![dek](https://content.time.com/time/2012/t100poll/t100poll_swinton_tilda.jpg)
Age: 51
Occupation: Actress
Academy Award winner and muse to indie auteurs and fashion designers alike, Swinton has a spectral, almost alien beauty. But that serene countenance belies a visceral body of work: in her latest, the indie drama We Need to Talk About Kevin, Swinton is pitch perfect as Eva Khatchadourian, the conflicted mother of a teenager whose monstrous killing spree may partly reflect her failings. Like all great actresses, she can utterly inhabit a role while adding her own uniqueness. As British actor Tim Roth notes, "There's only one of her."