Hilary Swank says playing roles based on real stories have made her a “better person”.

The 49-year-old has portrayed a real-life single mother, a lawyer and a high-school dropout – and won her first Academy Award in 2000 for Boys Don’t Cry, a story based on the life of Brandon Teena, a trans man who was murdered in 1993.

She tells Sky News: “Each character that I’ve ever played is in my heart, and I am so grateful for that because it just made me, I think, a better person and certainly helped me challenge myself as an artist”.

Swank says she never thought her acting choices would have such an impact on others and finds it “so beautiful to have those conversations” with people who relate to the roles she has played.

“[My filmography] touches not only different, genders, which is so unique, but different races and, and different classes of people and that is so beautiful because I then get to connect with people who have gone through something similar.

“Whether it’s people with addiction, people who are having a sexual identity crisis, people who are clear on their sexuality but had struggled in the past, people who were not seen in high school and dropped out because they didn’t matter and then that went on to graduating high school and college because they saw a movie that I was in”.

Her latest film, Ordinary Angels, is also non-fiction and she plays a woman who goes out of her way to help strangers at their time of need.

It’s based on the true story of a recently widowed father of two daughters, one of whom is in need of an organ transplant.

Losing her father

The story has a real connection with Swank, whose father was an organ transplant recipient before his death in 2021.

In 2014, the two-time Oscar winner took a three-year break from acting to be the sole caretaker of her father and says it allowed them to grow closer “deepening our relationship and savouring every moment we had together”.

She was offered the role in Ordinary Angels just months after his death in 2021.

“When people are losing their lives it’s hard and it’s a reminder of the lives that are lost in our own lives as we play them”.

Swank describes playing real people as “an honour,” explaining: “It allows us, as actors and storytellers, to break the blinders of how we walk in the world and see the world and it reminds us that people are going through things that we have no idea about. So, to be a little kinder walk, tread a little gentler, give people more grace.”

She adds: “Each character that I’ve ever played is in my heart, and I am so grateful for that because it just made me, I think, a better person. And, certainly helped me challenge me as an artist”.

The real ‘snow baby’

Ordinary Angels centres on a struggling hairdresser Sharon who finds a new sense of purpose after reading about a tragic story in a Kentucky newspaper.

Ed, played by Reacher’s Alan Ritchson, is a recently widowed father of two daughters – one of whom is waiting for an organ transplant.

The film is based on real events that occurred in Kentucky in the early 1990s that saw a local hairdresser step in and launch fundraisers to help the family with their medical debt and organise the child’s journey via private plane whenever a donated liver became available.

Locally named the “snow baby”, Michelle Schmitt and her father were helped by a stranger, Sharon Stevens and their community, to get from Louisville to Nebraska for an organ transplant during a historic snowstorm.

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The tagline of Ordinary Angels is simple – “Find your purpose. Make a difference”.

Swank agrees and says it’s important to remember that we are not always aware of what others are going through.

“We have a choice in how we want to step into our lives every single day. That means helping others and helping ourselves to be a better person.”

Ordinary Angels is in UK cinemas now.

Matty Healy has reacted to new tracks by supposed ex-girlfriend Taylor Swift that are rumoured to be about him.

The 1975 frontman is never named in any tracks featuring on Swift’s new album, The Tortured Poets Department, but fans have assumed several references are about him.

Many have interpreted the lyrics of the first song on the album, Fortnight, to be about him, where she sings: “And I love you, it’s ruining my life, I touched you for only a fortnight.”

It’s widely assumed he’s also the subject of the track Guilty As Sin, where she sings about having “fatal fantasies” about someone from her past while in a relationship.

Fans are also suggesting the song The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived appears to allude to Healy “ghosting” her.

“You tried to buy some pills, from a friend of mine, they just ghosted you, now you know what it feels like,” she sings.

In a video circulating online, Healy was approached by a reported photographer in Los Angeles and asked how he rates his “Taylor diss track” and how he thought it compared to the other songs on the 31-track double album.

Healy, looking confused, responded: “My diss track?”

The photographer reiterated: “Yeah, Taylor’s new song?”

“Oh!” Healy laughed, adding: “I haven’t really listened to that much of it, but I’m sure it’s good.”

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Last May, Healy made a surprise appearance during the Nashville performance of Swift’s Eras tour to play with her support act, indie singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers.

Swift also sung two The 1975 songs at their London gig in February 2023.

By June last year, reports surfaced that the pair were “no longer romantically involved”, with a source telling US outlet People the relationship was “always casual”.

“She had fun with him, but it was always casual,” the source said.

Tupac Shakur’s estate has threatened to sue Drake and ordered him to delete a track featuring an AI-generated copy of the late rapper’s voice.

Drake released the song Taylor Made Freestyle – a diss track aimed at Kendrick Lamar – on his Instagram page on Friday, which features verses created by AI software mimicking both Shakur and Snoop Dogg.

In a cease-and-desist letter seen by Sky News’ US partner NBC News, Howard King, an attorney who represents Shakur’s estate, requested that Drake remove the track from all platforms where it is publicly available.

The letter sent on Wednesday states the Canadian rapper has until midday on Thursday to confirm he will remove it or the estate will “pursue all of its legal remedies” against him.

“Not only is the record a flagrant violation of Tupac’s publicity and the estate’s legal rights, it is also a blatant abuse of the legacy of one of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time,” Mr King wrote.

“The estate would never have given its approval for this use.”

The letter also outlines the estate’s “dismay” regarding the topic of the track, saying Lamar is “a good friend to the estate who has given nothing but respect to Tupac and his legacy publicly and privately” and that this “compounds the insult”.

In the track, the AI-generated voice of Shakur urges Lamar to respond to Drake’s previous diss track about him released several days prior, saying lines like: “Kendrick, we need ya, the West Coast saviour / You seem a little nervous about all the publicity / You asked for the smoke, now it seem you too busy for the smoke.”

The letter claims the track and its popularity have created the “false impression that the estate and Tupac promote or endorse the lyrics for the sound-alike”.

Shakur’s estate is also seeking damages including all profits from the record, which has so far only been posted on Drake’s Instagram page, as well as additional damages for substantial economic and reputational harm caused.

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The letter claimed Drake’s non-consensual use of Shakur’s likeness violates Shakur’s right to publicity, an intellectual property right protecting against the misappropriation of somebody’s name or image.

Sky News has contacted representatives of Drake for comment.

The AI-generated voice of prominent rapper Snoop Dogg was also used on the track.

Snoop Dogg posted a video on his Instagram story shortly after the diss track was posted, where he said: “They did what? When? How… What’s going on… I’m going back to bed.”

The use of AI in the music industry has been the subject of heavy debate since last year, when Drake’s own voice was cloned alongside The Weeknd by the artist known as Ghostwriter.

The track was taken down from all platforms shorty after it was released in April.