Swank back at top of acting game

NEW YORK — Hilary Swank is brimming over with puppy love.

She just finished a daylong fashion photo shoot with Italian Vogue, and now, as the clock strikes 7 on a freezing Manhattan night, Swank curls up in a chair in the kitchen of the photographer's studio with her year-old mix-breed dog, Karoo, in her arms. The canine sighs contentedly and promptly goes to sleep as Swank, lanky and lithe in tight jeans, sneakers and a cropped designer jacket, with her face scrubbed free of makeup, gently strokes the dog's head.

"She's a good girl," Swank says. "It's been a very long shoot for Karoo. She's become so famous!"

The same goes for Swank, who has knocked out critics and nabbed her second best-actress Oscar nomination for her role in "Million Dollar Baby," which opened nationwide Jan. 28. She's brawny, resolute boxer Maggie, an upstart determined to succeed with the help of a crotchety trainer played by Clint Eastwood, who also directs. The movie, gritty and deadly serious, is up for seven Academy Awards after opening in limited release in December.

And Swank, who has been showered with prizes — including her second leading-actress Golden Globe two weeks ago — is back at the top of her acting game. Now, she's the one to beat come Oscar time, a reality that still hadn't sunk in when Swank called on Jan. 25, 20 minutes after hearing her name called, and just a few days after a sit-down interview.

"It's just as amazing, exciting and totally unbelievable. I am speechless right now," says the actress, who won an Oscar in 2000 for "Boys Don't Cry." Swank surprised everyone and dazzled critics in the real-life role of Teena Brandon/Brandon Teena, a tortured, sexually confused girl who tried to pass herself off as a young man and who paid with her life.

And, in a case of history repeating itself, the Oscar race once again pits Swank squarely against "Being Julia" 's Annette Bening, who lost to Swank five years ago when Bening was nominated for "American Beauty." But Swank isn't counting her statuettes just yet.

"I don't necessarily feel like I'm the favorite," she says. "I don't think like that."

Don't tell that to Eastwood, a man of few words who becomes uncharacteristically effusive when he speaks of Swank.

"She's the best. She's absolutely charming, and she's the most real person you'll ever meet," he says. "What you see is what you get."