Tilda Swinton - QUEEN OF HEARTS

Tilda Swinton has always played by her own rules. Over four decades, the Oscar-winning actress has built a career out of unpredictable choices – from art-house oddities to Marvel blockbusters – and a look so distinctive it’s become its own calling card.

- Olivia Harrowell

With her angular features and commanding presence, she’s instantly recognisable. It’s a look that lent itself perfectly to her role as the White Witch in the Chronicles of Narnia franchise, for which younger generations best know her.

Behind that cool exterior, however, Swinton was hard at work – and after years of nonstop projects, the 64-year-old is ready to slow down. Her latest film, The Ballad of a Small Player, will be her last job before a planned break.

“I’ve been in a spin cycle for much too long,” she told The Guardian earlier this year. “On the most prosaic level, I’m going to be sleeping in my own bed again.”

Set in Macau’s neon-lit world of high-stakes gambling, the drama pairs her with Colin Farrell in a story about an Irishman posing as a wealthy Englishman as he gambles his way into ever-increasing debt. Swinton plays the determined private investigator ready to take him down.

She told