Who is Kristy Swanson? Everything You Need to Know

Quick Facts

Also Known As: Kristen Noel Swanson

Age: 54 Years, 54 Year Old Females

Family:

Spouse/Ex-: Lloyd Eisler (m. 2009)

father: Robert Swanson

mother: Rosemary Swanson

children: Magnus Hart Swanson Eisler

Actresses American Women

Height: 5'6" (168 cm), 5'6" Females

U.S. State: California

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Childhood & Early Life

Born on December 19, 1969, in Mission Viejo, California, USA, Kristy Swanson is one of the two children of Robert and Rosemary Swanson. Both of her parents are former physical education teachers. Besides Kristy, they have a son named Rob, who is the older of the two.

When she was nine years old, she became interested in acting and spoke to her parents about it. She subsequently started appearing in TV commercials. Her first work as a young model was in a commercial for a particular brand of doll houses.

In the following few years, she became part of numerous commercial campaigns. By the time she turned 13, she could not attend school anymore because of her work schedule. Swanson eventually earned her high school degree from El Toro High School.

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Career

Kristy Swanson began her acting career in a season one episode of ‘It’s Your Move’ in 1984. Two years later, she landed her first big screen role, in John Hughes’ ‘Pretty in Pink’. While she did not have any line in the film, she clearly made a mark on the audience. She worked with Hughes again in ‘Ferris Bueller's Day Off’.

'Ferris Bueller's Day Off’ is also one of the three films in which she shared screen space with Charlie Sheen, the other two being ‘Hot Shots!’ (1991) and ‘The Chase’ (1994). She portrayed the character Becky in the 1988 TV movie ‘Nightingales’ and the NBC’s short-lived medical drama series of the same name.

In the season three of CBS’ supernatural drama ‘Early Edition’, Swanson portrayed Erica Paget, a romantic interest of the protagonist, Gary Hobson (Kyle Chandler).

In November 2002, she was featured nude on Playboy’s cover pictorial. In 2006, she became the winner of Fox’s celebrity reality show ‘Skating with Celebrities’. Between 2011 and 2014, she portrayed Marlowe Viccellio, detective Carlton Lassiter’s girlfriend and eventual wife, in six episodes of USA Network’s detective comedy-drama ‘Psych’.

In 2018, she worked in two TV movies, ‘Bad Stepmother’ and ‘Winter’s Dream,’ and a feature film, ‘Killer Under the Bed’. She is set to appear in the drama ‘A Parent’s Worst Nightmare’ and the science fiction thriller ‘Jessica Frost’.

Major Works

In 1992, Kristy Swanson played the titular character in the comedy horror film, ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’. Written by Joss Whedon and directed by Fran Rubel Kuzui, the film was a modest hit at the box office while receiving mostly negative reviews from the critics. However, it has since become a cult classic, primarily because Whedon went on to develop a very successful TV show of the same name.

Swanson garnered rave reviews for her portrayal of Kristen Connor in John Singleton’s directorial venture, ‘Higher Learning’. The film deals with the racial issues that have plagued US since its inception in the microcosmic setting of a fictitious university called Columbus University. Besides Swanson, the movie also stars Omar Epps, Ice Cube, Michael Rapaport, Jennifer Connelly, and Laurence Fishburne

Family & Personal Life

Kristy Swanson was previously in a relationship with actor Alan Thicke, who is older than her by 23 years. They began dating when she was 17 years old and got engaged after she turned 19. However, they never went through with the wedding and eventually parted ways.

While Swanson was a contestant on ‘Skating with Celebrities’, she was involved in an affair with her partner and Canadian pair skater Lloyd Eisler. At the time, Eisler was still married to, but separated from, his wife Marcia O’Brien, who was pregnant.

A month after Eisler divorced O’Brien, his and Swanson’s son, Magnus Hart Swanson Eisler, was born on February 16, 2007. The couple married on February 7, 2009.

Kristy Swanson Biography