In 1965, Maria von Trapp (Julie Andrews) stepped into Schloss Leopoldskron in Salzburg, Austria and fell in love in The Sound of Music. Fifty-five years later, Garrett Marcantel and two others hope to do the same in 12 Dates of Christmas, streaming now on HBO Max. Marcantel, who is gay, stumbled upon this unique reality competition series at the perfect time, as he looked to pivot from a successful career in New York City real estate and pursue the next chapter in his life. Little did he know that his inbox would open a portal to a winter wonderland, one where three single leads meet potential new relationships and go on 12 “dates,” all with the goal of finding someone they want to bring home to their families during the holiday season.
To say that the experience has been a whirlwind for Marcantel would be an understatement. The handsome lead, who was initially skeptical about being cast in the show, was surprised by how quickly it all came together. The month that followed exceeded his wildest dreams.
“It was a fairytale,” he says from a flat in London. “I had no idea what to expect. They reached out to me and before I knew it I was in Los Angeles, meeting with the executive producers. They didn’t tell me where they were filming the show, only that it was abroad somewhere. Since it was HBO Max, I was sure that it was going to be someplace magical. It wasn’t until just before we flew out that I found that we were going to Austria, that I was a lead, and that people would be chasing after my heart. I didn’t know what to expect. In my mind I thought it was going to be like a gay version of The Bachelor, only on a Christmas show.”
Photo Courtesy HBO Max
Marcantel, like the rest of the cast, was understandably blown away by the show’s setting. Built in 1736, and surrounded by 17 acres of manicured grounds, Schloss Leopoldskron is located at a small, idyllic lake, and features majestic views of the mountains and the Hohensalzburg Fortress. That the show is Christmas-themed only adds to the allure, especially for Marcantel, a passionate skier and adventurer who lives for the outdoors. There are dates on the ski hill, karaoke nights, and ugly Christmas sweater parties. It’s a festive rom-com come to life in the best way. It’s also family-friendly; you won’t see any over-the-top, The Bachelor-style lip-locking here, only romantic pecks, and usually the person asks permission before they lean in. Marcantel can’t give the big details away for obvious reasons, but his time in Austria was a revelation.
“It’s more wholesome than other reality shows,” Marcantel says. “A lot of it has to do with the show being centered around Christmas. The people that were cast are good people. No one is really vicious. Everyone obviously has different personalities, but we all just wanted to find love for the holidays.”
Another thing that sets 12 Dates of Christmas apart from other reality dating shows: The producers have managed to cast a group of contestants that are diverse in every way – different sexual orientations, races, ethnicities, native languages, backgrounds, personalities, and beyond.
“It is definitely a breath of fresh air,” Marcantel says. “When they first contacted me I wasn’t sure they knew that I was gay. It turns out that they welcomed my sexual orientation. That helped make the decision to join the cast much easier for me.”
Marcantel’s time in Salzburg is almost as interesting as the build-up to it. Born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, he knew from the jump that he wanted to explore the world, deciding to pair his love of skiing with his pursuit of a college education.
“We had Mardi Gras in Louisiana, and we would get a week off from school,” Marcantel says. “I would go with friends on ski trips to Colorado and New Mexico, which is how I fell in love skiing. By the time I graduated from my high school I knew that wherever I went to college, I needed to have access to mountains. I chose the University of Utah because it was the best university that was close to eight different ski resorts. That’s where I really fell in love with the outdoors.”
Marcantel majored in geology and natural resource management at the University of Utah. During the summers he worked as a park ranger, first at Timpanogos Cave National Monument, then Yellowstone, and finally the Grand Canyon area. He also got into trail running during this time, taking on the rough terrain with friends during his downtime. Next, he pursued his Masters in Climate Science and Solutions at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, which happens to have some of the best running trails in the U.S. Marcantel and his friends would summit mountains or venture to the bottom of the Grand Canyon on the weekends, bonding over the challenging runs and forging friendships that still stand today.
Following graduation, Marcantel moved to Hawaii to pursue research opportunities in the Pacific islands of Micronesia. He was based on the big island for two years, before spending six months in Norway on a research grant. It was here that Marcantel decided to shift gears.
Photo Courtesy HBO Max
“I love exploring different cultures and understanding how earth systems work,” he says. “But it was upsetting that the work was so dependent on whether or not the funding was approved. That’s what happened in Norway. I spent all this time putting together this big package and submitting it, only to learn that the funding didn’t get approved. That’s when I realized that I didn’t have a business skill. I didn’t understand Corporate America.”
Complicating matters, the job market in the U.S. for climate change in 2013 and 2014 was essentially nonexistent. Marcantel’s student loans were coming due, and he needed a steady job to pay the bills. On a whim, he applied to work for a recruiting firm in New York.
“I interviewed with them, and the guy was like, ‘I don’t think I should hire you. I don’t think you have the grit and determination to make it in New York.’ That floored me. I told him that I was an ultra-marathoner, and that I’d ran extreme distance races, and that I definitely had the determination and perseverance for the job.”
Not only did Garrett Marcantel land the job as a real estate recruiter, he excelled at it.
“I didn’t know real estate, which was the industry that I’d be recruiting for, but within a year I had built up a huge book of business. It was a crash course on real estate. I was learning who the major players were in New York City, what the economy was doing locally, things like that. And that’s when I thought about placing myself with a company.”
Photo Courtesy HBO Max
Marcantel networked his clientele and got a job as an assistant for two of the top brokers in New York City.
“One of my first projects was a project on Billionaires Row, which is on 57th St. and Columbus Circle. It broke all of the records for the most expensive condos ever sold. I was with that company for four years and worked my way up. I was living in Brooklyn and commuting via train to Manhattan. I was meeting all of these interesting, powerful, and influential people. Even though I was loving life and living the dream, I couldn’t stop wondering if I’d ever get back to using my master’s degree. At some point I knew that I wanted to pivot. I just didn’t know when or how.”
Then, one day Garrett Marcantel received a message in his Instagram inbox. It was from a casting director reaching out about a Christmas show, and she wanted to know if he might be interested in learning more.
“I thought it was spam,” Marcantel says with a laugh. “But then she somehow found my email address. That’s when I thought that this might actually be legitimate, so I decided to jump on the phone and have a conversation with her. We talked for a few minutes and I finally said, ‘I think you’ve got the wrong guy. I’m gay.’ She was like, ‘No, no, no. We’re casting gay people for this show.’ She explained that it was going to be on HBO Max. The more I thought about it, the more I was open to exploring the options to see how this would play out.”
12 Dates of Christmas has quickly developed a huge fanbase. For Garrett Marcantel, so much was unknown prior to filming because the producers kept everything shrouded in secrecy. When Marcantel finally arrived at Schloss Leopoldskron, his jaw hit the ground.
“I knew it was a castle, but I didn’t know anything about its significance,” he says. “When I arrived, they explained that this was where they filmed The Sound of Music. Then I went up to my room. I had this insane view of the Alps on one side, and a view of a fortress on the other side of the mountain. It was like stepping onto a movie set. That’s when it hit me: I was going to live in a castle for over a month. Never in my life did I think I would be living in a castle.”
Marcantel quickly learned that 12 Dates of Christmas wasn’t your ordinary reality hookup show.
Photo Courtesy HBO Max
“It’s a Christmas setting, so it’s not like being on some tropical island where everyone is focused on their physical looks and whatnot,” he says. “We went in not really knowing what the structure of the show was going to be. We just knew the people were going to be arriving for us, and we were told to keep an open mind – which wasn’t hard to do, because it’s such an incredibly romantic, wintry setting. You can’t help but get caught up in the moment. I mean, you are in the Alps. In a castle!”
12 Dates of Christmas has a “rom-com bubble” / “snow globe” vibe, and the setting can’t help but transport the viewer to seemingly simpler times. That the remote winter wonderland is outside of the cast’s comfort zone is all part of the plan. It helps them to focus on just what they’re there to do: To find love and find a connection.
“And these dates are so picturesque,” Marcantel says. “It’s like you’re watching a movie, and then, all of a sudden, you’re in it.”
Because it’s reality dating show first and foremost, it’s important for the leads to find out if they have chemistry with their dates.
“There’s an Advent calendar inside the castle, which is a replica of the castle itself. We would hear this jingle bell sound in the castle, and that was our cue. We would run to the Advent calendar, open the window with the light in it, and there would be a scroll in the window. Our job was to take the scroll out and read it. There would be instructions for us – clues about what kind of date we were to expect. It was exciting. Every time someone would arrive to the castle, they would arrive in a different fashion. You’ll see throughout the show that there are some really fun ways that they introduce people. Oh, and there were times when you’d be on a date in the snow and then someone else would show up. Then you would suddenly have two people that you’re dating at once.”
Photo Courtesy HBO Max
Another key ingredient in the show is the chemistry between the leads.
“We met each other for the first time when we were at the castle,” Marcantel says. “It was in the grand ballroom. The room itself is breathtaking – it has 60-foot ceilings and giant murals, and the dollar value has to be in the millions of dollars. I was the last to enter the room, and the two of them had already met. I’m like, ‘Nice to meet you, I’m Garrett.’ They didn’t know that there was a gay person coming on to the show, but they were completely cool with it. You’ll see that we have each other’s backs.”
As leads, Chad, Faith, and Garrett have an extra level of responsibility. They have to make decisions that culminate in an elimination ceremony, where one of three people who arrive at the castle are sent packing.
Photo Courtesy HBO Max
“It’s called the Gift Giving Ceremony,” Marcantel says, “and we only have two gifts to give. The person who doesn’t get a gift has to leave the castle. Before that happens we have these deliberation meetings, where we talk about the people that are in the castle for us. So we get really close, because there was no one else in the castle that really understood the pressure that we were going through.”
The added hook is that 12 Dates of Christmas is a show-within-a-show. Not only do the leads get to select that special someone, they get to take them home to their family afterwards.
“You have this time in the castle, and it’s like a fairytale experience,” Marcantel continues. “Then you leave this fairytale having made a decision, and you go back into the real world. That’s when it gets real. You’ve met this person in a foreign country, in a fairytale landscape, and now you’re bringing them home to meet your family. Suddenly you have to make the ultimate decision: Are you going to have a real world relationship with this person that you met in a winter wonderland?”
Garrett Marcantel has no regrets. 12 Dates of Christmas has been a game-changer, and an experience of a lifetime.
“It was so beautiful, and I have so many memories that I get to relive watching the show on HBO Max,” he says. “I had never seen Christmas decorations like that before. The Austrian villages looked like they were straight out of the movie. I got to do some things that unfortunately didn’t make the final edit, like riding a horse. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”
Watching the show, it’s apparent that Marcantel’s love of the outdoors plays a big part in his quest to find love.
“I’m a big skier, so I really felt comfortable taking these people outside and seeing how they responded. In general, if I’m going on a second or a third date, I want to take them hiking. That’s super important to me.”
Ask Garrett about the biggest surprise the show has to offer, and he doesn’t hesitate when giving his response.
“It definitely made me more self-aware,” he says quickly. “In your normal, everyday life, I don’t think you’re being asked what type of person you’re into. The show forces you to think a lot about yourself, and the kind of life you want to live. You envision that life with someone else, and you genuinely ask yourself, ‘Is this the right person for me?’”
So, does Garrett Marcantel find true love?
“I can’t answer that,” he says with a laugh, “but you’re going to be very, very happy with what you see unfold this Christmas. The team that put this together is the best in the industry. I’m so lucky to be part of a project like this, because you see everyone really being vulnerable and really wanting to experience love, and I think that’s something that every human can relate to. We all want to find love. It goes beyond sexual orientation. It goes beyond race. As humans, we all deserve the opportunity to find love. I think the show really captures that.”
12 Dates of Christmas streams new episodes Thursdays on HBO Max.
In a year that has seen Broadway shuttered, Wimbledon cancelled, and the Tokyo Olympics postponed, the last thing any of us needed was a Christmas season without fresh, high-quality, feel-good Christmas content to consume. Swickard, the multihyphenate powerhouse behind A California Christmas, has delivered in a big way, writing, producing, and starring (opposite her husband, General Hospital star Josh Swickard) in a film about a wealthy charmer who poses as a ranch hand to get a hardworking farmer to sell her family’s land before Christmas. The Netflix Original, produced by ESX Entertainment, begins streaming worldwide on December 14.
“Getting this movie made is a dream come true,” Swickard says. “There were so many challenges with COVID-19, but we had a great team. Everyone pulled together, worked hard, and stayed focused in spite of what was going on around us.”
Lauren Swickard and Josh Swickard A California Christmas
That A California Christmas even made it this far qualifies as a Christmas miracle. In March, when the coronavirus pandemic stopped Hollywood in its tracks, not many in the industry were optimistic that holiday films like A California Christmas would see the light of day. In Swickard’s case, everything broke perfectly: Quarantined, she wrote the script in three weeks, bouncing plot points and dialog off of Josh, who was home during the four-month shutdown at General Hospital. She then pitched the script to Ali Afshar, the head of ESX Entertainment, who was so impressed that the deal was done on the spot. The decision to cast Lauren and Josh as the leads not only guarantied onscreen chemistry (the two had met during the filming of Roped, and were married not long after), it also came with the built-in advantage of the leads having been quarantined together. Finally, Afshar offered up his Petaluma ranch as the film’s primary location; by shooting A California Christmas in an NBA-like “bubble” environment, and with testing and protocols followed to a tee, Netflix was convinced that the project could be completed in time for the holiday season. And just like that, Swickard was able to see her dream come true.
“We had a lot of things go right every step of the way,” Swickard says. “It was a combination of hard work and good luck.”
That Lauren Swickard is the driving force behind A California Christmas comes as no surprise to her inner-circle. Swickard may look the part of a Hollywood starlet, but the disarmingly beautiful actor is a blood-and-guts warrior when it comes to her passion: Writing.
Lauren Swickard
“It’s something I do every day,” Swickard says without missing a beat. “I’ve always wanted to be a writer, and I’m thankful the persistence has paid off. It’s surreal to see a writing credit next to A California Christmas.”
Swickard has written several screenplays, including A California Christmas, and is currently hard at work on writing Casa Grande, a five-episode political drama series picked up by Warner Bros. That award-winning Argentine director Gabriela Tagliavini (How to Break Up With Your Douchebag) has been tapped to direct the series speaks volumes to Swickard’s writing.
“Casa Grande is on the fast track,” she says. “The series follows several families in the farmland of Northern California as it navigates universal themes of class, immigration, culture and family. We have a team working very hard ensure that the subject matter is authentic. I’m very excited about how it’s coming together and can’t wait to see it come out.”
Born in Cincinnati, Swickard started out in dance, excelling in ballet to the point that she later enrolled in New York City’s prestigious School of American Ballet. Founded by George Balanchine and the single greatest cultivator of aspiring American ballet dancers, SAB remains close to Swickard’s heart.
Josh Swickard and Lauren Swickard Photo Courtesy Lauren Swickard
“So many great dancers have passed through the school’s studios,” says Swickard. “Allegra Kent, Darci Kristler, the list goes on and on. I loved my time there.”
An injury changed the trajectory of Swickard’s dance career. After a brief stop at Ohio University (to study journalism, no less), she made the leap into acting. Since then she’s steadily built an impressive acting resume, including roles in Dear White People and Roped. She’s also pulled double-duty, starring in two roles for the Lifetime movie Twisted Twin.
“My most challenging project yet,” she says, smiling. She pauses. “Until A California Christmas. Writing, producing, and acting in it was very rewarding, and I’m very thankful. But wearing so many different hats was also exhausting at times.”
That Swickard dreamed big and worked hard is good news for the rest of us. A California Christmas streams at a time when the world badly needs a healthy dose of holiday cheer.
“It’s been a difficult year,” Swickard says. “Hopefully this movie will help people forget about the pandemic for a couple of hours. Hopefully it will keep them smiling for a long while after that.”
Let’s talk about your latest project, A California Christmas. Without spoiling anything, what can you tell me about the movie?
I like to say that A California Christmas is the classic save-the-ranch story. It’s about a girl, her mom, and her younger sister. I play Callie Burnay, a girl who has a lot on her plate. She’s dealing with a mother who is battling lung cancer, and she also has a little sister that she has to help raise, so she’s basically taking care of her family while keeping up an entire ranch by herself. When it becomes too much, her mom suggests that she hire a ranch hand – which she grudgingly ends up doing. Then we learn about a San Francisco-based shipping company called Van Aston Enterprises, and how it wants to buy a big plot of land to put in a new shipping facility. Because the Burnay Ranch is going under, and is just inches away from foreclosure every month, the company thinks it’s found the perfect target. That’s when they decide to go in and offer the family money to buy the ranch. So, Joseph Van Aston, who is played by my real-life husband, gets sent to Petaluma, California, to convince the owners of the Burnay Ranch to sell their land. He doesn’t know Callie Burnay, and he doesn’t realize how strongly she is against selling – although he will soon find out.
Are conditions ripe for romance?
Very much so! When Joseph Van Aston arrives at the ranch, he spills coffee all over himself and has to change clothes. Callie actually mistakes him for a ranch hand. Joseph, seeing it as a perfect opportunity, decides to play the part so that he can get to know Callie a little bit and see what makes her tick. He doesn’t expect to fall in love. So it’s a false identity, romantic comedy Christmas movie. It’s coming out as a Netflix Original on December 14. We couldn’t have asked for a better home for the film.
Lauren Swickard Photo Courtesy Lauren Swickard
A California Christmas was made during a global pandemic.
We were fortunate to be one of the first productions up and running. We knew that the rest of Hollywood was watching us to see how it went, but everyone on set was careful to follow all the protocol to the best of our ability. We lost two hours each day due to our precautionary guidelines, and yet we still made our days without missing a beat. It wasn’t surprising, because our team was full of some of the hardest workers I’ve ever met.
What kinds of adjustments did you have to make?
We were something of a guinea pig for Hollywood. We were initially doing the blood tests, the kind where you could prick your finger and get the results back in eight minutes. That meant we could test on the same day that we were to go to the set. Then they came around and said that those tests weren’t valid anymore, so we had to delay production by a week while we worked out a deal with another lab, and arranged for nurses to come on set with the nasal swabs. The cast and crew was on hold at a hotel where we filmed in Sonoma Valley. It was beautiful, but we were also in Petaluma, which is in the middle of nowhere. We were supposed to be there for 2 ½ weeks, but we ended up being there for 34 days.
This may be the new normal in Hollywood for the foreseeable future.
The world has certainly changed. Before the pandemic, I think I took things like in-person meetings and interactions for granted. I was in an acting class that I loved. I was driving from Studio City to Santa Monica to Century City, so I was all over Los Angeles auditioning and meeting with people all the time. In fact, at the time I felt a bit overwhelmed. I was like, “I’ve already driven to two offices today, why can’t I just send a tape to the casting offices instead?” Then once the pandemic hit, everything stopped. Acting classes, auditions, productions…everything was canceled. My husband is on a soap opera, General Hospital, and his show completely shut down. It was pretty scary, because the only way our industry works is by being in close contact with other people. There can be anywhere from 60-to-80 people on set when actors are doing a scene. That’s how many people it takes to make everything work. It was all very hard at first, and very surreal. I’ll never forget, Josh and I love watching American Idol, and then American Idol shut down. The next thing you know, the contestants had to sing from home. The new normal is going to take some getting used to [laughs].
Lauren Swickard Photo Courtesy Lauren Swickard
The preview for A California Christmas looks great! Where did the idea for the movie come from?
When the quarantine first happened, there were a lot of friends on social media who were being productive. They were diving into various health-based activities, and coming up with all kinds of creative, stay-at-home things to stay busy. Because I love to write, I thought, “Oh, I’m going to do a script,” and I started imagining what people would want to watch once the quarantine was over. I thought that the pandemic would surely be over by the holidays, and that a holiday movie would be the perfect way to entertain people. I was wrong about the pandemic, but I still feel that people are ready for a movie like A California Christmas.
This project came together quickly.
I wrote the script in three weeks. It was quite fun, because Josh was home with me while I was writing. It was the first time that I had written a script where I had my husband here to be my guinea pig. We would act out scenes while I was writing, so it was a very different process for me. It was so much fun. As I was creating the characters, my intention was not to perform as an actress in the movie. I only wanted to produce and write. But, as we kept working together, I started getting this idea that maybe I should pitch more than the script and the story. Maybe I should also pitch that Josh and I would be acting together in it as a married couple.
Two-part question: What were some of the challenges that you encountered making this film? And, what did you find the most enjoyable?
The biggest challenge was that we had to deal with the pandemic. That meant that there were a lot of things we had to take into consideration. For example, as a writer I had to write a lot of exterior scenes relative to the number of interior scenes. That’s because it’s not quite safe when there are so many crew members confined to a small space. The union also provided guidelines, so we had to make sure that we followed those as well. When we were location scouting, we had to ensure that interior scenes had two separate entrances, one for the actors and the other for the crew members. Those were just some of the challenges that we had to work around.
I think my most enjoyable and favorite part about making A California Christmas was working with my husband. It was so fun to really be able to play off of each other and use our natural chemistry. We had this great banter, where we would do a scene and I would look at him like, “We’ve got to do something else.” And he did the same thing to me. He’d go, “Oh no, babe. No, no, no,” and I’d be like, “You’re right. Let’s do it again.” It was really special, and something that I had never experienced with another actor before.
Lauren Swickard Photo Courtesy Lauren Swickard
A California Christmas was produced by ESX Entertainment.
ESX Entertainment is run by Ali Afshar, and this company is such a well-oiled machine. They’ve done something like 17 movies over the past three years, many of them in and around Petaluma. Ali is accustomed to working on tight schedules, challenging budgets, and things like that, but I’m sure he’s never made a movie under conditions quite like this. Still, he was determined to make this movie despite the coronavirus restrictions. It was such a great experience. The crew was so kind, and everyone was such a family. There were really no issues on the whole preproduction side. The same with the production side, except for the inconveniences caused by COVID. It ended up working out fantastically well.
You met your husband, actor Josh Swickard, on the set of Roped. Tell me about that.
We auditioned independently and were both offered the film. I was offered the role of Tracy Peterson first, but I was actually filming something else in Atlanta and couldn’t come back to Warner Bros. to do the chemistry read. Chemistry reads are common in movies, and are done with different pairings so that the director can get a feel for chemistry between the leads. In this case it didn’t happen, and Josh was cast as Colton Burtenshaw while I was in Atlanta. So, I didn’t meet Josh until two days before we were supposed to be in Petaluma.
I’m going to guess that the chemistry between the two of you was pretty darned good.
Yes, it was very good! We were on the Warner Bros. lot, where we were having rehearsal with the director. Josh had just returned from the movie ranch – he had to learn how to rope a calf for his role, so he had been training all day, but I didn’t know this. I show up to the lot, and Josh is dirty from head to toe – dirty cowboy boots, dirty jeans, dirty shirt. I immediately started making fun of him because I thought he was coming in character for the directors meeting. I thought, “Wow, you’re really going for this role!” So, that was our first interaction. Things went so well that he got my number underneath the iconic water tower on the Warner Bros. lot. We drive by that water tower all of the time. That was our special little meeting place.
Josh Swickard and Lauren Swickard
Did you start dating during the filming of Roped?
There was definite chemistry between us, but we decided that we weren’t going to act on that chemistry, we were going to have it be movie magic instead. It worked out great because we were so close during filming that we became friends first. I told him that maybe he could take me out on a date after filming had wrapped up. He did, and it was love at first date.
You starred in a lifetime movie called Twisted Twin. What was that like?
That has to be my most satisfying role thus far in my career as an actress – or, I should say, roles! One twin was as sweet as could be, as sweet as honey, and the other one was just crazy evil. I actually loved playing the evil twin the most [laughs].
You’re outstanding in both roles.
Thank you! The director’s name is Jeff Hare. He was really great to work with, because he went out of his way to make me feel like it was my movie. I had so much creative control, which I didn’t expect but truly appreciated. Jeff was the best. It was also awesome to collaborate with my body double, who had the same measurements as me, and who had my same hair. You really can’t tell who is who from the back. It was very surreal!
You acted with Jennifer Taylor in that movie. What did you learn from such an accomplished actor as Jennifer?
Oh my gosh, she is such a pro. It’s really cool to see someone like Jennifer work in such a way where there is no aura of ego around her. She was one of the crew – she learned everybody’s names, from the PAs to the sound guys to everyone in between. She didn’t come across as the star that she is, she just wanted to be a part something special. The way she fit in gave it a family feel. It really is rare to meet someone of her stature that behaves like that on a set. I learned from her just how to be. I just want to Jennifer Taylor. She is just amazing.
Lauren Swickard Photo Courtesy Lauren Swickard
At one point you were going to be a ballerina.
Growing up in Cincinnati, my life was focused on one thing: Ballet, ballet, ballet. I was training with Russian coaches, coaches that were flying in from Europe, all of those sorts of things. I was definitely on track to become a professional ballerina, so I moved to New York City to dance with the School of American Ballet.
What changed your career trajectory?
I got injured while I was there and had to fill my days with other things, so I started taking an acting class. I was 14 at the time. I immediately fell in love with acting, and couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else. As if I needed any more convincing, my acting teacher said, “Ballerinas end their careers around the age of 35, but actors can act their whole lives.”
The more I got into acting, the more I learned that acting is a lot like ballet, but with words. It’s about emoting with every part of yourself, just like ballet. I really think that’s why it came so naturally to me. Ballet also played another important part in my acting career: If I hadn’t gone to New York for ballet, then I never would have been exposed to acting in the first place.
You wrote the script for A California Christmas. Please tell me about your passion for writing.
Oh my gosh, I wanted to be a writer long before I wanted to become an actress. I was writing my own novels from the time I was in middle school. I studied journalism at the Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University. The plan was to complete my degree, but I ended up booking a pilot for CBS my first year of college, so I left college to do the pilot. Little did I know that pilots don’t always get picked up [laughs]. I was 18 years old, and I didn’t know how the acting world worked. I just took a leap of faith and plunged into the Hollywood pool headfirst. The screenwriting came later. Once I decided to start writing screenplays I said, “This is my second career. I’m going to work on it every day.” Every day, even if I’m just writing a scene or two, screenwriting is a part of my morning ritual. It’s such a muscle that you have to work on. So I write every day, and I love it.
You wore multiple hats on A California Christmas. Any desire to focus purely on acting in a future project?
Even though I loved to being a producer, writer, and actress on this project, it was a lot of work. I was acting in one of the lead roles, but I was also a producer, which meant I was constantly going over the scenes with the director. It was an endless stream of “I don’t think this works. Do you think this approach works better instead? Should we change the way we handle that?” All while having to think about my character and the performance that I was trying to bring to the screen. Then, the scenes would change, and as a writer I would need to shift gears on the spot and say, “Hey guys, I think we’re going to change it to this, this and this instead of this.” I loved it, but it was definitely a lot on one plate.
So, to answer your question, I’m very excited to go into a project where I’m just the actress. I think it will feel great to count on the writer, director, and producer to do the things they need to do, while I get to focus on being an actress. Or, if it turns out another way, where I’m just the writer.
Let’s talk about your next project, Casa Grande
Casa Grande is a five-episode series that I created, and it is in production right now. The series follows several families in the farmland of Northern California as it navigates themes of class, immigration, culture and family. I think it’s my best work. I do have a team of writers, because this it is a series, so we are working together in a traditional writers room. Their names are Alex Ranarivelo and Michael Cruz, and they are amazing. The expertise that my team brings to this subject is so important, because of who I am and how I grew up. I knew that I needed to have a team around me that is an expert in this culture.
Lauren Swickard Photo Courtesy Lauren Swickard
Where did the idea for Casa Grande come from?
I was actually inspired while we were filming A California Christmas. We were filming on a big dairy farm that actually sources its cheeses to Chipotle, a place where they have hundreds and hundreds of cows, milking machines, and large fields. We would go on the set every day, and I couldn’t help but notice all of the Hispanic workers who actually lived on the property. They would be awake and working long before we got there, and they would be working after we would leave at the end of the day. What I noticed about them was just the foundation of joy that they had – the way they talked and interacted with each other, and the way their kids ran around playing. Being from Cincinnati, I had never seen that culture up close. It piqued my curiosity. I started researching and interviewing these people to learn more about them, and that’s when the idea for Casa Grande hit. I gathered a team around me that could help put story and voices to these faces, and together we came up with the pilot. I pitched the pilot, and ESX Productions jumped on it.
Given the world we live in today, Casa Grande deals with some very timely issues.
The grand theme of this series is pulling back the curtain on how the machine works. The machine being the world that we all live in. I’m just so thankful for this team of people that I have around me, because without them we wouldn’t have been able to give this series correct voices. They are experts in the community, and we had people from the community on the project, so it’s true to what’s happening right now in the world. It’s so important for people to see it.
How does Lauren Swickard stay busy when there are lulls in her schedule?
If I encounter a lull in auditions or a lull in work, I always dive into an acting class. There are so many cool acting classes in town, and that’s the place where you can challenge yourself and practice your craft. If I’m not auditioning or acting, then a class offers an outlet that I have control over. When it comes to writing, I make time every day to get my ideas out there.
Lauren Swickard Photo Courtesy Lauren Swickard
Final Question. If you had one piece of advice for other aspiring creatives, what would that be?
Whatever it is, just start doing it. Start producing your own projects, you’ll learn what to do along the way. It doesn’t matter what the finished product looks like, you just need the experience. The next thing you produce will be better because of what you’ve learned. If you aspire to write, just start writing. If your dream is to be an actor, jump in. Get involved with the local theatre. Take acting classes. Acting classes are great for so many reasons, including the ability to network with others with the same interests. There are colleges that have film schools, and there are students working on thesis projects who need actors. And don’t forget social media, YouTube, all of those sorts of things. You can do so much today that wasn’t available just a short time ago. Follow your passion and just start doing it.
https://i0.wp.com/www.fifteenminuteswith.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/the_lauren_swickard_interview1.png?fit=600%2C400&ssl=1400600Michael McClellanhttps://www.fifteenminuteswith.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/FifteenMinutesWith_NewLogoPrototype.pngMichael McClellan2020-11-29 23:56:262020-12-06 19:35:47Lauren Swickard – A California Christmas
Sofia Mattsson is the living embodiment of this uniquely Swedish proverb, the Stockholm-born, Los Angeles-based actor thriving in a year of chaos and confusion, amping up the buzz on her Ava Carrington line of high quality handbags at a time when her soap, General Hospital, found itself shuttered due to the coronavirus pandemic. That Mattsson didn’t miss a beat is hardly surprising to those who know her best; equal parts fearless and optimistic, the talented Swede has no regrets making the jump to Hollywood, but not a day goes by that she doesn’t think about her homeland, from the eclectic Stockholm Fashion District in Nacka strand, to the old film projectors and vintage clothing in Hornstull Marknad, to the cozy vibe of the family’s country home. Mattsson especially cherishes the memories made on those long summer vacations.
Sofia Mattsson as Sasha Gilmore Photo Courtesy ABC
“I miss those days the most,” Mattsson says. “We always have so much fun just being together as a family. Our country home is the perfect place to tune everything else out and reconnect with those who mean the most.”
Yes, away is good. But home is best.
Today, Mattson is back to work. She plays Sasha Gilmore on the highly-rated ABC soap, which resumed filming in August following a four-month shutdown. General Hospital has adapted to the new normal, going so far as to hire a COVID-19 director who patrols the set to ensure that proper protocols are followed.
“Everyone wants to work, but doing the right thing and staying safe is the top priority,” she says. “It’s definitely a balancing act.”
While Sasha has been spiraling downwards since her fake affair with Detective Harrison Chase (Josh Swickard) and subsequent breakup with Michael Corinthos (Chad Duell), Mattsson’s world has been far less dramatic. Yes, 2020 has been a year unlike any other, with political tensions in the US at a boiling point and a global pandemic that has recalibrated, well, everything. And yes, there’s a good chance that COVID-19 will continue to dominate the headlines well into 2021. Mattson, for her part, has kept her foot on the gas. In October, 2019, the model-turned-actor launched Ava Carrington with her sister, actress Helena Mattson.
Sofia and Helena Mattsson
“So much hard work has gone into this venture,” Mattson says. “It has been a dream of ours for a long time. Our goal is to design high-quality handbags that are also animal-friendly and eco-conscious. We’re very proud of our first collection of vegan bags, and I couldn’t imagine doing this with anyone other than Helena. It has been a blast!”
The closeness between the Mattsson sisters has been a constant from the jump. Born nearly seven years apart, Helena studied acting at the highly selective Södra Latin upper secondary school in Södermalm. Sofia grew up watching everything her sister performed in, becoming her biggest fan long before Helena splashed down in Hollywood, where she has appeared in everything from Desperate Housewives to American Horror Story to Iron Man 2. Sibling rivalry? Professional jealousy? Think again.
“We are each other’s most vocal advocate. There’s no jealousy, only support. I’m lucky to have a sister like that.”
Sofia’s decision to act – and ultimately carve out her own identity in Hollywood – may have been inspired by Helena’s trailblazing ways, but having a sister in the biz didn’t guarantee success. Sure, it helped to have someone based in LA with established connections. Doors open and meetings happen when you know someone, but that’s true in every profession. It also didn’t hurt that Mattson is stunning to look at, her inner-beauty radiating outward, her hotness in balance with her overall vibe – unpretentious rather than overt, sophisticated yet down-to-earth, all of it coming at you like a breath of fresh Scandinavian air. But there’s more to Sofia Mattsson than family connections and sex appeal. She’s a grinder, a perfectionist, and a workhorse all rolled into one insanely intelligent package. That she makes it look so easy is part of the charm.
Still, Mattsson has come a long way. She arrived in the US hellbent on acting, but the Swedish accent stuck with her from home, limiting her to niche roles in the early going – Russians, Germans, Eastern Europeans mostly. Today, the accent is undetectable. Mattsson is fully Americanized, shucking off the layers of her homeland the way you might step in from the cold and remove a jacket, scarf, and gloves. She might as well be a transplant from Des Moines or Fort Wayne. Except Sweden is what made Sofia Mattsson the person she is today.
“I miss my home country every day, and for so many reasons – family and friends, obviously. I also had a lot of things going on in Sweden, but I was like, ‘No, I need to pursue acting!’ And I’m so happy I did.”
En skamfull hund blir sällan fet.
Growing up in Stockholm, Sofia Mattsson was hardly a wallflower. She started out in dance, transitioned into modeling and singing as she got a little older, and later joined a band, playing in some local pubs around town. Whether recording an album or traveling to Poland to record a music video, Mattson’s willingness to take chances afforded her even more opportunities in the spotlight.
Sofia Mattson, it turns out, has rarely turned down an opportunity to feed her creative side.
Bashful dogs rarely get fat.
“Growing up, I was constantly pushing myself, and still do,” she says. “When I got into modeling, I traveled to Germany by myself at a young age. When I moved to the US, I got a manager and an agent and jumped into acting with both feet. When the opportunity to launch Ava Carrington presented itself, I couldn’t wait to get started. There’s no substitute for doing.”
Stockholm, Sweden Photo Courtesy Ava Carrington
The fearlessness that Mattsson brings to the table has served her well in the States. She worked steadily as a model for brands like Benefit, Mary Kay, Target, Ed Hardy, and Volkswagen, while building out her acting resumé with roles in independent and TV films such as Becoming Bond and My Husband’s Secret Wife. Then, in 2018, she landed the role of Sasha Gilmore on General Hospital.
“I had auditioned for General Hospital once before, but I didn’t make it past that point. Looking back now, I realize that I wasn’t ready. But when I auditioned for the role of Sasha, I knew that I could handle the part. I was confident, and I felt like I could convince them that I was the right person for the role. Still, it was a very nerve-wracking process!”
Sasha Gilmore is, in many ways, a flawed and riveting character. Addicted to drugs and her life spiraling out of control, Gilmore’s ultimate fate on GH is the subject of rampant speculation. While Mattsson can’t reveal anything about Sasha’s long-term status on the soap, it’s clear that she has her own future carefully mapped out.
“I got to act with my sister in My Husband’s Secret Wife,” she says, “and that was such a great experience. Hollywood is slowly coming back to life, which means more auditions and more opportunities to act. And Ava Carrington is keeping me very busy. It’s a challenging time because of the pandemic, but it’s also an exciting time in many ways as well.”
Gud ger varje fågel en mask, men han kastar den inte i boet.
It’s only fitting that the Stockholm Collection is the first in Ava Carrington’s line of high-quality vegan handbags. Designed with confident, fashion forward women on-the-go in mind, the Stockholm Collection honors the rich fashion heritage of Mattson’s hometown. Getting this venture off the ground was a Herculean task, with Sofia and Helena putting in long hours on top of their already busy acting schedules. Neither of them complained. Ava Carrington had long been their dream. Once the opportunity presented itself, they knew that they had to work for it.
“We understood that there was a market for luxury handbags made using ethical practices. Starting a company from the ground up was challenging in so many ways, but the result has been extremely rewarding. We felt the time was right. It hasn’t been easy, but nothing worth it ever is.”
Sofia Mattsson Photo Courtesy Ava Carrington
Indeed.
God gives every bird a worm, but he does not throw it into the nest.
Sofia Mattsson’s acting career, like Ava Carrington, is on a upward trajectory, the future bright and filled with promise. Eventually, the pandemic will run its course and the world will fully reopen for business, Hollywood included. Mattson will be ready. She’s too damned talented, too damned smart, too damned fearless to let COVID-19 dictate the terms of what comes next.
The future belongs to Sofia Mattsson.
That’s a good thing for the rest of us.
You’re from Stockholm, Sweden. What was your childhood like?
Stockholm is an amazing city. I grew up with two parents and two older sisters, and it was a really lovely time in my life. Everything in Stockholm is close, so you’re in proximity of everything you want to do. You can walk or bike everywhere. For me, I could walk to school, to my friend’s house, to dance practice, and to my grandmother’s house just down the street. Living in Los Angeles is very different, because you can hardly walk at all when you want to go somewhere.
What do you miss the most?
I really miss the seasons, especially those amazing summers when we would go to our summer house on the lake and the days seemed to last forever. Those were great times, because the whole family would gather there for weeks straight. There was nowhere else to go once we got there, so we would swim, play games, and just hang out. When you live in a city, it’s very hard to keep the family gathered together, because there are so many other things to do and it’s so easy to go out. So, whenever we could be at the summer house, that was always a chance for us to come together and reconnect as a family. I have all of these great memories of our vacations there, and also great memories of our home in Stockholm. It’s a really beautiful, amazing city.
Sofia Mattsson Photo Courtesy Sofia Mattsson
Stockholm gets a bad rap for its winter months. How much of that is true?
Even the winters in Stockholm are beautiful. There are a lot of cozy, candlelit coffee shops that spring up, so it can be a winter wonderland. There’s a lot of snow during the wintertime, but the city doesn’t shut down. Outsiders might think that you’re going to be buried in snow up to your neck, and the city’s attractions close up during the winter months, but that’s not true. There are quaint pubs and cafes, and lots of shopping. It really is the best of both worlds.
Was dance your first form of artistic expression?
Yes. I did a lot of dancing as a child. I was at dance practice almost every night, and we had really fun shows at the end of each season. I really looked forward to those shows because I love to perform. I also started signing around this same time, and as I got a little older I was part of a band. That was a really cool experience for me because we played at some of the local bars around the city. We actually recorded a music video at one point, and that was something I enjoyed, probably because it was an opportunity to step in front of a camera! I later got into acting while I was still living in Sweden, but early on it was mostly dancing and singing.
Helena and Sofia Mattsson Photo Courtesy Sofia Mattsson
Your sister, Helena, is also an actor. What was the dynamic between the two of you growing up?
Helena has always been an inspiration to me, both as a person and as an actor. One of the things that I really admire about her is that she has always been very caring and kind. She always puts family first. When we were growing up in Sweden, just getting to watch her perform in plays was one of my favorite things. And since Helena went to a theater school, she was in plays all of the time. I used to go watch them all, every performance, night by night, and she always stood out. She was really such a star. She’s always amazed me with her talent. She could play such a wide range of roles, even at a young age, and she was able to stand out playing so many different characters. She just always crushed it.
Did Helena play a part in your decision to act?
She made it look like such a challenge, which made it seem very appealing. It became something that I wanted to do as well. So yeah, she definitely played a role in me deciding to act. She was easily my biggest inspiration for it. My desire to act became greater after she moved to Los Angeles, because I was able to join her on location for filming here. I especially remember visiting when she was filming Desperate Housewives. I thought it was cool to come to the set and walk around, and get the full behind-the-scenes experience. Seeing it up close sealed the deal. In that moment, I couldn’t think of a more fun job. I still can’t.
Södra Latin
Helena studied acting at Södra Latin in Södermalm. How did you land in Hollywood?
I went to a normal school in Sweden, one that was not focused on theater, but I took a lot of theater classes at night. I did plays and smaller roles, and I did as much acting as possible. As for my journey from Sweden to the United States, it obviously started by visiting Helena here in Los Angeles. I immediately fell in love with the city, the people, and the acting scene. And after getting some work in Sweden, I was fortunate enough to actually move here and pursue acting as a career.
I had studied hard and immersed myself in acting classes in Sweden, which was something that I continued to do after moving to L.A. I also worked very hard on my accent, which is really important for getting roles. If you can’t speak like an American it really limits your auditions and means fewer opportunities. From there I was lucky enough to find a manager, and then I found an agent to represent me. I started off in a lot of commercials, worked my way up to bigger roles in films and pilots, and then eventually landed my role on General Hospital.
Speaking of General Hospital, what’s it like living in the fictional town of Port Charles?
I love it. I really, really, really love it. There’s nothing that I don’t enjoy about playing Sasha Gilmore. Everyone in the cast is so humble and so incredibly talented. Until I actually got there, I never truly understood how hard it was to be on a soap. You have so much material that you have to do in such a short amount of time, and it’s usually done in one take, so it can be extremely challenging. Somehow everybody pulls it off, and there aren’t any egos to worry about. Even the people who have been on the show for 20+ years are very down to earth. The other thing that struck me right away is that everyone is so helpful. Everyone wants everyone else to do well.
Sasha Gilmore (Sofia Mattsson) and Michael Corinthos (Chad Duell) ABC’s General Hospital
How do you learn your lines in such a short amount of time?
In the beginning it was really tough. I was like, “How in the world am I going to do this?” But you learn. You just have to read it until you know it. Sometimes it takes hours. You just have to stay up until you memorize your lines. There are tricks that can help you. I’ve actually recorded my lines on my smartphone, and also recorded the other person’s lines, so that I could listen to them over and over. Whatever technique you choose, you can’t get away from the fact that there is a lot of studying involved. You’re working a lot on your own before you actually get to the set. And like I said, in the beginning it was hard work and I really struggled to get through it, but since then it has gotten easier and easier. I think it’s like a brain muscle or something that you are working out. Nowadays, I can look at it at the script and it clicks almost immediately. I think it helps that I’m playing the same character.
You’ve also done films. Please compare the pace.
With a movie, you get the script sometimes two, three, or four weeks ahead of filming, if not longer, so you have a lot of time to prep. You can work on your role, and really dig in deep. And then, when you are actually filming it, you have time to prepare before each scene. You also have the opportunity to do several takes of the scene, so you can relax a little bit more. Depending on the schedule, you can maybe play around more and test a few different things with the director and see what works.
On General Hospital the prep time is a lot shorter. You get one take, maybe two if someone really messes up. The ball just keeps rolling on a soap. You don’t have that time to ease into anything, so it can be intimidating. On the other hand, you play the same character for so long that you almost become the character, so the prep time isn’t as necessary as it is for a movie, where you are approaching a brand-new role, and where you have to get to know the character and build it up.
You acted with your sister in the 2018 Lifetime film My Husband’s Secret Wife. What did you enjoy most about this project, and did you ever think that you’d share the screen with her?
I hadn’t given serious thought to what it might be like to act opposite Helena, partly because I’d been so focused on auditioning for my own roles and trying to find work as an actor. It just so happened that the right opportunity came along at the right time. That’s when I actually allowed myself to think it might be possible. And then it finally happened; I was cast as Avery’s sister, Cat, at which point I allowed myself to get really excited about being onset with my sister. I was like, “Wow! We’re going to be in the film together – of course we should act together!” [Laughs.] It was such an amazing experience, and I loved filming that movie for so many reasons. Obviously, I got to act with Helena, which was our first time on-screen together. It just felt very natural, as you might expect, because our characters were sisters. It wasn’t too far of a stretch from real life. It probably would’ve felt a little more weird if we were complete strangers, or worse, enemies, but that wasn’t the case.
So yes, I loved everything about that experience. Helena and I got to stay in this super-cute house in Kentucky, where we were filming. Our parents were actually visiting us in Los Angeles at the time. Instead of canceling their trip when they found out that we had booked this movie, they came to Kentucky and stayed with us. It felt like old times in a way, almost like we were at our summer house back in Sweden. It was great having the family together and enjoying each other’s company. It was a memorable experience.
How did you become a model?
I happened organically. My sisters were modeling, so I got a glimpse into that world through them. I was 16 when I started modeling. I started out modeling in Sweden, but I traveled to Germany by myself at one point. I had to navigate the city using maps, and I had to make sure that I was on time for my appointments and modeling jobs. It was such a great learning experience to do that by myself at such a young age. It made me very independent very quickly. I’m not modeling a lot now, because I’m pretty tied to General Hospital, scheduling-wise. I do miss it.
Sofia Mattsson Photo Courtesy Sofia Mattsson
Speaking of fashion, the people of Sweden have a reputation for having a classic sense of style.
I think you are absolutely correct. Stockholm is very well-known for having very stylish people. I don’t exactly know why or where it comes from, but the people who live there definitely have great taste when it comes to fashion. In fact, I think that Swedes in general have an inherent sense of style. Having grown up there, I think it’s undeniable. There’s a history of quality and clean design, and an eye for vintage clothing that is both versatile and timeless. It must be in our DNA [laughs].
You and Helena started Ava Carrington, which is focused on luxury vegan fashion. I’ve read that the inspiration behind the name came from your grandmother.
My grandmother has been such a huge part of my life. Growing up, she was almost like a second mom, because she lived just down the street and she was over at our place all of the time. She has always been super-sophisticated and into fashion. She loves America, and she traveled here a lot when she was younger. She used to always tell us stories about her time in the States, and to us it seemed like this magical, faraway land. This was before any of us had been over here, of course, and years before we knew that we were going to move to Los Angeles. My grandmother also used to tells us stories about all of these interesting people that she’d meet on her travels, and she often mentioned one woman in particular – a sophisticated, classy, fashion-forward woman named Ava Carrington. So when it came time to pick a name for our business, Helena and I were in complete agreement. We wanted to name it after this woman whose fashion sense had made such an impression on our grandmother.
Sofia and Helena Mattsson Photo Courtesy Ava Carrington
What was the inspiration behind getting in the fashion business?
Both my sister and I have always had entrepreneurial spirits – moving so far away from home to pursue acting is obviously an entrepreneurial endeavor – so I think we were destined to get into something like this at some point. Our close relationship, the trust we have in each other, and the shared vision that we have also took away a lot of the fear and uncertainty.
The inspiration to do vegan handbags just came from a feeling that there is a big gap between well-designed, high quality products and ethical practices. Most luxury handbags are made with leather, which is not ethical to me, because of the animal suffering. Meanwhile, many vegan options currently on the market are either low-quality or not unique and well-crafted designs. We wanted to create a handbag that not only incorporated both beautiful designs and high quality materials, but that were also ethically made and required no animal sacrifice. That’s the philosophy behind Ava Carrington.
The Stockholm Collection is beautiful. How did you find such quality materials?
It involved a lot of hard work. There is so much bad stuff out there, so you have to kind of dig your way through everything. The research was painstaking. Basically, we sourced all over the world to get samples from as many different places as possible. We literally tested hundreds of fabrics before we found the one we feature in the Stockholm Collection. It very much has the same structure as leather, and it looks and feels the same…but it’s also environmentally friendly, is super durable, and is also more water and scratch resistant than leather. So it has all of these amazing qualities that leather doesn’t, and we are just super excited to have found it.
Helena and Sofia Mattsson
What was it like getting Ava Carrington off the ground?
As I had mentioned, Helena and I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit. We’d talked about starting a business like this many times in the past, so I think it’s in our blood. We picked fashion because we have that drive to create. We also knew that pursuing our dream wouldn’t be easy, and that starting a company is a very big deal. It requires a lot of work, and you have to wait until you get the right idea. We had been spitballing ideas for years before we found something that we felt was so needed, which was vegan fashion. It presented us with a mission that we were very excited to go on, and that’s when we really buckled down and decided to do all of the work.
And I assume it’s a lot of hard work.
It feels like we’ve been through a self-paced business school experience, because we’ve had to learn so much from scratch. We had to brainstorm the idea, finalize the sketches for our first collection, and seek out all of the materials used in the manufacturing. We also had to incorporate a company, pull together all of the documents that we needed, file for patents, create a website, launch a marketing campaign, and do all of the advertisements. There is so much that goes into it, and since we’re doing this for the first time there has been a steep learning curve. But, I’m so grateful for the experience. I’ve learned so much, and I’m loving everything about it. It has been a really fun challenge.
Sofia Mattsson Photo Courtesy Ava Carrington
Who are some of your favorite fashion designers?
I love Stella McCartney. I think it’s always amazing when a brand also has a mission that’s considerate to either the environment, animals, or both. Stella McCartney is a brand that does those things. I also love the clothing brand Reformation. It’s based in Los Angeles, and they do a lot of very environmentally friendly clothing. So yeah, I think those would be my top two right now.
Let’s talk wellness. What does your diet and exercise regimen look like?
Well, things obviously look very different now than what it did a few months ago. Before COVID, there were so many more workout options to choose between. I’m a social person so I like group workouts, so, pre-COVID, Orangetheory was my go-to workout destination. I loved it because you basically rotate between treadmills, rowers, and the floor, where you do weight exercises. And I love the comradery and team spirit that you have in that kind of environment. When you have a group around you, and you’re doing it together, then you can pump each other up. I also used to do dance classes, because I love those, too, but now that things have changed I’ve had to adjust my workout routine.
Sofia Mattsson Photo Courtesy Sofia Mattsson
How so?
I just got a Peloton bike for my home, which has been extremely helpful. I was little worried at first that I wouldn’t be able to motivate myself, especially with not having that team spirit and other people around, but so far it’s been really fun. It’s a great workout, and it kicks my butt.
Living in Southern California means plenty of outdoor exercise options. Do you play tennis?
I used to. I did a pilot a few years ago, where I play a Russian tennis player who is ranked No. 3 in the world. In preparation for that role I had to play a lot of tennis, so I took some lessons from professional tennis players. We shot the pilot, which was for ABC Family, but it didn’t get picked up. I actually never saw the episode, but the experience was absolutely amazing. So yeah, I love tennis. It’s such a great sport.
What is your hydration go-to?
I honestly love ice cold water with lemon in it. Not necessarily because it’s healthier than other drinks, but I just because I love the taste. In general, I would always prefer to eat my calories rather than drinking them – I would much rather have a piece of chocolate cake and a Coke [laughs]. I do drink a lot of water. It’s so important to hydrate, and water is best thing for you in that regard. I also drink a green juice at least once a day, one that’s packed with spinach, celery, and all kinds of greens. The benefits that it has are amazing.
What does the Sofia Mattson diet look like?
I’m pretty basic. I don’t do anything special. Just a lot of whole grains, a lot of veggies, and a lot of fruits. I eat a lot of soups and salads. I try to get a lot of greens in there. I must admit I’m not a great cook yet, but there are so many great restaurants in Los Angeles that have both vegan and vegetarian options, so and I do eat out a lot.
Sofia Mattsson Photo Courtesy Sofia Mattsson
Your TV and film credits include series such as Campus Security, NCIS, Jurassic City, and Becoming Bond. For the uninitiated, how competitive is Hollywood?
Oh, it’s definitely much more competitive than you can imagine. There are a lot of talented people coming here from all over, which makes it tough, but the digital world that we live in makes it even tougher. That’s because nowadays you can produce self-tapes so easily, and you don’t even have to be in Los Angeles to submit them. So instead of competing against actors who are physically in the L.A. area, you are competing against pretty much the whole world. Today, anyone from London or New York or anywhere can send in a self-tape.
You also need a thick skin, and you need to get used to hearing the word “no.” Trust me, before you land a job you’re going to get at least 100 rejections, usually more. It’s just part of the game. It’s very important not to get discouraged by it. That’s easier said than done, because it can be so frustrating at times. In other professions, if you do good work, then there’s a good chance you are going to move up the ladder, or you’re going to be rewarded somehow. When it comes to acting, you could be absolutely amazing in something that you do, and then you could end up not working for weeks or months at a time. But I’m an optimist. I do think that if you work really hard, eventually it will work out. It could just take longer for some than it does for others. You’ve gotta hang in there.
How does Sofia Mattsson handle rejection?
Rejection is always hard because you really have to prepare for a role. And if you go all-in and really do the work, there’s a good chance that you’re going to get emotionally attached. Sometimes you really fall in love with a certain role or a specific project, almost to the point where you can start imagining yourself in it – how amazing it would be to get to live that role, or how much fun it would be to do it – and then it could be over in one second. Maybe the audition doesn’t go well, or someone else shines brighter, or you’re just not what they’re looking for in that particular role. That moment when you realize you’re out of the running can be absolutely heartbreaking. It can really put you down. You definitely need to find a balance between your acting career and having a good life on the outside. That helps you keep things in perspective, so that acting doesn’t mean everything to you. And don’t’ get me wrong…to succeed, acting has to mean a lot to you…but it can’t be everything. You’ve got to have something else to go home and do when things don’t work out. Having a good group of friends around you also helps.
Sofia Mattsson Photo Courtesy Sofia Mattsson
How did you land an agent?
I got lucky, because my sister’s manager wanted to represent me when we got here. We vibed from the moment we met. She was really excited about managing my career, and I felt a good level of trust with her. So yes, I got really lucky. Through her, I got set up with my agent. She set up all of these meetings with various agents, and I interviewed with them until I found one that we kind of vibed the best with. I get it. Sometimes it’s hard for actors to find good representation here. So, for other aspiring actors, I would just say that that there are a lot of agents in Los Angeles. Reach out to as many as possible, and pick one that you feel has your best interests at heart.
Did your Swedish accent limit you in any way?
I really had to work on my accent. I had to take classes. In the beginning, I had to play a lot of Swedish roles, or Russian roles, or German roles. If you’re European and you have an accent, then you kind of fall under an umbrella that encompasses any European country. I did a lot of that in the beginning. Then I worked a lot on my accent to be able to play Americans as well.
Sofia Mattsson Photo Courtesy Sofia Mattsson
Final Question: If you had one piece of advice for other aspiring actors, what would that be?
To work really hard on your craft and make sure that you enjoy the process. Have fun while you’re living your dream!
If Liliana Tandon’s name has a familiar ring to it, maybe you’re one of the nearly 2 million viewers who’ve watched her comedic web series, Period Piece, the smartly-written, hilarious sendup that explores women in different periods of history…wait for it…having their periods. The award-winning series serves notice that the New York-based actor is not only brimming with talent, but that she also has her finger firmly on the pulse of today’s cultural zeitgeist, an artist so plugged in that her impersonations share the same rarefied air as those of Kate McKinnon and Melissa McCarthy (more on that later). Tandon’s clever parodies, each less than three minutes long and made on a shoestring budget, are the perfect bite-sized morsels for a socially-connected world in which everyone seems to suffer from attention deficit disorder. The episodes mirror their maker – intelligent, irreverent, and downright funny. They’re also rocket fuel for Tandon’s acting career, the trajectory of which already promises great things. As if that weren’t enough, the comedic powerhouse also boasts some serious acting chops: In 2016, she acted opposite Mira Sorvino and LisaGay Hamilton in the crime drama Indiscretion. On November 8, 2020, the Stella Adler grad stars in her first feature film, UPtv’s romantic comedy, A Ring for Christmas. Headlined with such big-name talent as Michael Gross (Family Ties), and the Academy Award-nominated Lorraine Bracco (Goodfellas, The Sopranos), Tandon plays a spoiled rich girl who gets cut off 25 days before Christmas. When her character, Angie Moore, discovers the existence of a sizeable trust fund she will inherit once she gets married, it jumpstarts an ill-fated hubby-search with a feel-good twist.
“My character wants to get married for all of the wrong reasons,” Tandon says with a laugh. “She’s motivated by the trust fund inheritance and not searching for true love, and she’s determined to pull it off before Christmas. It’s what she doesn’t see coming that changes everything.”
Without question, COVID-19 has also changed everything. While the world continues to struggle against the pandemic, Tandon sees A Ring for Christmas as a much-needed escape from the harsh realities of battling this virus.
“I’m very excited about A Ring for Christmas,” Tandon says. “As horrible as this year has been due to coronavirus, I think 2020 is the perfect year for this movie to come out. I think that people are really craving the holidays. People want cheer, joy, and festiveness. They want to be around their families – and even if they can’t, they still want to feel the coziness as if they were. A Ring for Christmas gives them a little bit of that coziness. The holidays can’t come fast enough this year.”
That A Ring for Christmas is even being released qualifies as a minor miracle.
photoSet dressers for the movie “A Ring for Christmas,” Layla Fee, left, and Rory Brett attach a sign for the fictitious pub McMillen’s on State Street. Photo Courtesy Bryan Eaton
“It was filmed during the 2019 holiday season, so all of the post-production work could still be completed, despite the pandemic,” Tandon says. “Laura Boersma and John Stewart Muller at Granfalloon Productions were simply amazing in that regard. They also introduced us to Michael Lurie, Jeffrey Giles, and Alex Coscas at StoryWorks, who are the producers behind the film. I was lucky, because I was allowed to do some editing with the team in Chicago. I had never been in a studio that size, or with that many big screens. It was really fun to get a peek at all of the post-production stuff, which wouldn’t have been possible if we hadn’t finished filming when we did. Thankfully it all came together. We’re finally able to share this movie with audiences who can certainly use a warm, funny distraction from everything going on right now.”
Liliana Tandon (right) in “A Ring for Christmas” Photo Courtesy UPtv
Tandon is the creative engine behind this holiday gem, and in more ways than one. She not only stars in A Ring for Christmas, she developed the concept and wrote the script.
“The executive team was so generous with me. They knew that I was the writer and the star, and they knew that this project was my little baby. They allowed me to have an unofficial producer role, which is very rare for a writer to have. They were very open to that. They were okay with me having input into the casting. I’m very thankful that they allowed me to have a seat at the table.”
Liliana Tandon’s love of acting goes back to her childhood, sparked during an eight-week summer camp at Brown Ledge in Vermont. Brown Ledge isn’t exclusively a theatre camp, but theatre is a big part of the program. At the time, she could have cared less. A 10-year-old Liliana Tandon was far more interested in horseback riding than learning lines.
“I was obsessed with horses at the time, but my oldest sister, Xandra, auditioned for a play. Being the youngest child of three, I said, ‘I want to do that. I want to copy my sister.’ So I auditioned for a play and discovered how much I loved it.”
To say the acting bug bit Tandon harder than the mosquitos on Lake Champlain would be an understatement. She fell in love with the stage, opening up a world full of new and exciting possibilities.
Mira Sorvino (left) and Liliana Tandon in “Indiscretion” Photo Courtesy Liliana Tandon
“The theatre department at Brown Ledge was unbelievable,” she says. “The camp was eight weeks long, and during that time we would do three one-act plays a week. You would get cast on Sunday, and then you would perform on Saturday night. Not only were we doing a short play every week, we were given two weeks to put together a full-length play, and two weeks to do a musical.”
A young Liliana Tandon was struck by the discipline and focus needed to pull off so much in so little time, attributes that serve her well today.
“Talk about an amazing learning experience,” Tandon continues. “That camp taught us how to build character and learn lines really fast. We were also involved in all aspects of the productions as campers, so it was truly a unique experience. During the day we got to help build the sets, and then we rehearsed during the afternoon and evening time. It was a great place to get my start in acting.”
Now, about Period Piece.
Liliana Tandon’s whip-smart web series has not only garnered plenty of attention – the first season had over one million views on YouTube, and was featured in Cosmopolitan, Seventeen, Women’s Health, Marie Claire France, and India Today – it has also been a critical success, winning Best Original Web Series in Elizabeth Banks’ 2016 WhoHaHa Female Comedy Awards. The episodes are funny from the jump, binge-worthy skits that not only pack a punch, but also aim to destigmatize menstruation in the media as well as empower women to embrace their periods. Whether the “period” is Victorian England or 1920’s Brooklyn, you can rest assured that the comedy is, pardon the pun, bloody funny.
Liliana Tandon (left) – “Period Piece – Season 2 – Ancient Rome” Photo Courtesy Liliana Tandon
“I was sitting on my friend Rachel Kent’s couch,” Tandon says, when asked about the moment that led to the series becoming reality. “She actually has a role in A Ring for Christmas. The two of us were sitting there, drinking wine, and just started laughing about the pun, ‘period piece.’ We were like, ‘That’s just funny when you think about it in those terms.’ We joked about writing a show about it, and then I woke up the next day and said, ‘Actually, I think that that’s a really good idea.’ This was right before the Me Too movement, and women were at the forefront of a lot of the social conversation. It was the perfect time to run with the idea.”
Tandon’s web series is especially brave considering the subject matter: Do it right, and you have an iconic moment on par with Melissa McCarthy’s Brides Maids character Megan, who memorably has diarrhea in a sink (not many Oscar-nominated performances can claim that); mishandle it, and you’re left picking up the pieces. Tandon not only nailed it, she partnered with Racket, a charity that provides free feminine hygiene products to women in need.
“It was so fun to write, and even better that we could help destigmatize something that every girl should be comfortable talking about, laughing at, and owning,” Tandon says. “Each episode is its own historical time period. I had to do my research. I took facts that I learned, as well as myths surrounding menstruation at time, and then exaggerated everything for comedic effect.”
Which brings us back to Kate McKinnon and Melissa McCarthy.
Period Piece was not only a 2016 Official Selection by both the Bushwick Film Festival and ITV Fest, it showed up and showed out in Banks’ female-driven comedy awards event: Two episodes were WhoHaHa finalists for Favorite Parody (against an Amy Schumer sketch), with Tandon herself a finalist for Best Impersonation for her impression of Donald Trump – against fellow finalists McCarthy and McKinnon.
“The Trump episode, I wrote that before the 2016 election, before he became president,” Tandon says. “We just thought that it would be fun to do something that was in the news today. At first I was looking for a man to play Trump, and I was going to play the Megyn Kelly character in the sketch. I had some great options, but my friend wanted to know why I wasn’t playing Trump. So, I thought, ‘Okay, this could be kind of fun.’ And it would definitely raise the ridiculousness of it.
“It was a very proud moment when Period Piece won for Best Original Web Series. And just having my impersonation going up against Melissa McCarthy and Kate McKinnon, who were nominated for the impressions that they were doing for Saturday Night Live at the time, was a pinch-me moment. I didn’t win – I think Melissa McCarthy won – but just being nominated with them was a thrill.”
A Ring for Christmas promises to keep Liliana Tandon on everyone’s wish list. That the Indian-American actor brings intelligence, humor, and beauty to the screen is certain to endear her to audiences everywhere, as well as for Christmases to come. That she gets to do so under the direction of highly-regarded industry veteran Don E. FauntLeRoy, best known for Jeepers Creepers and several Steven Seagal films, only makes it better.
“Don was very kind, and very generous with me. He sat down with me before we shot, and we went through the whole script. Since I was also the writer, he wanted to know if there was anything he should know when it came to picturing these characters, or how I imagined certain scenes would go. That way he could make sure that he was upholding my vision for this film.
“He and his wife have both been in the industry for a very long time. With me being the less-experienced person on the set, I expected them to come in and say, ‘Great, thank you, we’ve got this.’ But Don was so considerate. It taught me that a film is a collaborative effort. The best approach is to start from a place of ego-free collaboration. From there you can come together and talk about the movie and figure it out. The fact that Don has so many amazing credits, it was very generous of him to allow me to be involved in that way.
In addition to a quality director, the cast also packs plenty of star power.
Bracco has been nominated for an Academy Award, four Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards during her illustrious career. Gross, who graduated with an MFA from Yale, has performed steadily since 1975. He was white hot during the 1980s, playing opposite Michael J. Fox and Meredith Baxter-Birney in the hit TV series, Family Ties.
Liliana Tandon and Lorraine Bracco (right) in “A Ring for Christmas” Photo Courtesy StoryWorks
“It was such an honor to work with them both,” Tandon says quickly. “With Lorraine, I hope that people enjoy watching her, because it is very, very different from what she normally does. People know her from Goodfellas and the Sopranos, so they know her as this very tough woman. The way the part is written and the way she plays it, you still see that great toughness, which I think is perfect for this character. But it is a different type of role for her, so it was exciting to see her work.”
Tandon couldn’t have been happier with Bracco’s ‘whatever-it-takes’ attitude.
“Lorraine really helped establish that this was a team effort, and that she was a part of the team. We filmed in Newburyport, Massachusetts, in 2019. One day it was 12 degrees outside, before wind chill. When you’re the lone Academy Award nominee on the set, it would have been very easy for her to say, ‘Great, call me right before you say ‘action,’ and I’ll come out and say my lines and then go right back in where it’s warm. But she was out there, with the crew, setting such a good example for everybody, and creating such an all for one, and one for all vibe. I just love that about her. She was just such a trooper. Her work ethic is incredible.”
Tandon was equally impressed with Gross, who plays Margaret Moore’s husband, Graham.
“He is just as nice as you might imagine,” she says, smiling. “Like Lorraine, he was a great part of the team. The scenes that we had together were special because he was right there with me, giving me so much to work with. I felt so incredibly lucky.
Michael Gross (left) and Liliana Tandon in “A Ring for Christmas” Photo Courtesy Liliana Tandon
“There’s story about Michael Gross that always warms my heart. After we finished our scenes together, he asked me if we could get a picture together. It made me feel so great, because I didn’t have to ask him, he beat me to the punch. It made me feel that he was genuinely happy and excited to be there. He understood that I might be a little nervous asking for the picture, so he took it upon himself to take that burden off of me. I’m sure he could tell that I wanted one [laughs].”
A Ring for Christmas also stars South African hunk Dean Geyer as Gabe Hudson. Geyer, best-known for his role as Brody Weston on Glee, and for his strong martial arts background, is perfectly cast as Angie Moore’s love interest.
Liliana Tandon and Dean Geyer (right) in “A Ring for Christmas” Photo Courtesy UPtv
“Dean was really great to work with,” Tandon says. “He came out a couple of days early, so that we could have a chance to meet each other, and try to bond a little bit. Obviously, when you’re playing romantic opposites in a film, it’s always nice to develop a comfort level before the big kiss scene. You have to get to know people a little bit. So it was nice of him to come out early. He and Charles Hittinger, who plays Tyler Davis in the film, have something of a love triangle with me in the film. It was a lot of fun on the set, especially whenever they got together.”
With her magnetic screen presence, it’s easy to overlook the fact that A Ring for Christmas is Liliana Tandon’s screenplay. The multihyphenate is multitalented, and nowhere is that better illustrated than in the script. Tandon, a superb writer, took her time crafting this fun holiday romp. She also made a conscious decision not to overthink the process. The result is a feel-good movie with great character acting and a wonderful, well-paced storyline.
Photo Courtesy Liliana Tandon
“For me, it was about finding something that I’d enjoy for my first film,” she says. “I didn’t want it to be too complicated to write. With these types of movies, they are similar in that they have the same kinds of arcs built into them. Then I started brainstorming, and I thought it would be funny watching a girl rushing to get married before Christmas. I couldn’t believe that there wasn’t already a Christmas movie called, A Ring for Christmas. I jumped on it.”
The fact that Tandon reached out to others for help also shows great instincts.
“I started writing it, and it took me somewhere between nine months and a year to complete. Laura Boersma at Granfalloon has been a mentor of mine for years. I’d worked for her as a production assistant, and then as an actress, and now for the first time as the creative force behind a project. She’s the one who introduced us to StoryWorks – Jeffrey, Michael, and Alex – and they’ve made a ton of these, so this genre is really their bread and butter. Laura knew that we’d be in great hands with them, and that they would know what to do. It truly does take a village to put something like this together. I’m excited for audiences to see it.”
As winter sets in and the holiday season arrives, Liliana Tandon’s career is just heating up. A graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Tandon is excited about A Ring for Christmas and equally enthusiastic about what the future holds. She also has a passion for cooking, which should come in handy when (socially) gathered with her fiancée, Jon, to celebrate film’s premiere on UPtv on November 8.
Photo Courtesy Liliana Tandon
“I love the communal, familial aspect of cooking,” Tandon says. “Hosting dinner parties and having friends over, because those are the ways you make memories. To be able to prepare a meal and watch this film will be a fun way to spend an evening.”
Liliana Tandon is a baller.
Whether she’s being nominated with the likes of Kate McKinnon and Melissa McCarthy, scoring millions of YouTube visits, or acting opposite Mira Sorvino and LisaGay Hamilton, it’s clear that Tandon has both the ambition and the intellect to make a name for herself in Hollywood. That the Stella Adler grad is on the ready to share her secret sauce – her acting joie de vivre – with other creatives, well, that makes it all the better. “My biggest piece of advice would be this,” Tandon says. “If you’re feeling stuck or overwhelmed by this industry, I would say to lean into whatever it is that’s in your way. If you say, ‘I wish I could create something but I’m not a writer,’ I would say, ‘Just try it.’ I wasn’t a writer. I didn’t go to school for writing. That wasn’t something that I was traditionally trained in. There are books you can read, you might have friends you can talk to, and the Internet is practically a limitless source of information. Definitely utilize all of those, but I strongly suggest just jumping in and trying. I’m living proof. There’s nothing like the feeling of saying, ‘Wow I had control of this from the start to the finish. I got to make this film, A Ring for Christmas, and it wouldn’t have been possible if I hadn’t jumped in with both feet.’ The same thing is true with acting. Do short films. Cast yourself. I did exactly that with Period Piece, and it worked about great for me. You never know where the risks will lead, but you will never know if you don’t try.”
https://i0.wp.com/www.fifteenminuteswith.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/the_liliana_tandon_interview2.png?fit=600%2C400&ssl=1400600Michael McClellanhttps://www.fifteenminuteswith.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/FifteenMinutesWith_NewLogoPrototype.pngMichael McClellan2020-11-01 22:18:482020-11-03 19:04:43Liliana Tandon – A Ring for Christmas
