Ryan Jamaal Swain

While attending Howard University, Swain appeared in productions such as Anything Goes.[3][8] He has also performed in plays including Six Degrees of Separation and Thoughts of a Colored Man, as well as starring in several Off-Broadway productions such as Kill Move Paradise at the National Black Theatre in New York.[3][9] Despite his small screen debut, Swain still gives back to the theater community. In 2018, it was reported that he hosted an impromptu acting workshop at the Forma Arts + Wellness studio in Birmingham.[10]

In 2017, Swain was cast as Damon Richards in Ryan Murphy's FX television series Pose.[11] The series premiered on June 3, 2018, and attracted critical acclaim.[12][13] The first season boasted the largest cast of transgender actors ever for a scripted network series,[11] with over 50 transgender characters.[14] On July 12, 2018, it was announced that the series had been renewed for a second season, which was set to premiere sometime in 2019.[15] Due to his Southern background, Swain had never heard of or been exposed to the ball culture depicted in Pose. Swain based his performance on his viewing of the 1990 documentary Paris is Burning during his college years.[2] He also drew upon his experience of moving to New York City with just "50 dollars in his pocket" in order to pursue his dreams.[16] Swain's character returned for the first episode of the third and final season, but was written out for the second half of the episode, which was filmed during Swain's exit from the series due to the death of Swain's real-life sister.[17]

Swain's first major foray into writing was in 2014 when he wrote and starred in A Negro Writer, a one-man show about the life of American writer Langston Hughes.[3] He announced plans to write a teen fiction book about a Southern teenager.[1][18]