When she was fifteen, her parents separated, and she and her mother, supportive of her daughter's desire to act, moved to Los Angeles, where they lived out of their car until Swank's mother saved enough money to rent an apartment.
Začela je sodelovati v šolskih igrah in igrah, ki so jih prirejali v mestnih gledališčih, kot sta gledališče Bellingham Theatre Guild in gledališče The Seattle Children's Theater.