Emmy award-winning actress Mishael Morgan (“The Young and The Restless”) chatted about starring in the film “Sway,” and serving as an executive producer.
Aside from Morgan, it stars Emmanuel Kabongo, Lovell Adams-Gray, and Brittany Raymond, among others.
‘Sway’
The movie was written by Charlie Hamilton, who directed it along with Zachary Ramelan. James Stewart (“Chateau Laurier”) serves as producer alongside Kabongo, Hamilton and Daniel Govia with Morgan executive producing with Sari Colt, Chris Morsby and Liane Kotler.
“I watched James Stewart’s ‘Chateau Laurier’ series, and I thought it was incredible,” she said. “James blew me away with his knowledge of festival and the industry altogether. James was the glue that kept a lot of us together. He was the right person to streamline it, and help us what we wanted to the finish line without disrupting the creative process too much. James was awesome.”
In “Sway,” a black community leader, who has it all, sees his life spiral out of control within hours after his brother goes missing, he is blackmailed by a strange woman, and a murder tests how far he will go to protect the ones he loves.
“Sway” will be world premiering at the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles on Thursday, February 8. “We are looking forward to this premiere,” Morgan admitted.
Working with Emmanuel Kabongo
On working on this thriller, Morgan said, “Emmanuel is amazing. It was a blast working with him; he was so committed to this project. It really was a passion project for him and I enjoyed watching him shine. I’ve known Emmanuel [Kabongo] personally, but we actually never worked together up until this point.”
“When I came back to Toronto, he asked me to help him produce this film. When I read the script, I just really loved it. This is my first executive producer credit, and we just hit the ground running. It was a lot of fun and being in the driver’s seat,” she elaborated.
“I have a Political Science background so I loved how it touched on structural discrimination and it really showed that people are a reflection of their environment,” she said.
“I also fell in love with cultural anthropology. People are a certain way because they live somewhere. The structural issues in those areas cause people to suffer in different ways,” she added.
Mishael Morgan on playing a ‘mysterious’ character
Morgan was drawn to her character in “Sway” because she has two sides to her.
“My character comes in and she has two different sides to her,” she said. “I love playing those sides, especially since I’ve played twins on ‘The Young and The Restless.’ In this film, she does have a mysterious side and I love playing characters that have a little complexity to them,” she explained.
“There is something else going on, and you can see that there is life living underneath. There is a lot of double meanings to the things that they say, and I really enjoy that,” she added.
Reflecting on her Emmy win for ‘Outstanding Lead Actress’
Morgan reflected on her 2023 Daytime Emmy win for “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series,” where she won for playing Amanda Sinclair on “The Young and The Restless.”
With this historic win, Morgan was the first African American woman to ever win the “Lead Actress” Daytime Emmy Award. “That was fun,” she said with a sweet laugh. “That was a really incredible moment, for sure. It will definitely go down as one of the highlights of my life.”
Working with Ptosha Storey
“I had some great scenes with Ptosha Storey; she was incredible,” Morgan said about her on-screen partner, who played the role of Naya Benedict, and scored an Emmy nomination in her own right for her performance.
“Ptosha was the one that inspired me to submit in the ‘Lead Actress’ category,” Morgan said. “Ptosha told me they were ‘bringing me in to support your story,’ and I told her ‘thank you.’ She was right, and I am so indebted to her for that.”
Stage of her life
On the title of the current chapter of her life, Morgan shared, “Surrendering to the plans that I see unfolding.”
Favorite motto to live by
Regarding her favorite motto to live by, she said with a sweet laugh, “Everything in moderation, including moderation.”
Closing thoughts on the thriller ‘Sway’
For viewers and fans, Morgan said, “Just like the title, people can always ‘sway’ you. Sometimes, there are no good guys and no bad guys.”
“Truly, the complexity of people is what makes stories and life interesting. Sometimes, you need to peel the onion or look behind the curtain to really understand people,” she acknowledged.
“The interesting thing about the movie is that he is presented as a hero and somewhere along the lines, he seems like a villain, and then, you wonder is he the hero or the villain? That really puts you in a paradox with Sway,” Morgan concluded.
To learn more about Emmy award-winning actress Mishael Morgan, check out her IMDb page, and follow her on Instagram and Twitter.
