Serinda Swan Interview

Cliché: Do you think you would have gravitated towards the arts had your parents not been involved in them?Serinda Swan: I think that children usually gravitate in the opposite direction of what their parents do just to try to find some form of individuality, but not for me. I was introduced to the acting world by my mother in a movie called Cousins that Joel Schumacher directed. I always had an interest in performing. My parents always say that whenever a camera was brought out, I would automatically jump in front of it and start singing or acting out some rendition of a Disney character. So the experience of being on a movie at such a young age showed me a path in which I could passionately continue on as an adult and to my absolute joy, get paid for it as well.
Did you have any other odd jobs growing up?
I was actually a nanny for a while when I lived in Vancouver, Canada. It was amazing training for when I eventually become a mother, because the children were 18 months and 3 years old. Nothing makes you grow up faster than being responsible for the well-being of children.
After you did some acting as a child, you did competitive gymnastics for 10 years before returning to acting. What made you leave show business, and what brought you back?
I actually left because of competitive gymnastics. We were training at such a high-level (up to five hours a day, six days a week) that physically, my body didn’t look like the rest of the other nine-year-old girls. I was much more built muscularly and didn’t really fit into the quintessential “little girl playing with a Barbie doll” commercial type. After getting turned down a few times by commercials and TV shows based on my looks, I figured I would just stick with gymnastics where it didn’t matter.  Because the industry that I loved was telling me that I wouldn’t be successful because of the way I looked, which was hard to hear as a child, it took a while for me to come back to it. When I realized that I didn’t have to fit into that specific box, that I could be myself and make room for myself within the industry, that’s when I came back. Of course, I’d have to play some typecast roles and be stereotyped in one way or another at the beginning, but then I could start having fun and do roles I was really passionate about. I feel like I’m just getting to that point now, and I’m starting to get the opportunities to play roles that are not dictated solely on my looks. This is a very exciting time for me!

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