Shawnee Smith (born July 3, 1970) is an American
film and television
actress and
musician. Smith is well known for her roles as
Amanda Young in the
Saw film
series and Linda in the
CBS sitcom
Becker.
Smith once fronted the
band Fydolla Ho, with which she toured the United States and the
UK
, and is also the other half of Smith & Pyle, a desert country-rock
band, with actress Missi
Pyle.
Early life
Shawnee
Smith was born in Orangeburg, South Carolina
, the second child of Patricia, an oncology nurse, and Jim Smith, a financial planner
and former US Air Force
pilot. The family relocated from South Carolina to
Van Nuys,
California
when she was a year old. Smith's biological
parents divorced when she was two and her mother remarried when she
was eight.
She attended Ranchito Avenue Elementary
School in Panorama City, California
. She also attended North Hollywood High School in
North Hollywood,
California
and graduated in 1987.
Career
Smith began acting as a child appearing on stage in
A Christmas Carol repertory from age
8 to 11 and starred in a stage play with
Richard Dreyfuss at age 15. She also
performed in the original stage production of
To Gillian on Her
37th Birthday and won the Dramalogue Critics Award for her
performance. She was the youngest actor up to that time to receive
such an honor. She made her television debut in a
McDonald's commercial titled "Best Friends" in
1978. She joined the
Screen Actors
Guild at age nine and made her feature film debut in
John Huston's
1982
adaptation of the Broadway musical
Annie, as one of
Aileen Quinn's fellow orphans. In 1985, Smith
co-starred in two troubled-teen melodramas,
Not My Kid and
Crime of Innocence. In 1987, Smith
co-starred in the hit comedy film
Summer School as pregnant student
Rhonda Altobello. The following year, she starred with
Kevin Dillon and the late
Joe Seneca in a 1988 remake of the
Steve McQueen classic
The Blob as Meg Penny.
Smith played a rich teen who helps
John
Candy locate her kidnapped sister in 1989's
Who's Harry Crumb?. That same year,
she co-starred with
Jennie Garth and
Alison Sweeney in the short-lived TV
series
Brand New Life. The following year, Smith
co-starred as the daughter of
Anthony
Hopkins and
Mimi Rogers in the
remake of
Michael Cimino's thriller
The Desperate Hours.
Smith took a three-year break from acting in the early 1990s
primarily because she had outgrown teenage roles and had a hard
time finding work.
During that time she climbed Mt.
Kilimanjaro and competed in a triathlon. Near the end of the
hiatus she decided to sell all her belongings and relocate to
North
Carolina
to visit
family and go back to school. When she was about to start
attending classes she landed a small role in
Leaving Las Vegas and has had steady
work ever since.
Smith's best-known television role was Linda, an air-headed nurse's
aide, in the
CBS hit comedy series
Becker with
Ted Danson. She served as a regular cast member
in all 129 episodes from 1998-2004. Another well-known television
role was that of Julie Lawry in the 1994
miniseries The Stand, based on the novel
by
Stephen King. She also appeared as a
waitress in
The
Shining miniseries, which King adapted from his own novel.
Besides her regular role on
Becker and the cameos in the
Stephen King miniseries, Smith made several guest appearances on
television shows, such as
Cagney
& Lacey;
Married
With Children;
Murder,
She Wrote;
The
X-Files; and
Players. In
2003, she lent her voice to an episode of the
Disney cartoon
Kim Possible as
Vivian
Porter.
Smith as Amanda Young in
Saw
Smith has become well-known in recent years for her role as
Amanda Young in the
Saw films. She has also been
acknowledged as a "
scream queen" due to
the number of horror films she has appeared in.
IGN "The Women of Horror: Shawnee Smith" "Bloody-Disgusting"In the DVD commentary of
Saw, the producers revealed that
her scenes were filmed while she was battling a terrible case of
the flu. It is also revealed in the DVD commentary of
Saw II that she was four months
pregnant with her second child, Jakson, during
filming. Her pregnancy was kept a secret from everyone except
director
Darren Lynn Bousman. He
mentioned in the commentary that Smith's daughter Verve
accidentally told him about the pregnancy during filming. She also
wore a man's watch while filming
Saw
III, which she kept. She has also said that although she
is briefly shown in
Saw V, she was
never on set. Any scenes featuring her were dubbed from file
footage. On March 20, 2009, producer
Mark
Burg released a statement confirming that Smith will be in the
latest installment of the
Saw films,
Saw
VI. She arrived in Toronto on March 31, 2009 to begin
filming brand new flashback sequences.
Smith has repeatedly admitted that she hates being scared and has a
hard time watching the
Saw films, or any horror movie. She
originally turned the role of
Amanda
Young down because it was very upsetting to her. After turning
the role down, she was shown the eight-minute short film by
Leigh Whannell and
James Wan and changed her mind after the role was
offered to her a second time. Smith in the jaw trap became the
image on the film poster. She also revealed at SawMania 2008 that
her name was initially brought up for the role of Amanda because
Saw director James Wan was a big fan of her films in the
1980s and had a longtime crush on her. Director Darren Bousman and
Leigh Whannell have also talked about their crushes on Smith in the
Saw DVD commentaries.
In 2006, Smith made an appearance in the ten-minute short film
trailer
Repo!
The Genetic Opera
by director
Darren Lynn Bousman.
Smith's character was Heather Sweet, the surgery addicted daughter
of GeneCo president Rotti Largo.
The trailer was filmed in Toronto, Canada
and was an adaptation from the stage
version. Bousman filmed the trailer after completing
Saw
III to try and pitch the idea to film producers. Smith did not
reprise her role as Heather Sweet when Lionsgate and Twisted
Pictures picked up the film in 2007 and was replaced by
Paris Hilton. The character name was also
changed from Heather to Amber.
In 2008, Smith played Detective Gina Harcourt in the
FEARnet original series
30 Days of Night: Dust to
Dust. The series premiered on July 17, 2008 on FEARnet.com
in six 4-6 minute webisodes along with behind the scenes clips.
This series is a continuation of the first webisode series
30 Days of Night:
Blood Trails. It is still available on FEARnet.com and can
also be seen in its entirety (about 30 minutes straight through) on
FEARnet On Demand. She also made her producing debut with this
series.
Smith was the host and one of three mentors on the VH1 reality
program
Scream
Queens which aired from October 20, 2008 to December 8,
2008.
In 2009, Smith played the role of Dr. Ann Sullivan in the third
installment of
The Grudge series,
The Grudge 3, which was a direct to DVD
release in May 2009.
Music career
Smith performing with Fydolla Ho in
2002
Along with her acting, she is also a musician; she plays the
guitar, piano, drums, and sings. She contributed to the soundtrack
of
Saw III with vocals on
Hydrovibe's song "Killer Inside" and to the soundtrack for
Catacombs as a solo
vocalist with the song "Please Myself." Her voice was also featured
in the film
Carnival
of Souls where her character Sandra performed a jazz song
titled "I Fear."
Smith fronted the punk/metal band
Fydolla
Ho (pronounced like Five-Dollar Whore) in the early 2000s. The
group was originally formed by Smith and current
Metallica bassist
Robert Trujillo as a small recording
project. The band released their debut full-length album
Untied in December 2001. She balanced the band with being
a regular cast member on the
CBS sitcom
Becker. The band officially ended in 2004.
Smith began working on a solo career/album in 2004 with producer
Chris Goss, but the project was never
completed. In an interview with Radio Free in October 2005 she
stated, "between being a mom, and working, and growing another
baby, I have not had time to give attention to music for a
while."
Smith with Missi Pyle performing as
Smith & Pyle
She is currently part of a country music group with actress
Missi Pyle called
Smith & Pyle. The two actresses met
while filming an
ABC
comedy pilot titled
Traveling in
Packs.
The band started after Smith invited Pyle to
join her in attending the Coachella
Valley Music and Arts Festival
. While stuck in traffic, Pyle talked about
her dream to be a rock star and Smith agreed to form a band with
her. Their first album,
It's OK to Be Happy, was released
digitally through
iTunes and
Amazon.com in July 2008.
The debut album was
recorded in Joshua Tree, California
at Rancho de la Luna
and was produced by Chris
Goss. Smith and Pyle have also become business partners
and formed their own record label called Urban Prairie Records,
which
It's OK to be Happy was released under. Smith has
talked about the possibility of a Smith & Pyle television or
webisode series in the near future. She mentioned the idea of a
series on Fangoria radio with
Dee Snider
and also on a radio appearance with bandmate
Missi Pyle in April 2009.
Personal life
Smith has two children: a daughter named Verve, born in 1999, from
her marriage to photographer
Jason
Reposar (1998–2003) and a son named Jakson, born in 2005, from
her brief marriage to musician
Kai
Mattoon (2005–2006). Her daughter was named after
Verve Records. Both Verve and Jakson were
featured in the debut Smith & Pyle album,
It's OK to be
Happy. The kids are listed in the album credits as having
vocals and spoken narrative tracks for two songs. An article
published October 28, 2009 highlighting Smith & Pyle's small
tour in West Virginia stated that Shawnee is pregnant with her
third child due in January 2010.
Smith and
ex-husband Jason Reposar eloped in 1998 while on vacation in
Scotland
due to the inability to organize a wedding.
The song "Sugar," performed by her country-rock band Smith &
Pyle, was written by Smith after her divorce from Reposar. She
describes it as her break-up song that is quite different from
Pyle's break-up song, "I Wish You Were Dead."
Smith was featured in
Maxim magazine in June 2001.
Filmography
Radio and miscellaneous television appearances
| Radio |
| Date |
Show |
Notes |
| January 3, 2001 |
Loveline with Dr. Drew and Adam
Carolla |
|
| May 14, 2001 |
Loveline with Dr. Drew and Adam Carolla |
|
| 1999-2000 |
Hollywood
Squares |
15 episodes |
| October 10, 2006 |
2006 Scream
Awards |
With Tobin Bell and Darren Lynn Bousman to promote
Saw III |
| October 27, 2006 |
Fangoria Radio with Dee
Snider |
To promote Saw III |
| October 31, 2006 |
Jimmy Kimmel
Live! |
To promote Saw III |
| August 8, 2007 |
Fangoria Radio with Dee Snider |
With Tobin Bell to promote
Saw IV |
| April 25, 2008 |
Fangoria Radio with Dee Snider |
With Mark Christian and Mat Dauzat to promote Smith &
Pyle |
| November 2008 |
The Time Machine with Mike Clark of the Smith
Bros. |
To promote Smith &
Pyle |
| April 18, 2009 |
The Single Life with Sam Phillips |
With Missi Pyle, Mat Dauzat, and
Heather St. Marie to promote Smith
& Pyle |
| May 15, 2009 |
Fangoria Radio with Dee Snider |
To promote Saw VI |
| July 10, 2009 |
Fangoria Radio with Dee Snider |
To promote Saw VI |
| November 26, 2009 |
The Jay Leno
Show |
With Smith & Pyle |
|
Discography
Albums
- Vial, Fydolla Ho (4-track Demo CD, unknown year)
- Untied, Fydolla Ho (2001)
- It's OK to be Happy, Smith
& Pyle (2008)
Singles
Featured in film
- "I Fear," Carnival of Souls (1998)
- "Killer Inside" (with Hydrovibe), Saw
III soundtrack (2006)
- "Zytrate Anatomy," Repo!
The Genetic Opera 10-minute
short film (2006)
- "Please Myself," Catacombs
soundtrack (2007)
Unknown album and/or year
- "Deciding" (2004)
- "Head" (2004)
- "Shelter" (2004)
with Fydolla Ho
- "Oh Yeah"
- "No Matter"
- "Pieces"
- "Behave"
- "Afraid"
Awards and nominations
| Year |
Award |
Result |
Category |
Film or series |
| 2007 |
Eyegore Awards |
Won |
-
|
-
|
| 1987 |
Young Artist
Award |
Nominated |
Exceptional Young Actress Starring in a Television Special or
Movie of the Week |
Crime of Innocence |
| 1989 |
Best Young Actress in a Horror or Mystery Motion Picture |
The Blob |
References
- Shawnee Smith biography at smithandpyle.com
- Official Saw News
- http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/15663
- Official Saw News
- http://www.repoopera.com/tier_one/movie_info.asp
- Dread Central - "Smith, Shawnee (30 Days of Night: Dust to
Dust)
- Scream Queens Official Site
- Shawnee Smith on The Time Machine
-
http://radiofree.com/profiles/shawnee_smith/interview03.shtml
- Shawnee Smith on Fangoria radio
- Shawnee Smith Photos, Videos, and News on
Maxim.com
-
http://www.houseofhorrors.com/crypt/pages2/publish/Interviews20InterviewShawneeSmith-SmithandPyle.shtml
-
http://wvgazette.com/Entertainment/200910281217?page=1&build=cache
Charleston Gazette Online
-
http://thetimemachineradioshow.podOmatic.com/entry/2009-01-14T18_49_33-08_00
Shawnee Smith on The Time Machine
- Shawnee Smith Photos, Videos, and News on
Maxim.com
- http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0809938/
- http://www.fangoria.com/radio/2006-archive.html
- http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0809938/
- http://www.fangoria.com/radio/2007-archive.html
- http://www.fangoria.com/radio/2008-archive.html
- Shawnee Smith on The Time Machine
- http://smithandpyle.com/
External links
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