Austin Swift turned to acting because he was an outsider in high school.
The 25-year-old brother of Taylor Swift – who has had roles in ‘Live by Night’ and ‘I.T.’, admitted that weighing 250lbs as a teenager left him virtually friendless and he turned to movies to get through some tough teen years.
He explained to Vanity Fair: "I didn’t have a lot of friends. I would go to the movies, and Daniel Craig was my friend, and Christian Bale was my friend, and Clive Owen was my friend, and Viggo Mortensen was my friend."
And although Taylor, 27, knew from a young age that she wanted to be a singer, it took Austin a little longer to find his own path.
He said: "She found singing, and I knew from very early on that that was her direction. She was never going to quit; that was her thing, that was her life … and I was always a little bit, you know, doing this, doing that."
While he has not followed his sister into the music business, Austin has learned a great deal from her.
He said: "Something I learned myself, and learned through watching her, is respect. You just respect everyone’s time, everyone that you’re working with. They’re all there, it’s all their lives, and you need to put the work in to be worth that."
Earlier this year, it was revealed that Austin has been offered a guest slot in season two of ‘Still The King’ alongside Billy Ray Cyrus, who plays scandal-ridden Elvis impersonator Vernon Brownmule, aka ‘Burnin’ Vernon.’
Taylor’s brother will star as Tyler, the manager of Nashville’s premiere music venue The Bluebird Café and he’ll share the screen with Hollywood veteran Richard Dreyfus’ niece Natalie Dreyfuss, who reprises her role from series one Leia.
Austin is steadily building his acting career, having graduated from Notre Dame’s prestigious Department of Film, Television and Theater in 2015.
Lonely Austin Swift found refuge in movies
