 actor tilda swinton is an oscarwinning british actress known for her arthouse film roles and for acclaimed performances in more mainstream pictures swinton began her career in theater performing with the royal shakespeare company in london and transitioning to less mainstream productions before finding her way to film her big screen debut arrived in derek jarman s caravaggio in 1986 swinton continued to pursue avante garde films throughout her career to great acclaim despite her draw to independent art house films swinton has worked on several commercial projects  