When Swash was seven, he made his first television appearance in an Andrex advertisement. In 1991 when he was nine years old he played the role of a little boy pretending to be an orphan in You Rang M'Lord? then when he was eleven he was cast in the film The Adventures of Pinocchio, as The Fighting boy with Dawn French and Griff Rhys Jones and co-starring Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Richard Claxton and Correy Carrier. His character, known as Fighting Boy because he scuffled with Lampwick over a gun, was turned into a donkey after going on a Roller Coaster. He made minor appearances in several television series such as Casualty, The South Bank Show, The Bill, "Soldier Soldier" and Nickelodeon's LOL: Laugh Out Loud. In 2002, Joe Swash appeared as a participant in the ITV documentary Club Reps.[3]
Swash was about to give up on the idea of becoming an actor when he gained a role in BBC One soap opera EastEnders. He was cast as Mickey Miller and made his first appearance in EastEnders in April 2003 as a recurring character. Owing to a positive viewer reception, producer Louise Berridge turned Mickey into a regular character, and his on-screen family arrived a year later, including Mickey's little sister Demi, played by Swash's real sister, Shana. His son, Harry Swash, also appeared in the soap as his niece Summer Swann for a minimal period. On 26 February 2008, it was announced that Joe Swash, along with the actor who plays his stepfather, David Spinx, were being written out of EastEnders in a "big explosive storyline". He made his final appearance in July 2008. Since the announcement of his departure, Swash has been critical of the direction producers took with his character. He has blamed his three-month screen absence in 2005 on Mickey becoming little more than "light-relief".[4]
However, he has expressed an interest in returning.[5] He later reprised his role of Mickey Miller for two episodes on 19 and 20 September 2011, in order to coincide with his on screen brother's departure from the soap.
In 2011, Swash presented the children's show Gimme A Break on the CBBC Channel. In 2011, Swash and Caroline Flack worked on ITV2 game show Minute to Win It as team captains. In November 2011 Driving Academy aired on the CBBC Channel, with Swash as presenter/narrator. In 2014, a brand new series was aired with celebrities taking part called Celebrity Driving Academy.
In 2013 and 2014, Swash was a regular team captain on ITV2 panel show Fake Reaction. In 2016, he joined the line-up on The Jump as a contestant.
In 2021, Swash appeared on the cooking show Celebrity Masterchef, when he made the final 3.
Swash was forced to take a three-month break from EastEnders in 2005 after he contracted meningoencephalitis.[10]
On 16 June 2007, Swash's fiancée, Emma Sophocleous, gave birth to their first child, a boy.[11] On 19 January 2008, it was announced the couple had separated.[12] On 3 November 2009, Swash was declared bankrupt by London's High Court after failing to pay a £20,000 tax bill. Swash's agent Becca Barr said it was a mix-up and the actor was not in financial difficulty.[13]
Swash started dating Stacey Solomon in January 2016, after meeting on I'm a Celebrity several years previously. In 2019, the two announced that they were expecting their first child together, joining their family of Swash's son and Solomon's two sons. In May 2019, Solomon gave birth to their first child together, a boy.[14]
Swash and Solomon got engaged on 24 December 2020, after being together for five years.[15] In July 2021 the pair announced they were expecting a baby girl.[16] On 5 October 2021 Stacey announced on Instagram that the baby had been born.[17] On 24 July 2022 they were married in a small ceremony held at their home, Pickle Cottage, in Essex.[18]
On 28 December 2022, Solomon announced she was eight months pregnant with her fifth child and third with Swash.[19] The couple announced the birth of their second daughter on 11 February 2023.[20]
