Bio
Emily Swallow is an American actress best known for her starring role as neurosurgical resident Dr. Michelle Robidaux, a 20-something resident who is inexperienced yet eager and is finding her footing among giants, in the medical drama television series Monday Mornings.
Swallow grew up in Jacksonville, Florida. She received her bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia, where she majored in Middle Eastern studies.
She was expecting to go on to a career as a Foreign Service Officer, but her acting teachers at UVA noticed her passion for the arts and encouraged her to pursue further training.
As a result, Swallow moved to New York City and earned a master's degree in acting from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.
On television and film, Swallow has been on both sides of the law, playing a detective on Ringer, a detective's wife on Southland, a bounty hunter on the CBS pilot The Odds, a bank robber on Medium and even a patriotic, RV-traveling hooker in The Lucky Ones.
For good measure, she also played a mermaid on Flight of the Conchords and starred in the independent feature The Rift, directed by Shana Sosin.
On stage, Swallow has starred in a diverse range of plays and musicals, performing Shakespeare in Central Park's Delacorte Theatre (Much Ado About Nothing), Minneapolis' Tony-winning Guthrie Theater (A Midsummer Night's Dream) and, most notably, San Diego's Old Globe, where she won the Falstaff Award for her portrayal of Kate in The Taming of the Shrew.
In early 2012, Swallow returned to the Guthrie to play Maggie in the critically acclaimed production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, directed by Lisa Peterson.
Swallow has originated roles in new plays by Rinne Groff (Orange Lemon Egg Canary) at P.S. 122, David Grimm (Measure for Pleasure) at the Public Theatre and Betty Shamieh (The Black Eyed) at the New York Theatre Workshop, to name a few.
Swallow's parents, Jo and Gary Swallow, shared their love of music with her early on, and she continues to exercise that passion by performing in musicals.
In 2006, Swallow made her Broadway debut in High Fidelity, based on the Nick Hornby novel and the film of the same name. In 2008, she starred in John Patrick Shanely and Henry Krieger's Romantic Poetry at Manhattan Theatre Club.
She continues to workshop new musicals by such talented writers and composers as Michael Friedman, Melissa James Gibson, Jordan Harrison, Daniel Zaitchik, Maggie-Kate Coleman and Anna Jacobs.
She also wrote and performed an original cabaret in New York with friend and fellow songstress Jac Huberman.