When asked about her night of partying after her Oscar win, specifically at Prince's house party, British English-born, Scottish-living actress Tilda Swinton said "Steve Wonder sang 'Superstition,' for God's sake. It was absolutely fantastic." There's a certain tone there, one of a "well, duh!" familiarity that makes us think we might want to be friends with her. She's funny, smart, a bit bizarre, and she's amorously adventurous. It's fun to think that she can be like this, out-there but also grounded, especially after her scary, brilliant turn in Michael Clayton.

Dulling down her crazy red hair and buttoning up into boxy, practical suits, she let her character's descent into murderous corporate evilness show only in the crispness of her voice or in her darting little snake eyes. It was terrifying and banal and, most importantly, credible. There were no silly villain histrionics there, just plain old ambition gone sour. That she pulled it off isn't really surprising, though. She's been doing great (if maybe unnoticed) work like this for years, in movies like Stephanie Daley and The Deep End and even that Keanu Reeves action thing Constantine, in which she played a delightfully androgynous angel Gabriel. Oh, and she does lots of avant-garde artsy things. Below, find some video evidence of her heroics.

Funny and natural with press:

Fiercely protective mother in The Deep End (just a trailer)

The angel Gabriel in Constantine

Being vaguely Cate Blanchett-esque in Orlando