Emily Swallow was born in Washington, DC and grew up in Sterling, VA and Jacksonville, FL. Intending to pursue a career as a Foreign Service Officer, she earned a BA degree in Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Virginia whilst acting in various college, amateur and professional theatre productions. An audition for NYU’s Graduate Acting Program caused her to change course, and she moved to New York to work towards her MFA degree from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Emily started her career on Broadway theatre, where she performed in various productions, including “High Fidelity”, “King Lear”, “The Taming of the Shrew”, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” at the Guthrie Theater, “Much Ado About Nothing” for Shakespeare in the Park, and the world-premieres of Off-Broadway shows “Romantic Poetry” and “Measure for Pleasure”. In 2013 she collaborated with Mark Rylance and poet Louis Jenkins on the world premiere of “Nice Fish” at the Guthrie Theater. In 2016 she was cast in the Center Theatre Group’s production of Ayad Akhtar’s “Disgraced”.
Emily’ first television role was in “Guiding Light”, later taking parts in “Southland”, “Ringer”, “The Good Wife”, “NCIS”, “Flight of the Conchords”, “Medium”, as series regular Dr. Michelle Robidaux on TNT’s medical drama “Monday Mornings” and “Rizzoli & Isles”. She had a starring role in “The Mentalist” as FBI agent Kim Fischer. Her more recent roles include appearances on “Timeless”, “Elementary”, “Bull” and “Instinct”, as well as major parts in “Adoptable”, “Castlevania” and “Supernatural”, where she starred in the eleventh season as Amara, “the Darkness”.
As well as being cast in the first ever Star Wars live action TV show, “The Mandalorian”, Emily has recently returned to our screens as Amara in the final season of “Supernatural”.