Still pursuing an acting career, he studied with David Alexander, a teacher and mentor to actors like Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau and Ross Martin.
He also appeared in several Shakespeare plays at The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum including 7 seasons as Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew.
In 1986, Swan landed a contract role on As the World Turns, playing Scottish adventurer Duncan McKechnie for 10 years.
In 1998, Swan joined a second soap opera, The Bold and the Beautiful where he played the role of Adam Alexander, the long-lost ex-husband of Sally Spectra.
[citation needed] He also played patriarch Daniel Trisk in the PureFlix series Hilton Head Island.