Alaska Daily Star Grace Dove Admits Working Alongside Hilary Swank Challenges Her To Keep Up
When a journalist from New York heads to Anchorage, Alaska, to cover a story about missing Indigenous women, she finds that she can use some help from a local reporter in ABC's newest show, "Alaska Daily." Eileen Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) is apprehensive at first when Rosalind 'Roz' Friendly (Grace Dove) is assigned to work alongside her in covering the story. Still, she quickly realizes that a local Indigenous woman can help her understand the area and the story. Roz also has a personal attachment to the story, revealing that her cousin went missing at the age of 17, which inspired her to become a journalist and find answers for the missing women and their families.
Roz and Eileen don't instantly mesh on the show, and the two will find themselves butting heads with one another on many occasions. "I think it's going to take a lot more for her to trust Eileen. Maybe she's starting to trust her as a journalist, but I think that they still have quite a ways to go," Dove revealed in an interview with HollywoodLife.
And just like Roz challenges Eileen onscreen, Swank keeps Dove on her toes behind the scenes. The latter is a two-time Oscar winner for her films "Million Dollar Baby" and "Boys Don't Cry," and that experience is used as motivation by Dove to keep up with the award-winning actress (per IMDb).
Swank's acting prowess shines as Dove finds motivation from her experience
According to her IMDb filmography, Grace Dove is no newcomer to Hollywood, getting her start a decade ago, but "Alaska Daily" is the first major production she has worked on. So, working with the likes of Hilary Swank has to be quite the experience for the young actress.
"Hilary challenges me in the best way every single day and pushes me," Dove said in the interview with HollywoodLife. "I realized very early on that I needed to work harder and be better to keep up." The Indigenous actress also touched on how this dichotomy is reflected in the show as well, with Dove's character having immense knowledge of the surrounding Alaskan community but not the years of experience like veteran reporter Eileen Fitzgerald. "I have the heart, I have the knowledge of the land and the community of Alaska, but she has years of experience on me when it comes to journalism."
Dove's sentiment from the interview shows that both she and her character have much to learn from Swank and Eileen in front of the camera and behind the scenes. You can see how their dynamic plays out on "Alaska Daily" when it airs Thursday nights at 10 p.m. on ABC or by streaming it on demand on Hulu.