'Ordinary Angels' star Hilary Swank says she slept in car with her mom before her Hollywood stardom

Hilary Swank's opening up about her humble beginnings.

A Wall Street Journal story, published Tuesday, traced the two-time Oscar-winning actor's rise to fame. Eager to start her acting career, Swank said that she stopped going to high school at the end of her sophomore year and after "my mother had recently separated from my father," the mother-daughter duo drove to Los Angeles from Bellingham, Washington, to break into Hollywood.

"In L.A., my mother and I first lived in her Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme on quiet residential streets. When we weren't sleeping in the car, we stayed at the house of a new friend my age whose family had just moved out and were trying to sell their home. We slept on an air mattress," Swank added.

Swank is currently promoting her new film "Ordinary Angels," inspired by a true story that follows a Louisville hairdresser who helps the Kentucky community band together to assist a widowed father with a critically ill daughter. Swank stars opposite Alan Ritchson in the film.

Swank continued: "After about a month (of living in LA), Mom found secretarial work and we rented a bedroom from a single mother in Burbank. Starting out, I booked just OK television parts, but I didn’t care. I was excited to be living my dream."

Swank had her first star turn in ABC's short-lived '90s sitcom "Camp Wilder" and scored two Academy Award nominations in 1999's "Boys Don't Cry" and the 2004 Clint Eastwood film, "Million Dollar Baby." She took home the Oscar for both, for best actress.

In her personal life, she's also winning. Now, Swank and her husband, entrepreneur Philip Schneider, and the family's twins Aya and Ohm live back and forth between Colorado and Bellingham, Washington, where she grew up.

"Even though I'm happy we left L.A., every so often, when I'm there for meetings, I’ll drive along a street in Pasadena where my mom and I parked and slept. Despite the challenges, I feel nostalgia for those days, when we had nothing," Swank added.

Hilary Swank shares twins' names and special meaning of her 'two little loves'

Last week, Swank shared a special Valentine's Day post with the world. In an Instagram photo, her twins sat on a beach with their names spelled out to the public for the first time. Then during an appearance on "Today" last week, the 49-year-old actress also revealed the heartfelt meanings behind the monikers of her little ones.

"Aya was a Syrian refugee we met in Lebanon. So she was just this courageous, brave young girl full of life going through a really difficult time. My husband and I were like, 'She's so beautiful, what a great name,'" she said.

As for her son, Swank said, "Ohm is considered the first universal sound and unites all people, and that sounds very fitting."

More: Hilary Swank's perspective on life, love changed after caring for ailing father

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hilary Swank slept in a car with her mom when she first moved to LA