Q&A with the extraordinary

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David Tong – Real Genius

Written By: Michael D. McClellan |

David Tong’s office has a view of the courtyard where Sir Isaac Newton once lived, and just beyond that, the location of the famous apple tree that gave birth to Newton’s theory of gravitation. Tong, like Newton, is a fellow of Trinity College, and his gig as theoretical physicist at the University of Cambridge comes with a myriad of such history-infused perks. He’s lectured in the same room as Michael Faraday, considered the godfather of electromagnetism; roamed the same halls as Sir J.J. Thomson, the Nobel Laureate credited with the discovery of the electron; and worked in the same lab (Cavendish Laboratory) where 30 researchers have gone on to win Nobel Prizes. Tong’s area of focus is quantum field theory, a topic made popular in the mainstream by the Large Hadron Collider, located in Geneva, Switzerland. Remember the LHC? The switch got flipped, and billions of protons flew around a seventeen-mile loop at nearly the speed of light until they smashed together hard, harder than any subatomic particles have ever been smashed together on earth. It was the greatest, most anticipated, most expensive experiment in the history of mankind. It also proved the existence of the elusive Higgs boson, better-known in pop culture as the “God particle,” which was the last holdout particle remaining hidden during the quest to check the accuracy of the Standard Model of Physics. Tong, like the rest of the scientific community at the time, was keenly interested in the experiments at the LCH, but he was hardly surprised by the results.

“It was almost anticlimactic,” Tong says of the July 4, 2012, discovery of the Higgs. “The science had long predicted the existence of the Higgs boson, and the fact that it agreed with the Standard Model made absolutely perfect sense. Nonetheless, it was a profound discovery.”

Photo Courtesy David Tong

Tong pauses. He understands that, for the most of us, the Standard Model is a complete and utter snoozefest.

“The theory, to put it simply, is the pinnacle of science,” he continues, in his gentlemanly British accent. “It’s the greatest theory we’ve ever come up with, and yet we’ve given it the most astonishingly rubbish name you’ve ever heard of. The Standard Model. You can’t get much more boring than that.”

Born in Crawley, England, David Tong came of age at a time when Britain was being convulsed by a social, cultural and political counter-revolution. Margaret Thatcher emerged as the political face of the decade. There was violence on the football terraces and on the inner-city streets. Graffiti artists like Robert Del Naja, otherwise known as 3D, came to symbolize the disaffected youth in the dark dystopia of 1980s Bristol. The forces that drove the punks and new wave bands that followed them were similar to those that motivated the Thatcherite ideologues – profound desire for consensus-breaking transformation. This was also a time of great innovation in pop music, as bands inspired by the can-do attitude of the punks and by the art-school cool of David Bowie began to experiment with synthesisers and computers, new technologies that would change forever the way music was made. Tong is a reflection of this creative-yet-turbulent period in British history. He emerged from humble beginnings, growing up in a working class neighborhood, himself as ordinary a boy as you might imagine. The 2008 winner of the Adams Prize, the highest honor at Cambridge University, is a real genius who has made it on his own steam, socioeconomic barriers be damned.

“That period was hard on Britain’s working class,” Tong replies, when asked about those bleak days during the ‘80s. “We weren’t alone in that respect. Everyone else was in it right along with us.”

Trinity College – University of Cambridge

Talk to him today and you’ll discover that Tong’s just as comfortable ranking Aerosmith’s discography as he is theorizing about dark energy, the mysterious antigravitational force causing everything in the universe to repel everything else. Close your eyes and it’s easy to imagine him making regular hit-and-run raids on London to visit clubs such as the Wag, the Electric Ballroom, the Cha-Cha under the arches at Charing Cross, and the Camden Palace. That’s because Tong, for all of his genius, did his fair share of partying during his late teens and early twenties.

“Let’s just say there were times when I could have applied myself more,” he says with a laugh. “It took a while for me to prioritize things properly.”

Tong’s life at that time, like everything else during the mid-80s, became becalmed. Britain’s fiercest political battles had been fought and won. The miners were defeated. Free-market fundamentalism was the new orthodoxy. People began to feel richer. The pop music was dismal. The culture became coarser and more reactionary. Tong would make his way north from Crawley to London in search of the latest concert, unsure of how he’d make it back home after. Memories just as meaningful as his road to higher learning.

“I had so much fun on those trips to London,” he says. “We got to see so many great concerts, and some bad ones, too.”

Tong attended Hazelwick, a comprehensive school whose notable pupils include Laura Moffatt, a Crawley native and former member of Parliament. From there he attended the University of Nottingham, earning his Bachelor of Science in Mathematical Physics. His next stop was at Kings College in London, where he earned his Masters of Science in Mathematics. In 1995 he headed to Swansea, where he attended the University of Wales and completed his PhD in Theoretical Physics. All of this setting the stage for his jump across the pond – to the University of Washington as a visiting student, then to Columbia University for his postdoctoral research, followed by stops at MIT and Stanford.

David Tong lectures during the Royal Institution’s Friday Evening Discourse Lecture Series

“I grew up at MIT,” Tong says, reflecting on his journey to the hallowed halls of Cambridge. “Until I got there, I wasn’t truly invested as I should have been. At MIT, I learned what it takes to be a serious physicist, and I think that’s when I truly applied myself.”

Today, Tong is fully invested in quantum field theory. His lectures include classical mechanics, electromagnetism, quantum mechanics, condensed matter, and statistical physics. The charismatic professor has been a part of the Royal Institution’s Friday Evening Discourse lecture series (be sure to check him out on YouTube), which date back to Faraday’s time at Cambridge. And he continues to ponder the biggest problems in our universe, including the ever-elusive quest for a theory of everything.

“If you are a theoretical physicist, it’s something you endeavor to – but it’s also something that you’re likely to fail at. You know this going in. It’s the price of admission.”

Tong’s generation of theoretical physicists is only the most recent to embark on it. The idea seemed logical enough when Einstein first set out on it in the 1920s. If general relativity explains the universe from afar – why gravity pulls the earth around the sun – and quantum mechanics explains the world up close – how atoms, protons, and neutrons react to electromagnetism and the strong and weak forces – surely there must be a way to put the two theories together. After all, whether cosmic in size or minuscule, the particles and forces that govern our universe were all born at the same primordial moment. Yet Einstein failed. And in the interim, armies of physicists, equipped with similarly well-intentioned yet ultimately faulty or unprovable ideas, have followed him to the same well-trod dead end. Tong knows this going in, but that doesn’t make him any less determined.

“We theoretical physicists are gluttons for punishment,” he says, chuckling. “The only way you make a breakthrough is to keep hammering way. It’s what we do.”

Let’s jump in a DeLorean and time travel back to your childhood.

To be honest, it’s not the most interesting time of my life. I grew up in Crawley, England, which is a commuter town about 30 miles south of London. It’s an ugly town [laughs]. It’s got Britain’s second largest airport next to it – Gatwick Airport – so there was zero unemployment at a time in the 1980s when unemployment was rife in the country. I don’t have many complaints. It was a fine place to be, but it’s not a place that I’m desperate to go back to – actually, that’s not quite true because my mom still lives there, and everybody wants to go back home and see their mom! Other than that, there’s not too much going for it.

What was the school system like in Crawley, England?

Education is clearly important if you’re going to be a theoretical physicist. I went to a fairly good school, but there is a gap in this country between private education and what you guys in the States call public education. In the UK we have this Orwellian speak. Public schools are the fancy ones you pay 30,000 pounds a year to attend, and then you have the state schools, which is the kind that I went to. I had an okay education. In the context of my larger family, there wasn’t a history of education or going to university. No one in my family had ever gone to university before, so I was something of a trailblazer in that respect. I had very supportive parents, my mom in particular. She was a schoolteacher, so she really thought that education was crucial. I went off to a place called Nottingham. My American friends think this is fictional, because that’s where Robin Hood is from, but it really exists.

The Large Hadron Collider

When did you become interested in science?

Around the age of seventeen. I was always good at math, but at some point in my life I learned that there was this bigger thing out there called physics. I think the moment was probably when I got Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time for my birthday. Until then, it never occurred to me that there was something called quantum mechanics, or that there were black holes. You don’t do any of the stuff in school, and it just blew my mind. It was utterly astonishing. And then on top of that, I learned from Hawking’s book that there existed this job – being a theoretical physicist. That had never occurred to me. The fact that you could just think about these things for a living was equally as mind blowing. I decided very early on that this is what I wanted to do, while also realizing that it was probably not where I was going to end up. Somehow, everybody gets diverted, so I thought that it was unlikely that I would become a theoretical physicist.

David Tong – Photo Courtesy Royal Institution

What did your family think of your career path?

My family did encourage me along the way, but always with a sense of bafflement. I don’t think they ever really understood what I was doing, but they always made it clear that they were extremely proud of me. Going to university, being the first person in the family to do that, there was a clear sense of support in that way. My wider family were genuinely baffled. At some point when I went on and did a PhD, my grandfather took me to one side and sort of let me know that one degree was okay, and maybe the Masters was pushing it, but why do a third degree in physics? He told me, “You know, your cousin…he’s a few years younger than you, but he’s got a good job. He’s laying carpet, he’s got his own van. It’s about time that you did something like this. When are you going to get your own van?” [Laughs.] His advice came from a sense of love. Actually, my cousin is doing tremendously well with his carpet business and is earning much more than I ever will. So my grandfather was probably right with his advice.

Was there a particular teacher or class that helped fuel your interest in science and mathematics?

I think everybody has wonderful teachers at one time or another during their schooling. Some of them I don’t think I was very nice to, to be honest. Maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit. Mrs. Salter was one of these teachers that was very strict, very stern. You really wouldn’t get a smile out of her, but she was an amazing math teacher.

Did you ever struggle in school?

I almost bombed physics. I had a year where we really didn’t have a physics teacher, and I was bombing physics because I didn’t understand it. She was a biology teacher, and she was saying stuff that didn’t make sense, so it wasn’t really working for me. I wasn’t alone in that respect. I think everybody in the class was bombing, so they decided to put in a proper physics teacher. He was an old Air Force guy with no hair and a very distinctive head, as if it had been molded by his Air Force helmet [laughs]. Mr. Hobbs. Again, very stern.  When he started explaining stuff, it just clicked. Suddenly it all started making sense.

You went to high school at Hazelwick. Please tell me about that.

Hazelwick is a Comprehensive School. This means it is a state school, which is the most common kind of school here in the UK. It was run by a headteacher that sort of had delusions of grandeur. He thought it was more prestigious than it actually was, and yet I think that vision did turn it into something more prestigious. By that I mean it was a school which focused very much on academic excellence, even though it was the kind of school where that typically wasn’t the priority.

You’ve described yourself as a geek in high school. What were you into during this period in your life?

When I was a young teenager I was super nerdy. Super geeky. I was into computer games. I had friends, but I wore a big, thick-rimmed glasses, kind of like the ones I wear now, although they are a little cooler now than they were considered back then. At some point I started meeting friends who were way cooler than I was, and I slowly realized that there is a bit more to life than just sums.

I had a set of friends that were into really bad ‘80s metal bands. By the time I was 17 we were going up to London and going to all of these rock concerts. There were times when we were sleeping out because we had missed the last train home. We saw some great bands like Aerosmith, but we also saws some really terrible bands as well. Poison – why was I into the band Poison and their song Every Rose Has Its Thorn?

Aerosmith – One of the many bands David Tong saw in concert during the 1980s

Scientists are often stereotyped as humorless, arrogant, and introverted. That’s not you at all.

Oh yes, I would describe myself as humorless, arrogant, and introverted [laughs]! Have you seen The Big Bang Theory? I have to say that there is a little bit of Sheldon Cooper in all of us theoretical physicists. Maybe not quite that level of arrogance…it’s just under the surface, I think most of us are just hiding it well.

You received your Bachelor of Science in Mathematical Physics from the University of Nottingham. What did you do for fun?

I’m not sure I even remember extracurriculars. There was lots of doing what young people do, like clubbing, although looking back on it I’m not even sure I liked nightclubs. Looking back at it, there was lots of time spent in nightclubs and going out drinking. Maybe just a bit too much partying, to be honest. But I got a good education there.

Was Nottingham your first choice?

I applied to Oxford, but Oxford didn’t want me so I went to Nottingham. I got a good education there, that’s important to stress. England is a bit strange; if you are an undergraduate in England, it’s Oxford and Cambridge, and then everything else is considered a cut below. I guess the closest comparison in the United States is the Ivy League. And it’s extremely competitive here. I can see that now, as a professor at Cambridge. We get the best people from all around the world and put them together and challenge them. As a professor, I think that is fantastic. However, had I come here when I was 18, I think I would have struggled to no end. I wouldn’t have been able to compete with the students from the super fancy schools, or the brilliant minds excelling in the International Math Olympiad and International Physics Olympiad competitions. I think I would’ve probably ended up doing something else. So, somehow not getting into Oxford was a bit of good luck. It allowed me a little bit more time to learn physics, and to learn about myself as well.

From there it was on to Kings College, in London. Was the city a distraction?

Yes. I spent a year in London during the mid-90s, earning my Masters in Mathematics. Take any guy who’s 21 and put them in the middle of London, and they might not be doing as much work as they’d hoped. I had two years like this. Some years later I had a year in New York, where I had the best time outside of academics, and maybe my physics career didn’t quite progress as it should. I needed to refocus.

You earned your PhD in Theoretical Physics at the University of Wales, Swansea.

Swansea wasn’t considered a top rate university, but they had just hired a new Theoretical Physics Department, which consisted of maybe eight people, all very young, all super ambitious, and all super smart. It was the best place to be. There was no hierarchy. You’re going out with the professors for beer in the evening, or doing picnics down on the beach together…there was a real sense of everyone starting something exciting. I had a brilliant advisor who was doing cutting edge stuff. We were learning about string theory, which was really quite exciting.

In 1997 you spent two years as a visiting student at the University of Washington.

Seattle is a hell of a town. I think it was the first time I had left the UK in four or five years. I remember the plane flying in over the mountains, and I had never seen mountains in my life before. I didn’t have anywhere to stay when I arrived, so I stayed in a youth hostel between Christmas and New Year’s Day. What I’ve come to learn is that there are very few clear days in Seattle, but one of my first days there was the rare exception. I stepped out of that youth hostel and it was utterly clear and you could see the mountains of the Olympic Peninsula just silhouetted in the horizon. My word, it just took my breath away. It’s utterly spectacular. It was a wonderful time. The physics department was prestigious, and also you had many extraordinarily talented people, including David Thouless, who had recently won the Nobel Prize. For the first time I was immersed in an environment where I was learning physics in a way that I hadn’t before.

The next step was your postdocs. What’s that like?

The way it works is that you do your PhD, and then six years of postdocs. These are usually two or three year positions. It’s wonderful, really, because they allow you to do anything you want. They give you a desk and a computer, and they just say, “Do your best work.” The flipside is that in two or three years you’re going to be unemployed and you are going to have to find another job.

Where did you conduct your postdoctoral research?

I think I applied for 120 positions the first time around, basically everywhere on the planet that did my kind of theoretical physics. I got one offer. That one offer was in Mumbai, India, so that is where I went. After marrying my wife, moving to India ranks as possibly the greatest decision of my life. It’s amazing there, just a wonderful place. In terms of science, this was 20 years ago, and back then India wasn’t a country that could inject a lot of money into science. Fortunately for me, theoretical physics is dirt cheap – you need maybe a pen and paper and a computer – so that wasn’t really a barrier. They also had some of the best theoretical physicists in the world, so it was the perfect place to learn. And I was able to immerse myself into the country’s amazing culture, music, and food, while making the best friends. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed as much in my life as I did in that one year in India. It really was a spectacular experience.

Sir Isaac Newton

Your research career includes stops at Columbia University, MIT, Stanford, and the University of Cambridge. That’s a pretty impressive portfolio.

Columbia University was fun. There was a time in the 1950s when the Physics Department at Columbia University was the center of the physics world, and every single name on the corridor had Nobel Prizes or was going to have Nobel Prizes. The fact that I was enjoying New York City – perhaps a little too much – meant that I probably didn’t get as much out of physics as I could have. I definitely enjoyed myself there. Then, two months later, I got this offer from MIT. That was really my dream job. I was seriously torn about whether I should stay in New York, which presumably meant dropping physics, or whether I should go to MIT. Well, MIT is usually ranked as the best physics department in the world, so I felt that the opportunity was too good to turn down.

In many ways, MIT was where I really learned to become a physicist. It was late in my life, I had my PhD, and I had done three years of postdocs. But moving there and seeing very smart people working incredibly hard and with unbridled passion – people that had won the Nobel Prize or who were on the cusp of winning it – that kind of turned my head. It made me realize that if you want to be good at physics, then you have to be very serious. I just looked around: If they are obviously smarter than me, and they are working much, much harder than me, then what chance do I have? I think that’s when I kind of grew up a little bit, to be honest. I realized that physics can be a fun hobby, but if you really want to make it into something more, then it requires a dedication. It was probably at MIT when I first really did that.

Let’s talk about the Royal Institution and the history there. Is the desk where you’ve lectured the same desk that Michael Faraday gave his famous Christmas lecture in 1856?

I make a comment on the YouTube video during my lecture, which says that if that is Faraday’s original desk, then he could have made life very easy for himself.

How so?

Because there’s a three-pin plug socket, and he could’ve just discovered electricity there [laughs]. I think the desk has been replaced at least once, but aside from the socket it’s an exact replica. It was probably replaced 150 or 200 years ago, and then modified to have electricity.

Some giants of science have lectured in that room, Michael Faraday and Humphry Davy among them. Please tell me about these two men.

Humphry Davy was the first Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution. He was a very prominent chemist who discovered at least four elements of the periodic table. He’s a pretty impressive guy. Faraday was his protégé. Surprisingly, Faraday was almost entirely uneducated. He left school at the age of 14 to become a bookbinder. He somehow pushed his way into the Royal institution to work as a lab tech for Humphry Davy, and from there pushed his way to become one of the greatest scientists of all time.

Michael Faraday

I’ve read where the lecture series was Faraday’s idea.

When Faraday was 34, he started this lecture series at the Royal Institution, called the Friday Evening Discourse. He gave most of the lectures for the first 40 years, and they used to be held every single week. Now they only do them once a month, but they have been running since the 1700s, so the tradition is still there.

And now we can add David Tong to the esteemed list of lecturers.

It was such an honor to receive the invitation and speak in this room. There are some traditions that aren’t clear from the YouTube video, one of which dates back to the early 1800s. The story goes that a guy named Charles Wheatstone was due to give a lecture, but he was a very nervous speaker, and, as it turns out, he was also a runner. Just before Wheatstone was supposed to turn up, he abandoned the lecture and Faraday had to stand in a give a lecture in his place. So to prevent this from happening, for the last 200+ years, they have a tradition of locking the speaker in a room for 10 minutes before the lecture.

Now, to say I was nervous to give this lecture was an understatement. To be locked in a room for 10 minutes before I was supposed to go on…my heart was beating through my chest! They finally came and let me out, and escorted me to the lecture hall entrance. There were two guys in uniform holding these big, fancy doors, and through the door I could almost hear somebody introducing me. Then they opened the door and in I went. The tradition is that you enter, but you don’t say, “Hello.” You don’t say, “Welcome.” You just start off with the lecture. So, it’s a very strange experience. I loved it. It was really a thrill to do that.

David Tong – Photo Courtesy Royal Institution

Today, you teach at Cambridge. That’s quite an honor.

I’m associated a with place called Trinity College, which is a college within Cambridge University. Let me say that history hangs heavy. I have two offices; my departmental office is very nice and modern, and I have blackboards everywhere. My other office is located in Trinity College. It’s in a building that was built in the 1600s, and it overlooks an astonishing court – if I crane my neck I can see where Newton lived, and beyond that, the spot where his apple tree was located. The people who have passed through Trinity include J.J. Thomson, who discovered the electron; Ernest Rutherford, who discovered the structure of the atom; and James Clark Maxwell, who discovered the theories of electricity and magnetism and who put Faraday’s work on proper mathematical footing. The list just goes on and on and on. At some point you just have to shrug and laugh it off, because these are not people whose footsteps you can fill. So, it’s a privilege, it’s an utter privilege.

Do you ever think about coming from such humble beginnings and being where you are today?

Almost on a daily basis. Certainly when I’m lecturing. Paul Dirac was a student here, and all he did was discover the equation for the electron – that, and win the Nobel Prize in Physics [laughs]. It is an astonishing story, really; Paul was staring into a fire when the equation for the electron suddenly came to him. It took him a long time to understand what it meant – about three years – and that’s when he realized that antimatter exists. He hadn’t just come up with the equation for the electron, but also an equation for another particle that had the same mass but had the opposite charge. Then, if the two particles with different charges came together, they would annihilate any burst of energy. Six months after he came to that realization, antimatter was discovered in experiments. To come up with something like that with just pure thought alone is mind-boggling.  I’m no Dirac, but when I get to stand up in our beautiful lecture halls and write his equation on the blackboards and explain to our students for the first time what it means…there is something very special in that.

As a theoretical physicist, what is your particular area of focus?

I work in something called quantum field theory. It’s a strange subject because it’s the basis of all of our laws of physics. Everything that we know at a fundamental level of the universe is written in terms of quantum field theory, and yet we really don’t understand it at all. My mathematician friends will tell me that I’m talking nonsense when I do quantum field theory, and that’s because they need to define things very rigorously. For them, they need to make sure that every step is very well-defined; in more than 70 years, nobody has managed to do that with quantum field theory.

Does your work require a certain amount of creativity?

As physicists, we are sort of flying by the seat of our pants. We are working with equations and mathematics that the mathematicians haven’t yet invented, so we are way ahead of them in that regard. If you take a wrong step with the math, you just get nonsense answers. You need intuition as a physicist to avoid taking the wrong step and still try to get the right answer. So yes, there is high level of creativity involved.

What drew you to the theoretical side of physics, as opposed to the experimental side?

That’s not a hard question to answer – if I pick up a screwdriver, I’m going to be using the wrong end every single time [laughs]. I’m hapless, absolutely hapless, when it comes to almost anything practical.

The discovery of the Higgs boson was such a big deal that it captured the imagination of millions worldwide.

This might sound a little bit strange, but I was a bit blasé about it. The science told us that it was there. That much was absolutely clear. We have this theory called the Standard Model that involves different forces and different particles interacting with each other, and yet there was this one missing ingredient, but it was such an integral part of the theory that it couldn’t not be there. I don’t think I’m alone in this. I think most physicists thought it was just absolutely obvious, and it would be nice when it was finally discovered, but that we weren’t really going to learn anything. And then the Higgs boson was discovered, and I was just blown away.

It’s just astonishing to think that scientists could be so sure of the Higgs boson’s existence with just with pen and paper. Then, theorize that if you build a machine that costs $10 billion – the greatest engineering feat ever – and you smash these particles together at unprecedented energies, you’re going to see a bump that has particular properties in some graph, proving its existence. And yet, that’s what happened. There’s something really astonishing about that achievement. I sort of felt something similar about the gravitational wave discovery several years ago. It’s obvious that if you take the Einstein equation, gravitational waves exist. It’s far from obvious that you can build a machine to actually detect them. So again, I was a bit blasé. You take for granted that they will be detected at some point in time. But then it happens, and you’re reminded that this is such an incredible moment. We’re talking about some of mankind’s greatest scientific and technological achievements.

The Large Hadron Collider – CERN, Geneva, Switzerland

Do you think the recent discovery of neutrino oscillations challenges the Standard Model?

It challenges it, but I think in a fairly minor way. It’s not too difficult to take the Standard Model and just add a mass for the neutrino. This was not a big surprise. It’s also a slightly different discovery in the sense that it took decades, with hints from solar neutrinos and more hints from nuclear reactor neutrinos. People painstakingly put this together, and then it was finally proven by the SNO experiment that Art McDonald and others were on. It wasn’t like the discovery of the Higgs boson, or the discovery of gravitational waves, where there was a pop culture moment and a press conference by the mainstream media to announce it. It was something that built up much more slowly in the consciousness of physicists. Having said that, it is true that adding the mass for neutrinos to the Standard Model opens new questions, as discoveries always do. It opens up deeper questions about where the mass comes from, so it’s certainly one of the more interesting questions in science today. I’m one of these people who get excited about everything in physics, so it was a big deal to me.

Are you surprised by how well the Standard Model has held up?

We all thought that the discovery of the Higgs boson would sort of open the door to the next level of discoveries to whatever lies beyond the standard model, whatever the next level of nature is. We have lots of ideas. We have really fancy, zany ideas about things like supersymmetry or extra dimensions in the universe, all of these great things that we were hoping the Large Hadron Collider would discover. None of this came true. The Large Hadron Collider has done extraordinarily well since the discovery of the Higgs boson. It has done millions of experiments, and every single one of them agrees perfectly with the Standard Model, which should be cause for celebration because it’s taken us 70 years to develop the Standard Model. And now that we’ve got it, we can calculate anything we like.

Artistic representation of dark matter. Image credits: tchaikovsky2, Deviant Art

Why would breaking the Standard Model be a win for science?

We do these extremely complicated experiments and everything agrees perfectly. That in itself sounds like a win, but science is all about pushing the envelope. Everybody wants to prove Einstein wrong, because they want to be the next Einstein. That’s being a little bit facetious, but the point is, it’s when your theory breaks down that you’ve managed to make the next big step and understand things deeper. The Standard Model hasn’t broken down. The entire scientific community doesn’t understand why it works as well as it does. There are so many questions. Why isn’t it cracking yet? Why aren’t we seeing gaps in the Standard Model?

Do you have a theory about that?

Everybody in the scientific community has their own approach. I have one, which is not the norm, and certainly not what most people are doing. As I mentioned before, there are lots of things we don’t understand about quantum field theory. Some are things that you can just brush under the rug and not worry about. With respect to the Standard Model, I think it might be time to lift up the rug. I think we need to start asking slightly harder questions about what quantum field theory means. What is it doing? Are there patterns there that we’ve missed? I think it’s time to take start exploring very well-explored theories in completely different ways.

What is the one thing today that excites you the most about physics?

Five percent of the energy in our universe is made up of stuff in the periodic table…things that are made of atoms, such as you and me, the stars in the universe, the dust in the universe, planets…stuff that we understand, basically. The other 95% is completely unknown. Still, we know it’s there, and we know that it falls into two different categories: Dark matter and dark energy. While they have similar names, they really have very little to do with each other. I’m not working on either of these things today because I don’t have any good ideas. In fact, no one really has any good ideas. But that’s the exciting thing about dark matter and dark energy.

That’s a big percentage of our universe.

About 25% of the universe is made up of dark matter. Dark matter is super exciting and interesting, but I’m not sure it’s that baffling, conceptually. Dark matter is some invisible particle that we haven’t made here on earth. We know it’s there, floating around in space. In fact, the galaxies that we see likely exist within dark matter halos. It would be brilliant to understand this better, but at the end of the day it’s almost certainly some sort of invisible particle.

The other 70% of the universe is much more baffling. The other 70% is made up of dark energy, which is an antigravitational force causing everything in the universe to repel everything else. The effect is that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate over time, rather than slowing down. That’s because of this antigravitational force that we call dark energy, which is making everything fly apart at an increasingly fast rate. What the hell is that? That is just weird.

Photo Courtesy David Tong

Final Question: You’ve achieved great success in your life. If you could offer one piece of advice, what would that be?

I don’t think theoretical physicists should be giving advice on life [laughs]. That’s not where we are the experts. But, I can give advice on pursuing science. Do it if you love it, because it’s a fairly miserable experience. You spend most of your time just being utterly stuck and utterly confused, and not having anywhere to turn to find the answers. There has to be a passion for the big picture, and yet you must get a level of joy from finding the very tiny, infinitesimal answers, and also from making infinitesimal progress. The little things have to be bigger than the misery.

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Lauren Swickard – A California Christmas

Written By: Michael D. McClellan |

Lauren Swickard just saved Christmas.

In a year that has seen Broadway shuttered, Wimbledon cancelled, and the Tokyo Olympics postponed, the last thing any of us needed was a Christmas season without fresh, high-quality, feel-good Christmas content to consume. Swickard, the multihyphenate powerhouse behind A California Christmas, has delivered in a big way, writing, producing, and starring (opposite her husband, General Hospital star Josh Swickard) in a film about a wealthy charmer who poses as a ranch hand to get a hardworking farmer to sell her family’s land before Christmas. The Netflix Original, produced by ESX Entertainment, begins streaming worldwide on December 14.

“Getting this movie made is a dream come true,” Swickard says. “There were so many challenges with COVID-19, but we had a great team. Everyone pulled together, worked hard, and stayed focused in spite of what was going on around us.”

Lauren Swickard and Josh Swickard
A California Christmas

That A California Christmas even made it this far qualifies as a Christmas miracle. In March, when the coronavirus pandemic stopped Hollywood in its tracks, not many in the industry were optimistic that holiday films like A California Christmas would see the light of day. In Swickard’s case, everything broke perfectly: Quarantined, she wrote the script in three weeks, bouncing plot points and dialog off of Josh, who was home during the four-month shutdown at General Hospital. She then pitched the script to Ali Afshar, the head of ESX Entertainment, who was so impressed that the deal was done on the spot. The decision to cast Lauren and Josh as the leads not only guarantied onscreen chemistry (the two had met during the filming of Roped, and were married not long after), it also came with the built-in advantage of the leads having been quarantined together. Finally, Afshar offered up his Petaluma ranch as the film’s primary location; by shooting A California Christmas in an NBA-like “bubble” environment, and with testing and protocols followed to a tee, Netflix was convinced that the project could be completed in time for the holiday season. And just like that, Swickard was able to see her dream come true.

“We had a lot of things go right every step of the way,” Swickard says. “It was a combination of hard work and good luck.”

That Lauren Swickard is the driving force behind A California Christmas comes as no surprise to her inner-circle. Swickard may look the part of a Hollywood starlet, but the disarmingly beautiful actor is a blood-and-guts warrior when it comes to her passion: Writing.

Lauren Swickard

“It’s something I do every day,” Swickard says without missing a beat. “I’ve always wanted to be a writer, and I’m thankful the persistence has paid off. It’s surreal to see a writing credit next to A California Christmas.”

Swickard has written several screenplays, including A California Christmas, and is currently hard at work on writing Casa Grande, a five-episode political drama series picked up by Warner Bros. That award-winning Argentine director Gabriela Tagliavini (How to Break Up With Your Douchebag) has been tapped to direct the series speaks volumes to Swickard’s writing.

“Casa Grande is on the fast track,” she says. “The series follows several families in the farmland of Northern California as it navigates universal themes of class, immigration, culture and family. We have a team working very hard ensure that the subject matter is authentic. I’m very excited about how it’s coming together and can’t wait to see it come out.”

Born in Cincinnati, Swickard started out in dance, excelling in ballet to the point that she later enrolled in New York City’s prestigious School of American Ballet. Founded by George Balanchine and the single greatest cultivator of aspiring American ballet dancers, SAB remains close to Swickard’s heart.

Josh Swickard and Lauren Swickard
Photo Courtesy Lauren Swickard

“So many great dancers have passed through the school’s studios,” says Swickard. “Allegra Kent, Darci Kristler, the list goes on and on. I loved my time there.”

An injury changed the trajectory of Swickard’s dance career. After a brief stop at Ohio University (to study journalism, no less), she made the leap into acting. Since then she’s steadily built an impressive acting resume, including roles in Dear White People and Roped. She’s also pulled double-duty, starring in two roles for the Lifetime movie Twisted Twin.

“My most challenging project yet,” she says, smiling. She pauses. “Until A California Christmas. Writing, producing, and acting in it was very rewarding, and I’m very thankful. But wearing so many different hats was also exhausting at times.”

That Swickard dreamed big and worked hard is good news for the rest of us. A California Christmas streams at a time when the world badly needs a healthy dose of holiday cheer.

“It’s been a difficult year,” Swickard says. “Hopefully this movie will help people forget about the pandemic for a couple of hours. Hopefully it will keep them smiling for a long while after that.”

Let’s talk about your latest project, A California Christmas. Without spoiling anything, what can you tell me about the movie?

I like to say that A California Christmas is the classic save-the-ranch story. It’s about a girl, her mom, and her younger sister. I play Callie Burnay, a girl who has a lot on her plate. She’s dealing with a mother who is battling lung cancer, and she also has a little sister that she has to help raise, so she’s basically taking care of her family while keeping up an entire ranch by herself. When it becomes too much, her mom suggests that she hire a ranch hand – which she grudgingly ends up doing. Then we learn about a San Francisco-based shipping company called Van Aston Enterprises, and how it wants to buy a big plot of land to put in a new shipping facility. Because the Burnay Ranch is going under, and is just inches away from foreclosure every month, the company thinks it’s found the perfect target. That’s when they decide to go in and offer the family money to buy the ranch. So, Joseph Van Aston, who is played by my real-life husband, gets sent to Petaluma, California, to convince the owners of the Burnay Ranch to sell their land. He doesn’t know Callie Burnay, and he doesn’t realize how strongly she is against selling – although he will soon find out.

Are conditions ripe for romance?

Very much so! When Joseph Van Aston arrives at the ranch, he spills coffee all over himself and has to change clothes. Callie actually mistakes him for a ranch hand. Joseph, seeing it as a perfect opportunity, decides to play the part so that he can get to know Callie a little bit and see what makes her tick. He doesn’t expect to fall in love. So it’s a false identity, romantic comedy Christmas movie. It’s coming out as a Netflix Original on December 14. We couldn’t have asked for a better home for the film.

Lauren Swickard
Photo Courtesy Lauren Swickard

A California Christmas was made during a global pandemic.

We were fortunate to be one of the first productions up and running. We knew that the rest of Hollywood was watching us to see how it went, but everyone on set was careful to follow all the protocol to the best of our ability. We lost two hours each day due to our precautionary guidelines, and yet we still made our days without missing a beat. It wasn’t surprising, because our team was full of some of the hardest workers I’ve ever met.

What kinds of adjustments did you have to make?

We were something of a guinea pig for Hollywood. We were initially doing the blood tests, the kind where you could prick your finger and get the results back in eight minutes. That meant we could test on the same day that we were to go to the set. Then they came around and said that those tests weren’t valid anymore, so we had to delay production by a week while we worked out a deal with another lab, and arranged for nurses to come on set with the nasal swabs. The cast and crew was on hold at a hotel where we filmed in Sonoma Valley. It was beautiful, but we were also in Petaluma, which is in the middle of nowhere. We were supposed to be there for 2 ½ weeks, but we ended up being there for 34 days.

This may be the new normal in Hollywood for the foreseeable future.

The world has certainly changed. Before the pandemic, I think I took things like in-person meetings and interactions for granted. I was in an acting class that I loved. I was driving from Studio City to Santa Monica to Century City, so I was all over Los Angeles auditioning and meeting with people all the time. In fact, at the time I felt a bit overwhelmed. I was like, “I’ve already driven to two offices today, why can’t I just send a tape to the casting offices instead?” Then once the pandemic hit, everything stopped. Acting classes, auditions, productions…everything was canceled. My husband is on a soap opera, General Hospital, and his show completely shut down. It was pretty scary, because the only way our industry works is by being in close contact with other people. There can be anywhere from 60-to-80 people on set when actors are doing a scene. That’s how many people it takes to make everything work. It was all very hard at first, and very surreal. I’ll never forget, Josh and I love watching American Idol, and then American Idol shut down. The next thing you know, the contestants had to sing from home. The new normal is going to take some getting used to [laughs].

Lauren Swickard
Photo Courtesy Lauren Swickard

The preview for A California Christmas looks great! Where did the idea for the movie come from?

When the quarantine first happened, there were a lot of friends on social media who were being productive. They were diving into various health-based activities, and coming up with all kinds of creative, stay-at-home things to stay busy. Because I love to write, I thought, “Oh, I’m going to do a script,” and I started imagining what people would want to watch once the quarantine was over. I thought that the pandemic would surely be over by the holidays, and that a holiday movie would be the perfect way to entertain people. I was wrong about the pandemic, but I still feel that people are ready for a movie like A California Christmas.

This project came together quickly.

I wrote the script in three weeks. It was quite fun, because Josh was home with me while I was writing. It was the first time that I had written a script where I had my husband here to be my guinea pig. We would act out scenes while I was writing, so it was a very different process for me. It was so much fun. As I was creating the characters, my intention was not to perform as an actress in the movie. I only wanted to produce and write. But, as we kept working together, I started getting this idea that maybe I should pitch more than the script and the story. Maybe I should also pitch that Josh and I would be acting together in it as a married couple.

Two-part question: What were some of the challenges that you encountered making this film? And, what did you find the most enjoyable?

The biggest challenge was that we had to deal with the pandemic. That meant that there were a lot of things we had to take into consideration. For example, as a writer I had to write a lot of exterior scenes relative to the number of interior scenes. That’s because it’s not quite safe when there are so many crew members confined to a small space. The union also provided guidelines, so we had to make sure that we followed those as well. When we were location scouting, we had to ensure that interior scenes had two separate entrances, one for the actors and the other for the crew members. Those were just some of the challenges that we had to work around.

I think my most enjoyable and favorite part about making A California Christmas was working with my husband. It was so fun to really be able to play off of each other and use our natural chemistry. We had this great banter, where we would do a scene and I would look at him like, “We’ve got to do something else.” And he did the same thing to me. He’d go, “Oh no, babe. No, no, no,” and I’d be like, “You’re right. Let’s do it again.” It was really special, and something that I had never experienced with another actor before.

Lauren Swickard
Photo Courtesy Lauren Swickard

A California Christmas was produced by ESX Entertainment.

ESX Entertainment is run by Ali Afshar, and this company is such a well-oiled machine. They’ve done something like 17 movies over the past three years, many of them in and around Petaluma. Ali is accustomed to working on tight schedules, challenging budgets, and things like that, but I’m sure he’s never made a movie under conditions quite like this. Still, he was determined to make this movie despite the coronavirus restrictions. It was such a great experience. The crew was so kind, and everyone was such a family. There were really no issues on the whole preproduction side. The same with the production side, except for the inconveniences caused by COVID. It ended up working out fantastically well.

You met your husband, actor Josh Swickard, on the set of Roped. Tell me about that.

We auditioned independently and were both offered the film. I was offered the role of Tracy Peterson first, but I was actually filming something else in Atlanta and couldn’t come back to Warner Bros. to do the chemistry read. Chemistry reads are common in movies, and are done with different pairings so that the director can get a feel for chemistry between the leads. In this case it didn’t happen, and Josh was cast as Colton Burtenshaw while I was in Atlanta. So, I didn’t meet Josh until two days before we were supposed to be in Petaluma.

I’m going to guess that the chemistry between the two of you was pretty darned good.

Yes, it was very good! We were on the Warner Bros. lot, where we were having rehearsal with the director. Josh had just returned from the movie ranch – he had to learn how to rope a calf for his role, so he had been training all day, but I didn’t know this. I show up to the lot, and Josh is dirty from head to toe – dirty cowboy boots, dirty jeans, dirty shirt. I immediately started making fun of him because I thought he was coming in character for the directors meeting. I thought, “Wow, you’re really going for this role!” So, that was our first interaction. Things went so well that he got my number underneath the iconic water tower on the Warner Bros. lot. We drive by that water tower all of the time. That was our special little meeting place.

Josh Swickard and Lauren Swickard

Did you start dating during the filming of Roped?

There was definite chemistry between us, but we decided that we weren’t going to act on that chemistry, we were going to have it be movie magic instead. It worked out great because we were so close during filming that we became friends first. I told him that maybe he could take me out on a date after filming had wrapped up. He did, and it was love at first date.

You starred in a lifetime movie called Twisted Twin.  What was that like?

That has to be my most satisfying role thus far in my career as an actress – or, I should say, roles! One twin was as sweet as could be, as sweet as honey, and the other one was just crazy evil. I actually loved playing the evil twin the most [laughs].

You’re outstanding in both roles.

Thank you! The director’s name is Jeff Hare. He was really great to work with, because he went out of his way to make me feel like it was my movie. I had so much creative control, which I didn’t expect but truly appreciated. Jeff was the best. It was also awesome to collaborate with my body double, who had the same measurements as me, and who had my same hair. You really can’t tell who is who from the back. It was very surreal!

You acted with Jennifer Taylor in that movie. What did you learn from such an accomplished actor as Jennifer?

Oh my gosh, she is such a pro. It’s really cool to see someone like Jennifer work in such a way where there is no aura of ego around her. She was one of the crew – she learned everybody’s names, from the PAs to the sound guys to everyone in between. She didn’t come across as the star that she is, she just wanted to be a part something special. The way she fit in gave it a family feel. It really is rare to meet someone of her stature that behaves like that on a set. I learned from her just how to be. I just want to Jennifer Taylor. She is just amazing.

Lauren Swickard
Photo Courtesy Lauren Swickard

At one point you were going to be a ballerina.

Growing up in Cincinnati, my life was focused on one thing: Ballet, ballet, ballet. I was training with Russian coaches, coaches that were flying in from Europe, all of those sorts of things. I was definitely on track to become a professional ballerina, so I moved to New York City to dance with the School of American Ballet.

What changed your career trajectory?

I got injured while I was there and had to fill my days with other things, so I started taking an acting class. I was 14 at the time. I immediately fell in love with acting, and couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else. As if I needed any more convincing, my acting teacher said, “Ballerinas end their careers around the age of 35, but actors can act their whole lives.”

The more I got into acting, the more I learned that acting is a lot like ballet, but with words. It’s about emoting with every part of yourself, just like ballet. I really think that’s why it came so naturally to me. Ballet also played another important part in my acting career: If I hadn’t gone to New York for ballet, then I never would have been exposed to acting in the first place.

You wrote the script for A California Christmas. Please tell me about your passion for writing.

Oh my gosh, I wanted to be a writer long before I wanted to become an actress. I was writing my own novels from the time I was in middle school. I studied journalism at the Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University. The plan was to complete my degree, but I ended up booking a pilot for CBS my first year of college, so I left college to do the pilot. Little did I know that pilots don’t always get picked up [laughs]. I was 18 years old, and I didn’t know how the acting world worked. I just took a leap of faith and plunged into the Hollywood pool headfirst. The screenwriting came later. Once I decided to start writing screenplays I said, “This is my second career. I’m going to work on it every day.” Every day, even if I’m just writing a scene or two, screenwriting is a part of my morning ritual. It’s such a muscle that you have to work on. So I write every day, and I love it.

You wore multiple hats on A California Christmas. Any desire to focus purely on acting in a future project?

Even though I loved to being a producer, writer, and actress on this project, it was a lot of work. I was acting in one of the lead roles, but I was also a producer, which meant I was constantly going over the scenes with the director. It was an endless stream of  “I don’t think this works. Do you think this approach works better instead? Should we change the way we handle that?” All while having to think about my character and the performance that I was trying to bring to the screen. Then, the scenes would change, and as a writer I would need to shift gears on the spot and say, “Hey guys, I think we’re going to change it to this, this and this instead of this.” I loved it, but it was definitely a lot on one plate.

So, to answer your question, I’m very excited to go into a project where I’m just the actress. I think it will feel great to count on the writer, director, and producer to do the things they need to do, while I get to focus on being an actress. Or, if it turns out another way, where I’m just the writer.

Let’s talk about your next project, Casa Grande

Casa Grande is a five-episode series that I created, and it is in production right now. The series follows several families in the farmland of Northern California as it navigates themes of class, immigration, culture and family. I think it’s my best work. I do have a team of writers, because this it is a series, so we are working together in a traditional writers room. Their names are Alex Ranarivelo and Michael Cruz, and they are amazing. The expertise that my team brings to this subject is so important, because of who I am and how I grew up. I knew that I needed to have a team around me that is an expert in this culture.

Lauren Swickard
Photo Courtesy Lauren Swickard

Where did the idea for Casa Grande come from?

I was actually inspired while we were filming A California Christmas. We were filming on a big dairy farm that actually sources its cheeses to Chipotle, a place where they have hundreds and hundreds of cows, milking machines, and large fields. We would go on the set every day, and I couldn’t help but notice all of the Hispanic workers who actually lived on the property. They would be awake and working long before we got there, and they would be working after we would leave at the end of the day. What I noticed about them was just the foundation of joy that they had – the way they talked and interacted with each other, and the way their kids ran around playing. Being from Cincinnati, I had never seen that culture up close. It piqued my curiosity. I started researching and interviewing these people to learn more about them, and that’s when the idea for Casa Grande hit. I gathered a team around me that could help put story and voices to these faces, and together we came up with the pilot. I pitched the pilot, and ESX Productions jumped on it.

Given the world we live in today, Casa Grande deals with some very timely issues.

The grand theme of this series is pulling back the curtain on how the machine works. The machine being the world that we all live in. I’m just so thankful for this team of people that I have around me, because without them we wouldn’t have been able to give this series correct voices. They are experts in the community, and we had people from the community on the project, so it’s true to what’s happening right now in the world. It’s so important for people to see it.

How does Lauren Swickard stay busy when there are lulls in her schedule?

If I encounter a lull in auditions or a lull in work, I always dive into an acting class. There are so many cool acting classes in town, and that’s the place where you can challenge yourself and practice your craft. If I’m not auditioning or acting, then a class offers an outlet that I have control over. When it comes to writing, I make time every day to get my ideas out there.

Lauren Swickard
Photo Courtesy Lauren Swickard

Final Question. If you had one piece of advice for other aspiring creatives, what would that be?

Whatever it is, just start doing it. Start producing your own projects, you’ll learn what to do along the way. It doesn’t matter what the finished product looks like, you just need the experience. The next thing you produce will be better because of what you’ve learned. If you aspire to write, just start writing. If your dream is to be an actor, jump in. Get involved with the local theatre. Take acting classes. Acting classes are great for so many reasons, including the ability to network with others with the same interests. There are colleges that have film schools, and there are students working on thesis projects who need actors. And don’t forget social media, YouTube, all of those sorts of things. You can do so much today that wasn’t available just a short time ago. Follow your passion and just start doing it.

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Sofia Mattsson – Fearless

Written By: Michael D. McClellan |

Borta bra men hemma bäst.

Sofia Mattsson is the living embodiment of this uniquely Swedish proverb, the Stockholm-born, Los Angeles-based actor thriving in a year of chaos and confusion, amping up the buzz on her Ava Carrington line of high quality handbags at a time when her soap, General Hospital, found itself shuttered due to the coronavirus pandemic. That Mattsson didn’t miss a beat is hardly surprising to those who know her best; equal parts fearless and optimistic, the talented Swede has no regrets making the jump to Hollywood, but not a day goes by that she doesn’t think about her homeland, from the eclectic Stockholm Fashion District in Nacka strand, to the old film projectors and vintage clothing in Hornstull Marknad, to the cozy vibe of the family’s country home. Mattsson especially cherishes the memories made on those long summer vacations.

Sofia Mattsson as Sasha Gilmore
Photo Courtesy ABC

“I miss those days the most,” Mattsson says. “We always have so much fun just being together as a family. Our country home is the perfect place to tune everything else out and reconnect with those who mean the most.”

Yes, away is good. But home is best.

Today, Mattson is back to work. She plays Sasha Gilmore on the highly-rated ABC soap, which resumed filming in August following a four-month shutdown. General Hospital has adapted to the new normal, going so far as to hire a COVID-19 director who patrols the set to ensure that proper protocols are followed.

“Everyone wants to work, but doing the right thing and staying safe is the top priority,” she says. “It’s definitely a balancing act.”

While Sasha has been spiraling downwards since her fake affair with Detective Harrison Chase (Josh Swickard) and subsequent breakup with Michael Corinthos (Chad Duell), Mattsson’s world has been far less dramatic. Yes, 2020 has been a year unlike any other, with political tensions in the US at a boiling point and a global pandemic that has recalibrated, well, everything. And yes, there’s a good chance that COVID-19 will continue to dominate the headlines well into 2021. Mattson, for her part, has kept her foot on the gas. In October, 2019, the model-turned-actor launched Ava Carrington with her sister, actress Helena Mattson.

Sofia and Helena Mattsson

“So much hard work has gone into this venture,” Mattson says. “It has been a dream of ours for a long time. Our goal is to design high-quality handbags that are also animal-friendly and eco-conscious. We’re very proud of our first collection of vegan bags, and I couldn’t imagine doing this with anyone other than Helena. It has been a blast!”

The closeness between the Mattsson sisters has been a constant from the jump. Born nearly seven years apart, Helena studied acting at the highly selective Södra Latin upper secondary school in Södermalm. Sofia grew up watching everything her sister performed in, becoming her biggest fan long before Helena splashed down in Hollywood, where she has appeared in everything from Desperate Housewives to American Horror Story to Iron Man 2. Sibling rivalry? Professional jealousy? Think again.

“We are each other’s most vocal advocate. There’s no jealousy, only support. I’m lucky to have a sister like that.”

Sofia’s decision to act – and ultimately carve out her own identity in Hollywood – may have been inspired by Helena’s trailblazing ways, but having a sister in the biz didn’t guarantee success. Sure, it helped to have someone based in LA with established connections. Doors open and meetings happen when you know someone, but that’s true in every profession. It also didn’t hurt that Mattson is stunning to look at, her inner-beauty radiating outward, her hotness in balance with her overall vibe – unpretentious rather than overt, sophisticated yet down-to-earth, all of it coming at you like a breath of fresh Scandinavian air. But there’s more to Sofia Mattsson than family connections and sex appeal. She’s a grinder, a perfectionist, and a workhorse all rolled into one insanely intelligent package. That she makes it look so easy is part of the charm.

Sofia Mattsson

“I enjoy working, learning, growing,” Mattsson says. “I don’t think actors are ever finished products.”

Still, Mattsson has come a long way. She arrived in the US hellbent on acting, but the Swedish accent stuck with her from home, limiting her to niche roles in the early going – Russians, Germans, Eastern Europeans mostly. Today, the accent is undetectable. Mattsson is fully Americanized, shucking off the layers of her homeland the way you might step in from the cold and remove a jacket, scarf, and gloves. She might as well be a transplant from Des Moines or Fort Wayne. Except Sweden is what made Sofia Mattsson the person she is today.

“I miss my home country every day, and for so many reasons – family and friends, obviously. I also had a lot of things going on in Sweden, but I was like, ‘No, I need to pursue acting!’ And I’m so happy I did.”

En skamfull hund blir sällan fet.

Growing up in Stockholm, Sofia Mattsson was hardly a wallflower. She started out in dance, transitioned into modeling and singing as she got a little older, and later joined a band, playing in some local pubs around town. Whether recording an album or traveling to Poland to record a music video, Mattson’s willingness to take chances afforded her even more opportunities in the spotlight.

Sofia Mattson, it turns out, has rarely turned down an opportunity to feed her creative side.

Bashful dogs rarely get fat.

“Growing up, I was constantly pushing myself, and still do,” she says. “When I got into modeling, I traveled to Germany by myself at a young age. When I moved to the US, I got a manager and an agent and jumped into acting with both feet. When the opportunity to launch Ava Carrington presented itself, I couldn’t wait to get started. There’s no substitute for doing.”

Stockholm, Sweden
Photo Courtesy Ava Carrington

The fearlessness that Mattsson brings to the table has served her well in the States. She worked steadily as a model for brands like Benefit, Mary Kay, Target, Ed Hardy, and Volkswagen, while building out her acting resumé with roles in independent and TV films such as Becoming Bond and My Husband’s Secret Wife. Then, in 2018, she landed the role of Sasha Gilmore on General Hospital.

“I had auditioned for General Hospital once before, but I didn’t make it past that point. Looking back now, I realize that I wasn’t ready. But when I auditioned for the role of Sasha, I knew that I could handle the part. I was confident, and I felt like I could convince them that I was the right person for the role. Still, it was a very nerve-wracking process!”

Sasha Gilmore is, in many ways, a flawed and riveting character. Addicted to drugs and her life spiraling out of control, Gilmore’s ultimate fate on GH is the subject of rampant speculation. While Mattsson can’t reveal anything about Sasha’s long-term status on the soap, it’s clear that she has her own future carefully mapped out.

“I got to act with my sister in My Husband’s Secret Wife,” she says, “and that was such a great experience. Hollywood is slowly coming back to life, which means more auditions and more opportunities to act. And Ava Carrington is keeping me very busy. It’s a challenging time because of the pandemic, but it’s also an exciting time in many ways as well.”

Gud ger varje fågel en mask, men han kastar den inte i boet.

It’s only fitting that the Stockholm Collection is the first in Ava Carrington’s line of high-quality vegan handbags. Designed with confident, fashion forward women on-the-go in mind, the Stockholm Collection honors the rich fashion heritage of Mattson’s hometown. Getting this venture off the ground was a Herculean task, with Sofia and Helena putting in long hours on top of their already busy acting schedules. Neither of them complained. Ava Carrington had long been their dream. Once the opportunity presented itself, they knew that they had to work for it.

“We understood that there was a market for luxury handbags made using ethical practices. Starting a company from the ground up was challenging in so many ways, but the result has been extremely rewarding. We felt the time was right. It hasn’t been easy, but nothing worth it ever is.”

Sofia Mattsson
Photo Courtesy Ava Carrington

Indeed.

God gives every bird a worm, but he does not throw it into the nest.

Sofia Mattsson’s acting career, like Ava Carrington, is on a upward trajectory, the future bright and filled with promise. Eventually, the pandemic will run its course and the world will fully reopen for business, Hollywood included. Mattson will be ready. She’s too damned talented, too damned smart, too damned fearless to let COVID-19 dictate the terms of what comes next.

The future belongs to Sofia Mattsson.

That’s a good thing for the rest of us.

You’re from Stockholm, Sweden. What was your childhood like?

Stockholm is an amazing city. I grew up with two parents and two older sisters, and it was a really lovely time in my life. Everything in Stockholm is close, so you’re in proximity of everything you want to do. You can walk or bike everywhere. For me, I could walk to school, to my friend’s house, to dance practice, and to my grandmother’s house just down the street. Living in Los Angeles is very different, because you can hardly walk at all when you want to go somewhere.

What do you miss the most?

I really miss the seasons, especially those amazing summers when we would go to our summer house on the lake and the days seemed to last forever. Those were great times, because the whole family would gather there for weeks straight. There was nowhere else to go once we got there, so we would swim, play games, and just hang out. When you live in a city, it’s very hard to keep the family gathered together, because there are so many other things to do and it’s so easy to go out. So, whenever we could be at the summer house, that was always a chance for us to come together and reconnect as a family. I have all of these great memories of our vacations there, and also great memories of our home in Stockholm. It’s a really beautiful, amazing city.

Sofia Mattsson
Photo Courtesy Sofia Mattsson

Stockholm gets a bad rap for its winter months. How much of that is true?

Even the winters in Stockholm are beautiful. There are a lot of cozy, candlelit coffee shops that spring up, so it can be a winter wonderland. There’s a lot of snow during the wintertime, but the city doesn’t shut down. Outsiders might think that you’re going to be buried in snow up to your neck, and the city’s attractions close up during the winter months, but that’s not true. There are quaint pubs and cafes, and lots of shopping. It really is the best of both worlds.

Was dance your first form of artistic expression?

Yes. I did a lot of dancing as a child. I was at dance practice almost every night, and we had really fun shows at the end of each season. I really looked forward to those shows because I love to perform. I also started signing around this same time, and as I got a little older I was part of a band. That was a really cool experience for me because we played at some of the local bars around the city. We actually recorded a music video at one point, and that was something I enjoyed, probably because it was an opportunity to step in front of a camera! I later got into acting while I was still living in Sweden, but early on it was mostly dancing and singing.

Helena and Sofia Mattsson
Photo Courtesy Sofia Mattsson

Your sister, Helena, is also an actor. What was the dynamic between the two of you growing up?

Helena has always been an inspiration to me, both as a person and as an actor. One of the things that I really admire about her is that she has always been very caring and kind. She always puts family first. When we were growing up in Sweden, just getting to watch her perform in plays was one of my favorite things. And since Helena went to a theater school, she was in plays all of the time. I used to go watch them all, every performance, night by night, and she always stood out. She was really such a star. She’s always amazed me with her talent. She could play such a wide range of roles, even at a young age, and she was able to stand out playing so many different characters. She just always crushed it.

Did Helena play a part in your decision to act?

She made it look like such a challenge, which made it seem very appealing. It became something that I wanted to do as well. So yeah, she definitely played a role in me deciding to act. She was easily my biggest inspiration for it. My desire to act became greater after she moved to Los Angeles, because I was able to join her on location for filming here. I especially remember visiting when she was filming Desperate Housewives. I thought it was cool to come to the set and walk around, and get the full behind-the-scenes experience. Seeing it up close sealed the deal. In that moment, I couldn’t think of a more fun job. I still can’t.

Södra Latin

Helena studied acting at Södra Latin in Södermalm. How did you land in Hollywood?

I went to a normal school in Sweden, one that was not focused on theater, but I took a lot of theater classes at night. I did plays and smaller roles, and I did as much acting as possible. As for my journey from Sweden to the United States, it obviously started by visiting Helena here in Los Angeles. I immediately fell in love with the city, the people, and the acting scene. And after getting some work in Sweden, I was fortunate enough to actually move here and pursue acting as a career.

I had studied hard and immersed myself in acting classes in Sweden, which was something that I continued to do after moving to L.A. I also worked very hard on my accent, which is really important for getting roles. If you can’t speak like an American it really limits your auditions and means fewer opportunities. From there I was lucky enough to find a manager, and then I found an agent to represent me. I started off in a lot of commercials, worked my way up to bigger roles in films and pilots, and then eventually landed my role on General Hospital.

Speaking of General Hospital, what’s it like living in the fictional town of Port Charles?

I love it. I really, really, really love it. There’s nothing that I don’t enjoy about playing Sasha Gilmore. Everyone in the cast is so humble and so incredibly talented. Until I actually got there, I never truly understood how hard it was to be on a soap. You have so much material that you have to do in such a short amount of time, and it’s usually done in one take, so it can be extremely challenging. Somehow everybody pulls it off, and there aren’t any egos to worry about. Even the people who have been on the show for 20+ years are very down to earth. The other thing that struck me right away is that everyone is so helpful. Everyone wants everyone else to do well.

Sasha Gilmore (Sofia Mattsson) and Michael Corinthos (Chad Duell)
ABC’s General Hospital

How do you learn your lines in such a short amount of time?

In the beginning it was really tough. I was like, “How in the world am I going to do this?” But you learn. You just have to read it until you know it. Sometimes it takes hours. You just have to stay up until you memorize your lines. There are tricks that can help you. I’ve actually recorded my lines on my smartphone, and also recorded the other person’s lines, so that I could listen to them over and over. Whatever technique you choose, you can’t get away from the fact that there is a lot of studying involved. You’re working a lot on your own before you actually get to the set. And like I said, in the beginning it was hard work and I really struggled to get through it, but since then it has gotten easier and easier. I think it’s like a brain muscle or something that you are working out. Nowadays, I can look at it at the script and it clicks almost immediately. I think it helps that I’m playing the same character.

You’ve also done films. Please compare the pace.

With a movie, you get the script sometimes two, three, or four weeks ahead of filming, if not longer, so you have a lot of time to prep. You can work on your role, and really dig in deep. And then, when you are actually filming it, you have time to prepare before each scene. You also have the opportunity to do several takes of the scene, so you can relax a little bit more. Depending on the schedule, you can maybe play around more and test a few different things with the director and see what works.

On General Hospital the prep time is a lot shorter. You get one take, maybe two if someone really messes up. The ball just keeps rolling on a soap. You don’t have that time to ease into anything, so it can be intimidating. On the other hand, you play the same character for so long that you almost become the character, so the prep time isn’t as necessary as it is for a movie, where you are approaching a brand-new role, and where you have to get to know the character and build it up.

You acted with your sister in the 2018 Lifetime film My Husband’s Secret Wife. What did you enjoy most about this project, and did you ever think that you’d share the screen with her?

I hadn’t given serious thought to what it might be like to act opposite Helena, partly because I’d been so focused on auditioning for my own roles and trying to find work as an actor. It just so happened that the right opportunity came along at the right time. That’s when I actually allowed myself to think it might be possible. And then it finally happened; I was cast as Avery’s sister, Cat, at which point I allowed myself to get really excited about being onset with my sister. I was like, “Wow! We’re going to be in the film together – of course we should act together!” [Laughs.] It was such an amazing experience, and I loved filming that movie for so many reasons. Obviously, I got to act with Helena, which was our first time on-screen together. It just felt very natural, as you might expect, because our characters were sisters. It wasn’t too far of a stretch from real life. It probably would’ve felt a little more weird if we were complete strangers, or worse, enemies, but that wasn’t the case.

So yes, I loved everything about that experience. Helena and I got to stay in this super-cute house in Kentucky, where we were filming. Our parents were actually visiting us in Los Angeles at the time. Instead of canceling their trip when they found out that we had booked this movie, they came to Kentucky and stayed with us. It felt like old times in a way, almost like we were at our summer house back in Sweden. It was great having the family together and enjoying each other’s company. It was a memorable experience.

How did you become a model?

I happened organically. My sisters were modeling, so I got a glimpse into that world through them. I was 16 when I started modeling. I started out modeling in Sweden, but I traveled to Germany by myself at one point. I had to navigate the city using maps, and I had to make sure that I was on time for my appointments and modeling jobs. It was such a great learning experience to do that by myself at such a young age. It made me very independent very quickly. I’m not modeling a lot now, because I’m pretty tied to General Hospital, scheduling-wise. I do miss it.

Sofia Mattsson
Photo Courtesy Sofia Mattsson

Speaking of fashion, the people of Sweden have a reputation for having a classic sense of style.

I think you are absolutely correct. Stockholm is very well-known for having very stylish people. I don’t exactly know why or where it comes from, but the people who live there definitely have great taste when it comes to fashion. In fact, I think that Swedes in general have an inherent sense of style. Having grown up there, I think it’s undeniable. There’s a history of quality and clean design, and an eye for vintage clothing that is both versatile and timeless. It must be in our DNA [laughs].

You and Helena started Ava Carrington, which is focused on luxury vegan fashion. I’ve read that the inspiration behind the name came from your grandmother.

My grandmother has been such a huge part of my life. Growing up, she was almost like a second mom,  because she lived just down the street and she was over at our place all of the time. She has always been super-sophisticated and into fashion. She loves America, and she traveled here a lot when she was younger. She used to always tell us stories about her time in the States, and to us it seemed like this magical, faraway land. This was before any of us had been over here, of course, and years before we knew that we were going to move to Los Angeles. My grandmother also used to tells us stories about all of these interesting people that she’d meet on her travels, and she often mentioned one woman in particular – a sophisticated, classy, fashion-forward woman named Ava Carrington. So when it came time to pick a name for our business, Helena and I were in complete agreement. We wanted to name it after this woman whose fashion sense had made such an impression on our grandmother.

Sofia and Helena Mattsson
Photo Courtesy Ava Carrington

What was the inspiration behind getting in the fashion business?

Both my sister and I have always had entrepreneurial spirits – moving so far away from home to pursue acting is obviously an entrepreneurial endeavor – so I think we were destined to get into something like this at some point. Our close relationship, the trust we have in each other, and the shared vision that we have also took away a lot of the fear and uncertainty.

The inspiration to do vegan handbags just came from a feeling that there is a big gap between well-designed, high quality products and ethical practices. Most luxury handbags are made with leather, which is not ethical to me, because of the animal suffering. Meanwhile, many vegan options currently on the market are either low-quality or not unique and well-crafted designs. We wanted to create a handbag that not only incorporated both beautiful designs and high quality materials, but that were also ethically made and required no animal sacrifice. That’s the philosophy behind Ava Carrington.

The Stockholm Collection is beautiful. How did you find such quality materials?

It involved a lot of hard work. There is so much bad stuff out there, so you have to kind of dig your way through everything. The research was painstaking. Basically, we sourced all over the world to get samples from as many different places as possible. We literally tested hundreds of fabrics before we found the one we feature in the Stockholm Collection. It very much has the same structure as leather, and it looks and feels the same…but it’s also environmentally friendly, is super durable, and is also more water and scratch resistant than leather. So it has all of these amazing qualities that leather doesn’t, and we are just super excited to have found it.

Helena and Sofia Mattsson

What was it like getting Ava Carrington off the ground?

As I had mentioned, Helena and I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit. We’d talked about starting a business like this many times in the past, so I think it’s in our blood. We picked fashion because we have that drive to create. We also knew that pursuing our dream wouldn’t be easy, and that starting a company is a very big deal. It requires a lot of work, and you have to wait until you get the right idea. We had been spitballing ideas for years before we found something that we felt was so needed, which was vegan fashion. It presented us with a mission that we were very excited to go on, and that’s when we really buckled down and decided to do all of the work.

And I assume it’s a lot of hard work.

It feels like we’ve been through a self-paced business school experience, because we’ve had to learn so much from scratch. We had to brainstorm the idea, finalize the sketches for our first collection, and seek out all of the materials used in the manufacturing. We also had to incorporate a company, pull together all of the documents that we needed, file for patents, create a website, launch a marketing campaign, and do all of the advertisements. There is so much that goes into it, and since we’re doing this for the first time there has been a steep learning curve. But, I’m so grateful for the experience. I’ve learned so much, and I’m loving everything about it. It has been a really fun challenge.

Sofia Mattsson
Photo Courtesy Ava Carrington

Who are some of your favorite fashion designers?

I love Stella McCartney. I think it’s always amazing when a brand also has a mission that’s considerate to either the environment, animals, or both. Stella McCartney is a brand that does those things. I also love the clothing brand Reformation. It’s based in Los Angeles, and they do a lot of very environmentally friendly clothing. So yeah, I think those would be my top two right now.

Let’s talk wellness.  What does your diet and exercise regimen look like?

Well, things obviously look very different now than what it did a few months ago. Before COVID, there were so many more workout options to choose between. I’m a social person so I like group workouts, so, pre-COVID, Orangetheory was my go-to workout destination. I loved it because you basically rotate between treadmills, rowers, and the floor, where you do weight exercises. And I love the comradery and team spirit that you have in that kind of environment. When you have a group around you, and you’re  doing it together, then you can pump each other up. I also used to do dance classes, because I love those, too, but now that things have changed I’ve had to adjust my workout routine.

Sofia Mattsson
Photo Courtesy Sofia Mattsson

How so?

I just got a Peloton bike for my home, which has been extremely helpful. I was little worried at first that I wouldn’t be able to motivate myself, especially with not having that team spirit and other people around, but so far it’s been really fun. It’s a great workout, and it kicks my butt.

Living in Southern California means plenty of outdoor exercise options. Do you play tennis?

I used to. I did a pilot a few years ago, where I play a Russian tennis player who is ranked No. 3 in the world. In preparation for that role I had to play a lot of tennis, so I took some lessons from professional tennis players. We shot the pilot, which was for ABC Family, but it didn’t get picked up. I actually never saw the episode, but the experience was absolutely amazing. So yeah, I love tennis. It’s such a great sport.

What is your hydration go-to?

I honestly love ice cold water with lemon in it. Not necessarily because it’s healthier than other drinks, but I just because I love the taste. In general, I would always prefer to eat my calories rather than drinking them – I would much rather have a piece of chocolate cake and a Coke [laughs]. I do drink a lot of water. It’s so important to hydrate, and water is best thing for you in that regard. I also drink a green juice at least once a day, one that’s packed with spinach, celery, and all kinds of greens. The benefits that it has are amazing.

What does the Sofia Mattson diet look like?

I’m pretty basic. I don’t do anything special. Just a lot of whole grains, a lot of veggies, and a lot of fruits. I eat a lot of soups and salads. I try to get a lot of greens in there. I must admit I’m not a great cook yet, but there are so many great restaurants in Los Angeles that have both vegan and vegetarian options, so and I do eat out a lot.

Sofia Mattsson
Photo Courtesy Sofia Mattsson

Your TV and film credits include series such as Campus Security, NCIS, Jurassic City, and Becoming Bond. For the uninitiated, how competitive is Hollywood?

Oh, it’s definitely much more competitive than you can imagine. There are a lot of talented people coming here from all over, which makes it tough, but the digital world that we live in makes it even tougher. That’s because nowadays you can produce self-tapes so easily, and you don’t even have to be in Los Angeles to submit them. So instead of competing against actors who are physically in the L.A. area, you are competing against pretty much the whole world. Today, anyone from London or New York or anywhere can send in a self-tape.

You also need a thick skin, and you need to get used to hearing the word “no.” Trust me, before you land a job you’re going to get at least 100 rejections, usually more. It’s just part of the game. It’s very important not to get discouraged by it. That’s easier said than done, because it can be so frustrating at times. In other professions, if you do good work, then there’s a good chance you are going to move up the ladder, or you’re going to be rewarded somehow. When it comes to acting, you could be absolutely amazing in something that you do, and then you could end up not working for weeks or months at a time. But I’m an optimist. I do think that if you work really hard, eventually it will work out. It could just take longer for some than it does for others. You’ve gotta hang in there.

How does Sofia Mattsson handle rejection?

Rejection is always hard because you really have to prepare for a role. And if you go all-in and really do the work, there’s a good chance that you’re going to get emotionally attached. Sometimes you really fall in love with a certain role or a specific project, almost to the point where you can start imagining yourself in it – how amazing it would be to get to live that role, or how much fun it would be to do it – and then it could be over in one second. Maybe the audition doesn’t go well, or someone else shines brighter, or you’re just not what they’re looking for in that particular role. That moment when you realize you’re out of the running can be absolutely heartbreaking. It can really put you down. You definitely need to find a balance between your acting career and having a good life on the outside. That helps you keep things in perspective, so that acting doesn’t mean everything to you. And don’t’ get me wrong…to succeed, acting has to mean a lot to you…but it can’t be everything. You’ve got to have something else to go home and do when things don’t work out. Having a good group of friends around you also helps.

Sofia Mattsson
Photo Courtesy Sofia Mattsson

How did you land an agent?

I got lucky, because my sister’s manager wanted to represent me when we got here. We vibed from the moment we met. She was really excited about managing my career, and I felt a good level of trust with her. So yes, I got really lucky. Through her, I got set up with my agent. She set up all of these meetings with various agents, and I interviewed with them until I found one that we kind of vibed the best with. I get it. Sometimes it’s hard for actors to find good representation here. So, for other aspiring actors, I would just say that that there are a lot of agents in Los Angeles. Reach out to as many as possible, and pick one that you feel has your best interests at heart.

Did your Swedish accent limit you in any way?

I really had to work on my accent. I had to take classes. In the beginning, I had to play a lot of Swedish roles, or Russian roles, or German roles. If you’re European and  you have an accent, then you kind of fall under an umbrella that encompasses any European country. I did a lot of that in the beginning. Then I worked a lot on my accent to be able to play Americans as well.

Sofia Mattsson
Photo Courtesy Sofia Mattsson

Final Question: If you had one piece of advice for other aspiring actors, what would that be?

To work really hard on your craft and make sure that you enjoy the process. Have fun while you’re living your dream!

Robert Fergusson – Storyteller

Written By: Michael D. McClellan |

Psst. Robert Fergusson has a story to tell. The sought-after speaker and Hillsong teaching pastor was once considered such a poor communicator that a school essay was selected as one of the worst-written essays in a century. Thankfully for the rest of us, the talented Fergusson has thick skin and isn’t easily deterred. His new book, Are You Getting This?, is much more than a practical guide to understanding the age-old practice of storytelling. It’s also a roadmap that helps public speakers overcome the fear of standing in front of an audience and making that critical connection.

Far more than simply a primer for preachers and teachers, Are You Getting This? is an effective tool for everyone, from business leaders who want to learn how to communicate effectively with their team; to parents who want to know how and why they should tell stories to their children. Fergusson not only pours a lifetime of experience into this book, he does so in a way that connects with the reader from the jump, offering us a standout read. Fergusson shows us that a story is more than just a story, it’s an instantly recognized vehicle through which we pass on wisdom. He gets that fear is real, and that it takes fire and passion to overcome it. He helps us understand that stories are the perfect way to find common ground, the conduit through which we can reach our audience. Lessons shared from a life spent serving, all of it beautifully told, the perfect read for anyone who seeks to understand what it means to truly communicate.

Spend any time at all with Robert Fergusson, whether that’s listening to one of his sermons or chatting with him about his new book, and you instantly realize that he’s the real deal; someone who genuinely cares and who effortlessly connects, the kind of person who draws you in and takes you along for the ride.

English by birth, Australian by choice and European by taste, Fergusson has been a part of the Hillsong mega-church for more than 30 years, during which time he has seen incredible growth on a global scale. With the COVID pandemic gripping every corner of the world, 2020 has accelerated the use of virtual-meeting technology in ways both captivating and unexpected. Hillsong College, like all other colleges and universities, has had to adapt to the ‘new normal,’ and Fergusson’s lectures are just as engaging online as they are in person. Great stories transcend platforms. Great storytellers transcend time. Robert Fergusson has both bases covered, and a book that can help you achieve the same.

“Wherever you find yourself in life, I believe this book is going to encourage, instruct, and inform you about how you can fulfill your life’s purpose,” says Fergusson. “I hope the lessons I’ve learned along the way can help you on your journey to rediscover a love for learning and teaching, the importance of impartation, and the eternal truths found in the greatest story ever told.”

Are You Getting This? is available online now at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, SHOUT! Publishing, and other booksellers.

Let’s talk about the book. I love the title.

The title is interesting, because I am a teacher. When I get up to speak, I am so passionate about people getting an idea that I constantly say, “Are you getting this?” And, many years ago a friend said, “If you ever write a book on communication, you should call it, ‘Are You Getting This?’ So, that’s exactly what I’ve done. It’s become my catchphrase. I’m very passionate about communication, and I think that all of us in some form or another are involved in public speaking. My own journey is that I was a terrible public speaker when I was a child. So I’ve had to learn, and I wanted to pass on some of those ideas that have help me along the way. That was my motivation for writing this book.

Fear of speaking in public is almost universal. It can be a traumatic experience.

It can certainly be terrifying, but I’m living proof that it doesn’t have to be. I was brought up in England with no passion or desire to be a teacher or a communicator. When I was in school I was told that I was stupid, lazy, and disappointing. You must understand, I went to the sort of school that didn’t hold back on its school report. In fact, I still have a school report saying that this boy cannot express himself. So, every time that my parents received my report, it was a disappointment, especially in the area of public speaking. Well, I returned to that school after many years and learned that they had put together a centenary magazine, in which my geography essay from 1966 had been published as the worst piece of writing in 100 years of the school’s history [laughs]. Thankfully, they didn’t put my name at the bottom, just my initials!

Robert Fergusson

How did storytelling help you overcome your fear?

The idea of being involved in public speaking was totally alien to me. I was later studying zoology at university when I became a believer in Christ, and it became evident that I was going to end up in some sort of ministry position. Clearly, I had to learn to speak, and storytelling was one of the ways that I overcame some of my nerves. Think about it: When you’re talking about stories – I would often write stories about animals – there is almost always a natural connection with the audience. Because there’s such an emotional connection, stories became my normal way of communicating. It’s really developed from there. I’ve now been a speaker for 46 years, the last 30 of those in Australia, and stories have become more and more central to the way that I communicate.

You call this book your redemptive story.

I love redemptive stories that start with the hero or a heroine who is flawed, or who is maybe going in the wrong direction, or who is going through some process, challenge, or test. Then there’s a turning point or a redemptive moment where they fulfill their goal, and, in a sense, it all ends happily ever after. I know that is a bit of a cliché, but there is something about that arc that is very satisfying. The theme of the book is very much a redemptive story.

There are some lighter moments in the book as well.

In storytelling, they say the difference between a comedy and a tragedy is how the hero or heroine engages with the dark power in the middle of the story. I think that is what all of us have to deal with, regardless of the situation. We have to engage with the challenges that will either turn us into a tragedy or a comedy. I prefer comedies.

When did you start writing the book?

This has been a long journey. People often say, “How long does it take to write a sermon?” When I’m being pedantic, I may say seven hours, but in reality it has taken over 60 years. The book is been a long journey. I’ve been teaching on preaching and communication for the last 30 years in our college here, so there has always been the seed of a book. This one has probably developed over a 10-year period. One goal I had was that I didn’t want to put out a little book on my own, I really wanted the book to serve as one of the church’s resources. Because I wanted the church to be the backer and publisher of the book, in a sense I was happy to wait until what I felt was the right time.

Robert Fergusson

Is there a particular story from the book that you wouldn’t mind sharing?

There’s a chapter in this book called Fire Overcomes Fear. The basic principle is that, if you have a passion that is greater than your fear, then you can overcome that fear. I use the illustration that, if you were a mother and you were terrified of snakes, but you had to step over a snake to get to your child, you would do that without hesitation. Why? Because your love for your child is greater than your fear of snakes.

So, when I’m teaching, I try to find people’s fire. There’s a great verse in the Bible that has been a real help to me. In Jeremiah, 20:9, it reads, “If I say, ‘I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,’ his word is in my heart like a fire and I cannot contain it.” I try to encourage people. I look for their anger, I look for their passion. If you can get that, then your background doesn’t matter. Your story doesn’t matter. Your lack of talent doesn’t matter. If you can tap into that, then you can be an effective communicator.

You’ve been with Hillsong Church for about 30 years, so you’ve seen its explosive growth into a mega-church. How did you start out?

It’s an interesting story. Brian Houston, who is the senior pastor of at Hillsong Church, visited England back in the 1980s, and was speaking at the church in which I was a minister. At the end of a group meeting I went up to him and said, “Is anyone looking after you for lunch?” It turns out that he didn’t have plans, so I invited him to join me for lunch. I had absolutely no agenda or expectations. I just simply invited a visiting speaker to lunch. I often say that a simple decision, or an act of hospitality, can completely and utterly change your destiny. This was certainly the case here, because a number of years later his father invited me to Australia. At the time, Hillsong Church was actually two centers, or as you might say, two local churches – one located in the city, and one farther west. Then, in 1999, the two came together and became Hillsong Church. The rest is history. Those two centers became campuses, and, suddenly, there was extraordinary growth and influence. It has been a wild ride. People often come to us from different parts of the world and say, “What’s the secret?” We just say, “It’s through the grace of God,” because there is no secret. For some reason, God decided to use a very simple church in Australia to impact millions of people. It is an extraordinary thing.

Hillsong Church is a church without borders. How has Hillsong managed through the coronavirus pandemic?

You can either see threats as dangers or opportunities. Our pastor, Brian Houston, saw this global pandemic as an opportunity to go online and reach more people. Of course this involved huge challenges – we operate a college and many of our students had to go home, and almost everything that the college offered had to transition to being fully online. Suddenly, people from all over the world are saying, “Well, I don’t have to move to Australia to go to Hillsong College, I can attend it from anywhere.”

There are so many examples. I was talking to our pastor in Sweden recently, and because of the lockdown he has had to make some adjustments to the services offered there. Now they are only allowed to meet in small groups. So, instead of having two or three big services, he has started hosting micro-services all across Sweden. Last weekend he had 67 micro-services, many of which were in towns that he had no contact with before. Technology has given us greater reach, greater influence, and greater opportunity.

Robert Fergusson

Do you consider yourself a born teacher?

That’s a really interesting question. I’ve always loved teaching. My children used to say, “If you ask dad to tell you the time, he would tell you how to make the watch.” There’s something about the desire to pass on information that is deep inside me. I think my mother gave me that. She was immensely curious. People say, “Who is the great heroine in life?” I always say that it’s my mother, in large part because she gave me the gift of curiosity. To be honest, I’ve never seen myself as a great preacher, or a great teacher, or even a great storyteller. I think the fact that I struggled in school has actually helped me to become a better coach. I know what it’s like to not get something – hence, the name of the book, Are You Getting This?  I understand the steps that you need to take to get from one place to another. I know how to get the best out of people.

What is your philosophy when it comes to writing?

They say that poetry is the best words in the best order. If you look at someone like Winston Churchill, who was a great orator, you could see that he chose the exact words that would fit that exact situation. When he became Prime Minister during World War II, he could have said, “I’m really committed to working hard. I’m going to do my very best. I’m very committed to the cause.” Instead he said, “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” As soon as you hear it, you realize that those are the right words in the right order. Nothing wasted. That is my philosophy.

Final Question: If you had one piece of advice for others what would that be?

Well, it’s almost impossible to give one piece of advice apart from the grace of God, which is foundational. But I say to people, keep doing the right thing. I think the right thing is often the wise thing, the good thing, the loving thing. If you keep doing the right thing, then sooner or later you’re going to be given that opportunity. I might not be the best preacher in the world, but here I am, at Hillsong Church. I just kept turning up, and kept doing the right thing.