Hillary Swank Looks Back on Living as a Man to Prepare for Trans Role in 'Boys Don't Cry'

Hilary Swank opened up about preparing for her role in "Boys Don't Cry" two decades ago by spending a month living as a man - and finding the way people reacted to her was "disappointing."

Swank was interviewed by Queerty about the iconic role, for which the actor won her first Academy Award. (She won again five years later for her role in the Clint Eastwood-directed "Million Dollar Baby.")

Metro reported on the interview, in which Swank - a native of Lincoln, Nebraska, like Teena had been - took note of the fact that both she and Teena had been born in the same hospital, though Teena had been two years earlier, in 1972.

Calling the role a "life-changing experience," Swank explained that in order to play Teena she "went out and was living in the world as best as I could trying to pass as a boy. I was 24 years old."

Reflecting on the experience, Swank related, "'At times it was greatly disappointing and I was really upset with the human race."

Swank explained further, saying, "I was deeply discouraged by people and their reactions to me, the same exact person that had been walking around, and when I was able to be defined, was treated a very different way."

Teena was only 21 when he was murdered on New Year's Eve 1993, in the town of Humboldt, Nebraska. Two other people, Phillip DeVine and Lisa Lambert, were also slain. The murder followed shortly after two men, John Lotter and Marvin Nissen, raped him and warned him not to go to the police. The two were later convicted of Teena's murder.

Swank currently stars in the Netflix series "Away," portraying Commander Emma Green, who leads a small crew on a mission to Mars.