Tilda Swinton - Tilda Swinton's Horse Sense Made Her A Small Fortune

The Michael Clayton star developed a system for picking winning horses in her early 20s and she's convinced she could become a professional gambler if she ever needed to make money outside of the movie business.

She explains, "The first thing I made any money on was putting money on horses. I once kept myself alive, although I was living quite cheaply... I won 5,000 pounds about 20 years ago on one horse, a very good horse called Devilry.

"I knew an old man when I was a child who worked for my grandfather... (and) he kind of had this system. He taught me this system of asking the horses who's gonna win... It works."

Appearing on Friday night's (13Jan12) The Tonight Show With Jay Leno in America, she added, "I can't do it in a bookies (bookmaker's office); I have to go and talk to the horses.

"You get a feel. Sometimes the favourite is walking round the paddock... and it's going, 'I'm really knackered. I don't wanna do it. I'm not gonna win...' And then you've got some young buck... saying, 'It's me. I'm gonna win.'"