may refer to: * Thriller (genre), a broad genre of literature, film and television ** Thriller film, a film genre under the general thriller genre Comics * ''Thriller'' (DC Comics), a comic book series published 1983–84 by DC Comics i ...
and horror genres. In 2002, she appeared in the music video for the
Moby Richard Melville Hall (born September 11, 1965), known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter, singer, producer, and animal rights activist. He has sold 20 million records worldwide. AllMusic considers him to be "among the ...
song "
We Are All Made of Stars "We Are All Made of Stars" is a song by American electronica musician Moby. It was released as the first single from his sixth studio album, '' 18'' (2002), on April 1, 2002. It reached number 11 on the UK Singles Chart and became a top-10 hit in ...
".


Early life

Swain was born in
Malibu, California Malibu ( ; es, Malibú; Chumash: ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, situated about west of Downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate and its strip of the Malib ...
, the daughter of Cindy (née Fitzgerald) and David Swain Sr., an electrical engineer. She has two sisters, actress Chelse and Alexis.


Career

Swain started her career in Hollywood as a stunt double; she appeared as the double for
Macaulay Culkin Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin (born Macaulay Carson Culkin; ) is an American actor. Often regarded as one of the most successful child actors of the 1990s, he was placed 2nd on VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Kid-Stars". Culkin rose to prom ...
's younger sister Quinn in
Joseph Ruben Joseph Porter Ruben (born May 10, 1950) is an American filmmaker. Movie career His earlier films, such as '' The Stepfather'', have become cult classics. In the 1990s, he went to direct high-grossing mainstream films such as ''Sleeping with the ...
's '' The Good Son'' (1993). In 1995, at the age of 15, she was chosen out of 2,500 girls to play the title role of Dolores "Lolita" Haze in
Adrian Lyne Adrian Lyne (born 4 March 1941) is an English film director, writer and producer. Having begun his career directing 1970s television commercials, Lyne made well-received short films which were entries in the London Film Festival. He started mak ...
's controversial 1997 screen adaptation of ''
Lolita ''Lolita'' is a 1955 novel written by Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. The novel is notable for its controversial subject: the protagonist and unreliable narrator, a middle-aged literature professor under the pseudonym Humbert Hum ...
''. She was 15 during filming and her performance was praised by critics. She later then played the rebellious teen Jamie Archer in
John Woo John Woo Yu-Sen SBS (; born September 22, 1946) is a Hong Kong filmmaker, known as a highly-influential figure in the action film genre. He was a pioneer of heroic bloodshed films (a crime action film genre involving Chinese triads) and the gun ...
's ''
Face/Off ''Face/Off'' is a 1997 American science fiction action thriller film directed by John Woo, written by Mike Werb and Michael Colleary, and starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage. The first Hollywood film in which Woo was given major creativ ...
'' (1997). She starred in the 1998
drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super- ...
''
Girl A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. When a girl becomes an adult, she is accurately described as a ''woman''. However, the term ''girl'' is also used for other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary.c ...
'', in which she plays a high-schooler who is determined to lose her virginity. She then played a central role in the 2006 film ''
Alpha Dog ''Alpha Dog'' is a 2006 American crime film written and directed by Nick Cassavetes based on the true story of the kidnapping and murder of Nicholas Markowitz in 2000. The cast includes Emile Hirsch, Justin Timberlake, Ben Foster, Shawn Ha ...
''. In 2009, Swain appeared in ''Starz Inside: Sex and the Cinema'' which discussed the depiction of sex in film. That same year, she was featured in the movie ''Noble Things'', about the country star Jimmy Wayne Collins, which also starred country musician Lee Ann Womack. Swain also starred in the horror/
slasher Slasher may refer to: * Slasher (basketball), a style of play in basketball * Slasher film, a subgenre of the horror film * Slasher (tool), a scrub-clearing implement * ''Slasher'' (2004 film), a 2004 documentary film * ''Slasher'' (2007 film ...
film ''
Fall Down Dead ''Fall Down Dead'' is a slasher film released in 2007 starring Dominique Swain and Udo Kier. The storyline involves a metropolitan city in the grip of fear after rolling blackouts bring out a serial killer dubbed "The Picasso Killer". One night, ...
'' as the main character, Christie Wallace. She starred in
Monte Hellman Monte Hellman (; born Monte Jay Himmelbaum; July 12, 1929 – April 20, 2021) was an American film director, producer, writer, and editor. Hellman began his career as an editor's apprentice at ABC TV, and made his directorial debut with the ho ...
's
romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...
thriller Thriller may refer to: * Thriller (genre), a broad genre of literature, film and television ** Thriller film, a film genre under the general thriller genre Comics * ''Thriller'' (DC Comics), a comic book series published 1983–84 by DC Comics i ...
''
Road to Nowhere "Road to Nowhere" is a rock song written by David Byrne for the 1985 Talking Heads album ''Little Creatures''. It also appeared on '' Best of Talking Heads'', '' Sand in the Vaseline: Popular Favorites'', the ''Once in a Lifetime'' box set and t ...
'' in 2010. In 2011, Swain was featured in
David Ren David Ren (born Yi Ren; November 5, 1986) is a Chinese-American film co-director, writer, and producer. Biography David Ren was born in Shanghai, China, and grew up in Queens, New York City. He started to study acting at the Neighborhood P ...
's action thriller ''The Girl from the Naked Eye''. She starred in the
direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy w ...
science fiction film Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial lifeforms, spacecraft, robots, cyborgs, interstel ...
''
Nazis at the Center of the Earth ''Nazis at the Center of the Earth'' is a 2012 American direct-to-video science fiction war film produced by The Asylum that stars Dominique Swain and Jake Busey. It was released on April 24, 2012 on Blu-ray Disc and DVD. The United Kingdom rele ...
'' in 2012. In 2013, Swain starred in
Gregory Hatanaka Gregory Hatanaka is an American independent filmmaker and film distributor based in Los Angeles, California. Career Hatanaka is the founder of film distribution and production company Cinema Epoch and Cineridge Entertainment. He first became i ...
's drama film ''
Blue Dream ''Blue Dream'' is a 2013 drama film directed by Gregory Hatanaka. It stars James Duval, Dominique Swain, Pollyanna McIntosh, Kayden Kross, Noah Hathaway, and Walter Koenig and Sal Landi. It premiered at the SF Indiefest and Gold Coast Film Fes ...
'' as Gena Townsend. In 2015 she was in the independent action film ''Skin Traffik'' alongside
Mickey Rourke Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke Jr. (; born September 16, 1952) is an American actor and former boxer who has appeared primarily as a leading man in drama, action, and thriller films. During the star of the 1980s, Rourke played supporting roles i ...
,
Daryl Hannah Daryl Christine Hannah (born December 3, 1960) is an American actress and environmental activist. She made her screen debut in Brian De Palma's supernatural horror film '' The Fury'' (1978). She has starred in various movies across the years, i ...
,
Eric Roberts Eric Anthony Roberts (born April 18, 1956) is an American actor. His career began with a leading role in '' King of the Gypsies'' (1978) for which he received his first Golden Globe Award nomination. He was nominated again at the Golden Globes ...
and
Michael Madsen Michael Søren Madsen (born September 25, 1957) is an American actor. He has starred in many films and television series, frequently collaborating with director Quentin Tarantino, most famously in the latter's debut film '' Reservoir Dogs'' (1 ...
,


Campaigning

In 2001, at the age of 21, Swain posed nude for PETA's "I'd Rather Go Naked than Wear Fur" campaign.


Filmography


Film


Television


Music videos


Awards and nominations


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Swain, Dominique Actresses from California American film actresses American television actresses Living people People from Greater Los Angeles People from Malibu, California 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses 1980 births