Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton was just looking for her “queer circus.”
In a new interview with British Vogue, Swinton, 60, said that her definition of queer was not confined to gender or sexuality, but for her, “to do with sensibility.”
“I always felt I was queer – I was just looking for my queer circus, and I found it,” she told the mag, adding, “And having found it, it’s my world.”
Citing directors she has worked with, Swinton continued, “Now I have a family with Wes Anderson, I have a family with Bong Joon-ho, I have a family with Jim Jarmusch, I have a family with Luca Guadagnino, with Lynne Ramsay, with Joanna Hogg.”
The actress gained acclaim for the 1992 title role in “Orlando,” based on a Virginia Woolf novel, which allowed her to explore androgyny and gender presentation. She also worked with director and gay rights activist Derek Jarman on the 1986 film “Caravaggio,” which depicted gay love scenes.
Swinton shares 23-year-old twins with ex John Byrne and has been linked to German artist Sandro Kopp since 2004.
During the interview, she also admitted she never had “any ambition as an artist.”
“That may sound crazy and transgressive, but it’s a fact,” she said. “If you’d asked me when I was 10 or 20, I would have said my only ambitions were to live in a family, to have friends that made me laugh and laughed at my jokes, and to live in the Highlands of Scotland, by the sea with a lot of dogs and a kitchen garden.
“… Everything else is a bonus. Everything else is just icing and candles and flowers alongside.”