Fifteen-year-old Sway Bhatia has a major starring role in the Disney+ sequel series The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, that brings back the beloved Mighty Ducks team from the 1990s film franchise and has now evolved to become an ultra-competitive powerhouse team, leading to the creation of a new team of scrappy underdogs led by the Ducks’ original coach, portrayed by Emilio Estevez.
Sway plays the key character of Sofi in a strong ensemble cast. Before that, of course, the Indian girl who grew up in Dubai and shifted to the US when she was six, has been portraying Kendall Roy’s (played Jeremy Strong) daughter Sophie Roy in HBO’s Emmy Award winning television series Succession for seven years now. The Telegraph chatted with Sway on her big successes and being a south Asian teenaged actress in Hollywood.
How is the second season of The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers different from the first?
The show is definitely more relatable this season. I think a lot of young kids see themselves in my character, Sofi. That’s predominantly the feedback for this season.
Sway Bhatia (second from left) in The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers
What is it about doing this show that you like the most?
Bringing back the legacy of the ’90s franchise was a definite checklist. It has such a beautiful storyline about bringing the underdog team to the championship. I also love being part of such a diverse cast and getting to work with so many directors and writers brings it all together for me.
What have been the biggest learnings from working on a franchise series as big as this?
There have been many learnings over two seasons, but especially in Season 2, I was able to work closely with some eminent directors, especially Jay Chandrasekhar. I got to shadow him as a director. It was one of the biggest learning moments for me in my career so far.
Succession, of course, is a huge credit on your career list. What has been the experience of making that show and sharing screen space with such big names, especially Jeremy Strong, who plays your father?
Succession has been a dream to work on. I have learnt so much from being on that show, from my co-actors to the directors and writers. I have been on the show since age eight and I am now 15... so it’s been seven long years, but also an incredible process.
We have all sort of become a family and the shoot takes us to amazing places, and so my passion for travel comes true... we got to go to England and Italy.
I love working with Sarah Snook (who plays Siobhan “Shiv” Roy) and especially Jeremy Strong who plays my character’s (Sophie) father (Kendall Roy). Watching them at their craft is the best gift an actor of my age can get.
Sway Bhatia with her Succession co-star Jeremy Strong
How did the show happen to you all those years ago?
I had to audition and I remember the brief was for a 15- year-old girl belonging to an Irish family. And I kept wondering that how on earth could I play a 15-yearold as an eight-year-old?!’ (Laughs) I walked into a room and saw a bunch of older girls and I knew right then that I wouldn’t get the role. But I shook off all the nerves and I did my lines with the casting director. When I heard back that I had got the part, I was really shocked (laughs)!
Since then, it’s been a fantastic journey. Jesse Armstrong is such a fantastic writer and to see where the show is today in terms of popularity and impact, is very satisfying.
You started out at age three. How have you seen representation in Hollywood change over the last few years?
I think there definitely has been a change. My character Sofi started off as a stereotype and then she got out of it pretty quickly. In Season 1, she was a nerd but was still kind of cool because she was on the hockey team. Having a young female south Asian hockey player on the show broke that stereotype. And now you see her being even more cool and popular, she has this amazing connection with her parents.... she is quite unlike what you would expect a south Asian to be on a Disney show.
I have got a lot of messages on Instagram from young girls like me who tell me how much it means to them to see a south Asian hockey player on screen. This year, when I went to the south Asian event and the pre-Oscar event, I was able to meet so many of my role models and I felt exactly the way I think young kids feel about Sofi. It was a full-circle moment... that was really awesome.
But while that shift in representation is happening, I won’t say that we are completely where we need to be. But it’s definitely opening up more opportunities.
From even when I first booked The Mighty Ducks in 2019, things have changed now. We are seeing more south Asian leads, more south Asian female leads.... It’s not only an opportunity for me to be part of it but also to be able to look up to so many other people. We see so many south Asian projects coming out, and that’s not something that we had when I was growing up.
You are a representative of ‘Girls of Color’. What can you tell us about that?
Representation is very important and being able to be a role model for young girls is one of the most important things to me when it comes to being a part of this industry. Growing up, I didn’t see as many people that looked like me on screen.
I grew up in Dubai and I was used to seeing south Asians everywhere. But when I moved to America at the age of six, it all changed. That was my wake-up call... realising that the Hollywood industry is very different from Bollywood.
So now I try and bring a bit of myself and what I represent to my work. On Instagram, I talk to my followers about my culture, the Hindu religion that I follow and the practices I follow. Like it even happened to me on Season One of The Ducks where my co-star and I were getting a bagel in between shoot and he passed me a knife and I asked him to put it on the table because we follow this superstition of never passing on a knife directly. And the next time, he actually remembered that and put down the knife and gave it to me. So little things like that... just being able to inform and influence people about my culture.
Who are your role models?
I look up to Priyanka Chopra (Jonas)... she always has been one of my role models, especially for her transition from Bollywood to Hollywood. In a way, she started a revolution which did a lot to further representation. She played a south Asian cop in Quantico and yet it was not a stereotype.
What do you like doing as a teen when you aren’t acting?
I try and be as normal a girl as I can. When I am not working, I go to my town’s public school. I study music, I also go to ballet school. I try and train in many other fields as well. I grew up in theatre, so I do the dancing-acting-singing trio. Other than that, I write original songs. I also like cooking with my dad and travelling around the world. I went to Italy this summer and I was able to go to Paris as well. So I ticked those two off my list. But I want to go to an island area. I have always wanted to go to Bali.
So what do you cook best?
I am getting into Indian food. I am still trying to get my puris right! (Laughs) My dad and I make some good pasta. I always turn my house into a restaurant when family comes over. And then to burn off all that food, I like doing Pilates with my mom. I love doing Pilates and boxing.
My favourite Asian actor in Hollywood is...Tell t2@abp.in