HOLLYWOOD visited Evans Head recently with double Academy Award-winning actress Hilary Swank flying in for a burger and a walk on the beach Saturday week ago.

Evans Head taxi driver Jeff Barany got a call to pick up a passenger at Evans Head airport and was told by the pilot of the plane Ms Swank arrived in “You’ve got fame in your car”.

“I could tell who she was by her teeth and smile,” he said.

“I took both her and the pilot downtown to the (Evans Head) Fish Centre.”

Manager of the local fish centre Werner Bollaan said the day was very busy but he remembered seeing Ms Swank in the shop and that she ordered a burger.

“I knew I knew her from somewhere but couldn’t place her,” he said.

“I didn’t realise it was Hilary Swank until after she left the shop.

“She looked very relaxed and casual and is more attractive than I thought and not very tall.”

Mr Bollaan said it’s the second time he’s had someone famous from Hollywood in the shop, with the first being Liev Schrieber, who was filming in Evans Head back in September last year.

Ms Swank and her companion walked the beach after their lunch and were picked up again by Mr Barany to be taken back to the airport about an hour later.

“They said they had a nice day on the beach and that they were just out to do some sight-seeing,” he said.

Ms Swank won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice, as Brandon Teena in Boys Don’t Cry (1999) and as struggling waitress-turned-boxer Maggie Fitzgerald in Million Dollar Baby (2004).

Source: http://www.northernstar.com.au/