Emily Swallow is known for her standout roles as The Armorer in The Mandalorian and Amara in Supernatural. With a career spanning television, film, and theater, she consistently brings depth, complexity, and a little bit of mystery to her characters. From Broadway to Sci-fi and fantasy, Swallow enchants viewers through her distinctive combination of power andgrace. Let’s get on to the interview!
There are usually no immediate rewards in the acting field. How can a new actor maintain focus and avoid frustration while waiting for their big break?
This is an ongoing question, I find. I saw actors in my class at NYU go through a number of different experiences after our showcase: a few were approached by some really big players, a few had a range of options and a few got NO offers from agents. There are challenges in every situation. The actors who got picked up by big jobs or big agents felt great at first, but some of them went through lulls and got dropped or felt overlooked. Some of the actors who had no interest from reps at first are now working regularly and have done incredible things. As for me, I’ve been with the same reps my whole career and have always auditioned regularly, but I’ve had long periods where I’ve booked nothing.
In all these situations, I think one needs to stay deeply rooted in WHY we do what we do. We live in a time when it is more possible than ever to make our own work, but it’s also easier than ever to feel loss in the sea of creativity. Though the specifics of opportunities may have changed, the need to hold onto a sense of identity outside of the work is probably the same as it as always been, and is crucial to having longevity in a profession that is fickle in showing favor.
I try to think long term. If I approach each audition with the specific goal to get THAT job, I’m sunk. I’m discouraged. The rate on the return of my investment is horrible! But when I approach each audition as a chance to learn something new about how I express myself through character, and if I trust that good work will pay off, I can focus on the larger arc of my growth as an actor. My personal faith has come to play a larger part in this, too. Sometimes I realize that I am auditioning for a particular project not necessarily to show off my work, but to form a relationship with someone. For me, the payoff isn’t just getting work that pays the mortgage or shows everyone how talented I am. The payoff is the community in which I get to participate and the ways we get to shape the world through storytelling.
Emily Swallow. Photo Credit Steven Schacher
You have credits where you portrayed the same character in several episodes. You also have credits where you appeared in just one episode. How do you approach these different types of roles, and what do you find most rewarding about playing a character for a shorter versus a longer period?
The freedom of playing a character that shows up for a shorter span of time is that I don’t have to worry about where her story goes. I can make bold choices without needing to play out the consequences for as long. However, it also means I have to do more work on my own and with friends and my coach because I won’t have as much time to absorb and bounce back ideas about the character with the other actors. I LOVE the nuance and subtlety and discovery that come from working with the same creative team over and over longer span of time .
You’ve portrayed characters with deep backstories and complexities, like Amara in Supernatural and The Armorer in The Mandalorian. How do you approach developing these layered characters, and what do you find most challenging in the process?
At first, I found it challenging to step into a character like Amara who is superhuman. I had nothing to equate that to. But the writers gave her human emotions and very relatable dilemmas, and I could relate to that. She felt misunderstood, misheard, misrepresented. And I took those things for her and allowed myself to represent other people who might feel that way, so it felt like it could exist on a larger scale. In these larger worlds, it’s all about finding the specificity of the universe in which they exist. For The Armorer, Jon Favreau told me to check out Kurosawa films and to pay special attention to the Samurai way of being. Seeing that physicality and the formality of that order was tremendously helpful. When I have something for my imagination to latch onto and expand upon, I don’t worry as much about how it looks externally. It is helpful at times to look in a mirror and see how the helmet moves and how things read, but I can get way to analytical about it. I have to find the internal motor and go from there.
You’ve played a wide range of roles across different genres, from drama to science fiction. How do you adapt your acting style to fit such diverse characters and settings?
I recently taught a course at UCLA on “Genre Acting,” which meant sci-fi, horror, superhero, supernatural and video game projects. What I’ve realized about all of these is that they’re simply more heightened than straight up naturalistic shows, and the fun is finding the specificity of the heightened worlds. I’m still portraying a human (or a being that is similar to a human) who has relatable emotions and struggles and triumphs. Each project is different, and I ask the director for inspiration.
I think my stage work, especially in Shakespeare, has helped me with The Mandalorian and Supernatural. I can take a piece of larger-than-life text and speak it very intimately or fill a theatre with it. My experience with text work in Shakespeare plays helps me when I have to deliver complex, expositional text as The Armorer. Mask work in grad school served me when I had to don that helmet as The Armorer. There are so many tools to choose from — I also like animal work to get me out of my head and more in my body when approaching a character.
Working on The Mandalorian must have been a unique experience, especially with the show’s groundbreaking use of technology. Can you share what it was like working on such an innovative set?
On Mando, we use the Volume, which is a big ol’ LED video wall that curves around the soundstage. It’s a dream for an actor, because it means we can have stunning visuals in real time, instead of acting against a green screen and adding those visuals in post-production. I really appreciate being able to free up the part of my focus that gets confused about where I’ve placed certain objects or people when I’m working with a green screen. It enables me to feel more immersed in the environment. It’s incredible. There are times I’ve walked onto the set and I’m unsure where practical scenery ends and the Volume begins!
The Armorer is a character who relies heavily on voice and physical presence rather than facial expressions. How did you prepare for this role, and what techniques did you use to convey emotion and authority through the armor?
I prepared without realizing it by doing lots of mask work in grad school at Tisch; Jim Calder is an absolute magician of movement and mask, and I use things he taught us in unmasked characters as well. From my earliest work with mask, I realized the importance of feeling connected to my entire body and not trying to SHOW something with the mask.
At first, it felt like a little bit of a handicap to contain myself physically and in my facial expressions. The first few episodes we shot functioned as a sandbox in which we could all try things and get feedback from the folks on the other side of the camera, which was crucial. Because the camera may or may not be showing the viewer my entire body, every breath becomes important. However, I soon realized that I also couldn’t micromanage it! The more I felt rooted in who she is and her level of trust in people around her—which I think is pretty high—the less I felt I needed to move. It’s a drastic change for me, because in regular Emily form I’m quite kinetic and animated. I tell people that The Armorer really grounds me and has given me more confidence and faith that I don’t have to TRY so hard.
Are there any upcoming projects or roles you’re particularly excited about, and what can fans look forward to seeing from you next?
Ha! Yes, but I can’t talk about all of them, which is probably no surprise. I have an animation project I’m excited about that will be public in December; I haven’t done much voiceover since Castlevania, so this was fun to be a part of. This spring I shot something VERY different from anything I’ve done recently, and that was such a welcome challenge and joy. It’s a dark comedy called Forelock, and we’ll be submitting to festivals this fall and spring, so hopefully we’ll get distribution from that. A very clever fellah named Caleb Alexander Smith wrote and directed it, and he stars in it with David Krumholtz. It was a hoot to work on it and involves me doing some pretty unhinged dancing.
Fan Conventions have become a big part of my life, so chances are I’m traveling somewhere near everyone reading this sometime soon. You can find my schedule on my website.
The acting industry can be tough, with constant auditions and feedback. How do you handle criticism and rejection, and what strategies have you developed to stay motivated?
As I mentioned in the earlier question about inspiring fledgling actors, it never gets easy to deal with rejection. However, I focus on the integrity of my work. If I’ve honestly given something my best, I let go of the results. I don’t really pay attention to reviews because they’re so very subjective and I often don’t agree with reviews of things I’ve seen, so that’s off the table. I learned early on to hold comments on social media quite loosely—when I first started on The Mentalist, a handful of fans HATED my character because I was disrupting the sexual tension between the two main characters. I didn’t understand at the time that it was simply because they’d already invested so much time in the development of that relationship and they wanted to see it play out. I’m glad I got that lesson early on and before the plethora of social media we have now (that was back when Twitter was really the only big one where fans weighed in), because I recognize that everyone’s going to have an opinion, and it may or may not have anything to do with me. Everyone’s bringing their own history to the table, and often that means it’s not personal to me AT ALL. And, if it is, I can simply respect that people won’t always like the way I interpret a character, but that certainly doesn’t mean I’m “wrong,” per say.
If anything, I’d say the harder thing to deal with, especially in this age of the self-tape, is the LACK of feedback. I savor Zoom and in person auditions because I actually get to interact with someone and usually get a word or two of direction that energizes me. A friend of mine who is not in the industry listened to me talk about the process of investing in characters and auditioning and the total lack of response and she said, “It’s sort of like being ghosted by someone.” And I think that’s such a great comparison! So, if I’ve gotten particularly attached to a character I’m working on and I don’t get the part, I let myself grieve that breakup a little bit.
How has playing different characters and experiencing various stories through acting influenced your personal growth or changed your perspective on life?
ABSOLUTELY, in some ways I can pinpoint and probably many I can’t. I sometimes think God put it in my heart to be an actor because I’m so practical and solution-oriented in my day-to-day life, and when I’m thinking and feeling in service of a character I allow space and a breadth of emotion that I don’t always take time for otherwise.
Anything else you’d like to say?
I am so grateful for the work I’ve been able to do with Voices Against Cancer since appearing at their first Pop Con in 2022. They are a tremendously generous and inspiring community of people raising money for pediatric cancer research and to support families of kids in treatment. Go check them out, and enter one of my raffles to raise money for them! When a raffle is going on, tickets are at www.emilyswag.com.
I’ve also started doing a weekly post called “This Is the Way Wednesday” to honor the Armorer, and through that I highlight every day people who are going out of their way to be of service. I love it when people send suggestions my way!
Emily Swallow’s Socials:
