The comic book-adapted series The Umbrella Academy has officially returned to Netflix screens for its fourth season. Aside from the cast of characters that make a comeback, new players have entered the scene, including one (or two?) played by Filipino-Canadian actress Victoria Sawal.
Raised in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada but with a proud Filipino heritage she wears on her sleeve, Victoria is among the latest Pinoys to crack their big break in the Hollywood hills. Ahead, get the lowdown on the up-and-coming actress with these five facts about her.
Who Is Victoria Sawal? Facts About the Filipina-Canadian Actress from “The Umbrella Academy”
1. Victoria Sawal made her film debut in “Pacific Rim.”
For Victoria’s foray into the world of movies, her first film credit role was already in a blockbuster hit. The Filipino-Canadian actress made her acting debut in the 2013 Guillermo del Toro sci-fi action Pacific Rim, where Victoria, who was originally brought in as an extra, earned a speaking role while on set.
Victoria is credited as the “Chinese Girl in Anti-Kaiju Refuge” and was tasked to act as a chicken vendor. In an interview with Canvas Rebel quoted by The Direct, the actress recalled that she had internalized the role and took it with what “some would say too seriously” and she started yelling “chicken-related lines left and right.”
While she thought that she might have been kicked out of set, her go-getter attitude proved to have been worth it when she was “upgraded to an actor role,” further inspiring her in her budding acting career. “Everyone proceeded to call me ‘Chicken girl’ for the remainder of filming,” she recalled. “That opportunity started everything for me, it was love at first set. I had gotten a small taste of movie magic and became hungry for anything to do with acting. I immediately signed up for acting classes and found an incredible agent who I still adore 10+ years later."
2. She’s a sci-fi and fantasy regular.
After her stint in Pacific Rim, Victoria has had a steady run in sci-fi, fantasy, and dystopian-adjacent stories. In 2021, she starred in a horror short titled Escape: A Ghost Story, while during the same year, she also appeared in fantasy and post-apocalyptic projects Endlings, Good Witch, Y: The Last Man, and Station Eleven. The actress also has a credit in the critically acclaimed dystopian drama The Handmaid’s Tale and starred as Lt. Naya in Star Trek: Discovery. In 2024, Victoria made her way to the world of the Umbrellas in the fourth season of The Umbrella Academy.
3. She was nominated for Best Actress awards.
Victoria has the makings of a multi-award-winning star! In 2024, she received an acting nod for her role in the short film Sanguine. The short was honored at the Days of the Dead, a horror-centered film festival and convention. Previously, Victoria won an award for her performance in Escape: A Ghost Story at the 2021 Horrorhound Film Festival.
4. Victoria is in a band.
Other than her life as an actor, Victoria also holds another talent–she’s also a musician! While she acts full-time, the Filipino-Canadian is a singer for her band Sans Serif and sometimes performs at festivals and busks around Toronto. “Being a singer helped me sharpen my ability to use my voice to command and influence an environment, to evoke emotions within an audience,” she said to Canvas Rebel.
5. She plays an important role in “The Umbrella Academy” season four.
Spoiler incoming! Victoria enters The Umbrella Academy scene in the series’ fourth season, where she plays not one, but two important characters. Her role in the show is introduced as the unassuming waitress named Rosie, but it’s later revealed that she has another identity–Jennifer, a character possessing a dangerous substance called the “Durango,” which can threaten their world as they know it.
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