Who did Billie Eilish play in Swarm? All about the singer’s character in the Prime Video series

Billie Eilish, the superstar with 9 Grammys and 2 Oscars under her belt, has yet again taken her fans by surprise, but with acting this time. The Ocean Eyes singer made her acting debut in Swarm, a satirical comedy horror thriller series released on Amazon Prime Video in 2023.

Directed by Donald Glover and Janine Nabers, Swarm follows the story of Andrea Dre Greene - or Dre - and her borderline obsession with pop start Ni'jah. The obsession takes a dark turn, leading her on the path to carnage. Dominique Fishback, who played the character of Dre in the series, earned wide acclaim for her performance and an Emmy nomination in 2023.

The status and aesthetics of Ni'jah in the series are somewhat likened to that of Beyoncé; just like her fan-following calls themselves the BeyHive, Ni'jah's followers in the show refer to themselves as The Swarm; hence, the name.

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Billie Eilish played the character Eva in Prime Video's Swarm

Prime Video's Swarm centers around the insatiable needs of toxic fandom. A promotional poster of the series ends with the tagline - Stan Corrected. "Stan" is a term used to describe an obsessed fan of a celebrity or a musical band, originating from the song Stan by rapper Eminem, which closely reflects Dre's character in Swarm.

Billie Eilish is introduced in the fourth episode of the Prime Video series, playing the character of Eva - the soft-spoken yet manipulative leader of an all-women cult. In the episode, Eva lures Dre with her demure charm and tricks her into revealing her crimes.

In an interview with Variety in July 2023, Eilish talked about the show's theme from a real-life pop star's perspective.

"That fan passion is so real, and it's so beautiful, but it's also really scary. And I think the show is a metaphor for this power - how people really are in the delusional nature of, 'She's gonna see me, and we're gonna be best friends!' Fans are really so powerful, and I think maybe they don't realize how powerful they are."

In the interview, Billie Eilish also confessed about wanting to try acting much before the Swarm opportunity came to her. With both of her parents being actors themselves, Eilish had thought about acting in the past but suppressed it because she thought she was "really bad" at it.

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Eilish praised Dominique Fishback in her acceptance speech at the People's Choice Awards

In February 2024, roughly 11 months after Swarm premiered on Prime Video, Billie Eilish was awarded the TV Performance of the Year award at the People's Choice Awards for her playing Eva in Swarm.

In her award acceptance speech, Eilish thanked the directors and producer behind the show before dedicating her award to Dominique Fishback, saying Swarm was "all about her." The singer further said:

"[Fishback] really carried the hell out of [the show]. She taught me everything I know, [so] that whole experience I owe to her. She deserves this [award] more than I do. She's incredible, she's beautiful. She's talented. She should be cast in everything forever."

Towards the end of her speech, Eilish shouted out to her mother, Maggie Baird, and to "the people" for the fan-voted award.

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Aside from receiving an award at the People's Choice Awards, Billie Eilish was also there to present one - precisely for The Movie Performance of the Year. Actress America Ferrera won the award for playing Gloria in the Greta Gerwig-directed Barbie movie.

A month after the People's Choice Awards, Eilish - alongside her brother, Finneas - also won an Oscar (her second one after 2022) for their track in the Barbie movie - What Was I Made For?