Everything We Know About Taylor Swift's Brother Austin

Taylor Swift — Time Magazine's Person of the Year 2023 and the breaker of records left and right — is one of the biggest celebrities on the planet, and as such, the public knows a ton about her life. Her romantic relationships are widely covered (and scrutinized), as is everything from her fashion choices to restaurant visits she makes with her friend squad. 

Public knowledge about Swift's life comes from more than just the media following Swift's every move, as the singer herself has shared much with fans through social media and her autobiographical songs. After all, there are few other stars whose fanbases can list off their favorite number (13) or the name of their high school best friend (Abigail Anderson).

Even those who are not hardcore Swifties have a ton of knowledge about Swift, which extends to her parents. Her mother Andrea, in particular, can be frequently seen in public spaces alongside her daughter, and her cancer battle — which was heartbreakingly referenced in the song "Soon You'll Get Better" — was widely covered by the media. Her father, Scott, is less visible but still certainly out there, as is Swift's brother Austin. Since Austin keeps such a low profile, however, rabid fans are probably the only ones who have done the digging to find out his deal. With limited knowledge about him in the public sphere, we wanted to focus on Austin's life as the younger sibling and self-admitted best friend of such a famous superstar. Here is everything we know about Taylor Swift's brother Austin.

There are many stories about family members of celebrities struggling to live in the shadow of their famous kin — this has even resulted in shocking tell-all interviews or books that exploit the famous person. While the goal is at times meant to clear up misconceptions, it is more common for a celebrity's relatives to attack them publicly and spill big secrets. But you should not expect Austin Swift to go that route!  

Swift is incredibly close with his famous sister and has been known to accompany her to events, to promote her music on his socials, and to wax poetic about their bond. He even contributes his ideas to her creative pursuits, much like their parents.

We have no idea why Swift calls his sister "Teffy," but it is adorable nonetheless. It is also adorable how he has used social media to post loving tributes to his sister (and she often returns the favor on National Sibling Day). For example, Swift posted about his respect and admiration for his big sis when she decided to speak up about politics for the first time. He also loves a birthday tribute. "I have always had a best friend, a role model, and a caring, tireless, dedicated champion in my corner," he wrote on Instagram in 2018. " ... The gift of getting to witness you become the wonderful person you are today has been the greatest privilege and honor of my life."

Austin Swift started off his college career at the highly-ranked University of Notre Dame. He went there from 2010 to 2011, briefly transferred to Vanderbilt University — near his family in Nashville — and then returned to Notre Dame, where he graduated in 2015. A film studies student with no intent of being on stage or in front of a camera, Swift found acting almost by accident. "I was studying mainly film theory in college, but during one of my classes, a teaching assistant said they were having trouble casting this one role in the play they were putting up. I went and read for it and ended up getting the part, but I had no idea at the time that it was the lead," he told People.

That play was "Six Characters in Search of an Author," and it made the news in 2014 when Swift's famous sister chose to attend the final performance instead of the MTV Europe Music Awards. He appeared in a staging of "Dead Man's Cell Phone" the following year, but it was that first play that Swift credits with making him love acting. "That was a crash course but a good one. I fell in love with the people and the process, and I've been hooked since then," he said in that same article. Swift also admits to worrying he "wasn't good enough" — even if performing is in your blood, it cannot be easy being the younger sibling of someone with a huge on-stage presence — and the play alleviated those fears.

How is this for cool? Austin Swift counts "GoldenEye" amongst his favorite films, and when he scored his first professional acting gig, it was in a film starring none other than (that era's) James Bond himself. "Grew up loving Pierce Brosnan and John Moore's films. I never could've dreamt I would actually get the chance to work with them," Swift wrote alongside a movie still in an August 2016 Instagram post. Swift plays Lance in the film "I.T.," which is about a millionaire whose life turns chaotic when he fires his tech consultant. Swift left to make the film in Dublin, Ireland, not long after leaving the University of Notre Dame in 2015. While his part was by no means a starring role, it was still a big get for a recent college grad and he has said the experience "felt like a dream."

While Swift was clearly excited about his first on-screen role, so too were his sister and her famous friends. Famous squad members Martha Hunt and Ruby Rose both left encouraging comments on Austin's post, and Taylor posted about it on her socials at the time (since deleted, because the singer wiped her Instagram account a year later). "My brother @austinkingsleyswift just acted in his first movie and I'm all proud and stuff," she wrote (via People). Austin has subsequently had a handful of other acting roles, including a part in "Live by Night," starring Ben Affleck, and an appearance in two episodes of the series "Embeds."

We don't know a ton about Austin Swift, who has opted to keep a relatively low profile and has not made an Instagram post since February 2022. Through the years, however, we have learned some facts about the guy that makes him seem incredibly cool and startlingly normal. One might even go so far as to say that Swift is a nerd — but in the best way possible. For instance, he loves reading graphic novels and has used both comic books and "Star Wars" imagery to make jokes on his Instagram. "Hold up now, this is my song," reads the caption of one post, alongside a photo of Darth Vader pointing like a dorky dad at a party. It is a fantastic example of Swift's fun sense of humor, and the comments on these sorts of posts frequently reference his relatability.

Beyond comics and sci-fi, Swift has also made posts demonstrating an interest in attending concerts, hiking, and photography. In fact, the vast majority of photos on his Instagram grid are gorgeous scenery shots and other artistic images snapped by Swift and coupled with a one-sentence caption requiring interpretation. At one point, Swift was also into jiu-jitsu, which he saw as a good companion to acting. "I had always wanted to try it and I finally started this year," he told People in 2018. "It's very immediate. You never have to wonder how you're doing and yet it can be intellectual in its own way."

Taylor Swift's dating journey has been painfully public, resulting in an abnormal level of attention, scrutiny, and critique (not to mention misogyny). Heck, even the Swift parents have had to deal with media coverage of their relationship woes and their "secret" 2011 divorce. So, obviously, there has also been interest in who the uber-famous singer's brother Austin has dated. 

Austin has done a relatively good job of keeping his personal life private, but his latest relationship has been tracked by the media just like everything else Swift-adjacent. It remains unknown if Austin had other serious partners prior to his current girlfriend, but his relationship with model Sydney Ness has been somewhat visible. It was in September 2022 that the couple first made headlines, after they were photographed holding hands on a stroll through New York City.

Austin and his girlfriend have become more reclusive since then, although Ness did pop up in Taylor's 2023 Independence Day photos (the singer is known for her 4th of July celebrations). But since neither one posts about the relationship on social media, images of Austin and Ness together are few and far between. However, their public presence increased once Taylor began dating Travis Kelce in late 2023. Austin and his main squeeze were both spotted at numerous Kansas City Chiefs games and post-game outings. They were even at the Super Bowl, where they spent time with Taylor, her parents, the Kelce family, and some famous pals — in a suite that ran Kelce more than $1 million.

For a lot of people, their family's stamp of approval is a must for moving a new relationship forward, and being famous does not change that. Much like Taylor Swift has developed a close relationship with her brother's girlfriend Sydney Ness, Austin has for years befriended Taylor's partners. He built snowmen with Taylor and Calvin Harris, and at one point followed Joe Alwyn on Instagram — but it's Taylor's relationship with Travis Kelce that marks the first time the public has gotten real insight into how the young Swift sibling supports his sister's relationships. A known football fan, it probably has not been that hard for Austin to make it out to watch Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs play. But more than that, he genuinely seems to have fostered a nice bond with Kelce.

While it is not a necessity for family members to get along with one another's romantic partners, it certainly helps make interactions more pleasant and less awkward (or downright hostile, depending on the family). The heartwarming story Kelce told about his Christmas gift from Austin indicates that it should be smooth sailing should they become brothers-in-law one day. Austin wowed Kelce when he attended a Christmas Day Chiefs game dressed like Santa and later gifted him a special present. "He actually made me feel like a child because his gift to me was straight out of the bag," Kelce said on his podcast (via Entertainment Weekly). "And [he] handed me a VHS of my favorite football movie of all time, Little Giants."