Just Back from Antigua: Hilary Swank and Chad Lowe

OCCUPATIONS Actors (the Oscar-winning Swank just completed filming Iron-Jawed Angels, an HBO movie about the women's suffrage movement); director (Lowe has been behind the camera for an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and, this month, Hack); husband and wife.
HOME BASE New York City
PRIVATE LIVES "We were looking to just go somewhere really secluded—sit in the sun, read a good book, get taken care of, and be truly alone," Swank says. "That's how we ended up at Jumby Bay [St. John's, Antigua; 888/767-3966 or 268/462-6000; www.jumbybayresort.com; doubles from $1,050]," a private-island resort off Antigua. "Hilary surprised me with dinner on the beach," says Lowe. "At sunset there was a table in the sand, with torches everywhere. It was impossibly romantic."
ON LOCATION "We usually vacation at the same time," says Swank, but different shooting schedules often make togetherness difficult. "Hilary gets the glamorous places like Paris," Lowe says. "I get Estonia."
SHE SAYS, HE SAYS... "The first thing I do at a hotel is unpack my suitcase, but Chad just throws things out of his bag," says Swank. Lowe agrees: "We couldn't be more diametrically opposed on packing. I literally toss clothes around the room and mess up my side of the bed. She's got everything neat and orderly. When we travel, we become the Odd Couple."

—Heidi S. Mitchell