Guide Note

As a screenwriter, actor and director, Kevin Smith made his first movie entitled Clerks for $27,575 in 1993. The film, which won the Filmmaker's Trophy at the Sundance Film Festival and was theatrically released by Miramax, was the first in an ongoing series of raunchy indie comedies from Smith, most of them set in his home state of New Jersey.

Fast Facts

1. Born: August 2, 1970
2. Birthplace: Red Bank, New Jersey
3. Spouse: Jennifer Schwalbach Smith
4. Shot Clerks in the convenience store where he once worked
5. Wrote a real version of the fake Bluntman and Chronic comic from Chasing Amy
6. Frequently casts childhood friends in his films

Filmmaking

After the success of Clerks, Smith made a follow-up film for Miramax, the '80s throwback teen comedy Mallrats. The film introduced Smith's tradition of crossing-over characters and references between his films, and brings back the drug dealing duo of Jay and Silent Bob (Jason Mewes and Smith himself) from Clerks. Chasing Amy took Smith's filmmaking in a somewhat more serious direction, though it still found room for a Jay and Silent Bob cameo and plenty of his signature comic book references.

This original "New Jersey Trilogy" was followed by Dogma, Smith's skewed take on Catholicism, the road comedy Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, the more mainstream Jersey Girl and the long-awaited sequel Clerks 2. Smith's next release will be Zack and Miri Make a Porno, starring Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks. He has also discussed the possibility of directing his first horror film, to be entitled Red State.

In addition to writing and directing his own films, Smith was instrumental in the making of the 1997 film Good Will Hunting, which helped to launch the careers of his friends and frequent collaborators Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. He also produced several low-budget independent films through his "View Askew" production company, along with the documentary Small Town Gay Bar.

Other Ventures

Smith has produced several shows for television, including an animated series based on Clerks and the fantasy drama Reaper.

Smith has contributed to a variety of comic books, both based on his own projects and more traditional superhero stories. He wrote an eight-episode run of the Marvel comic Daredevil (and did a cameo in the eventual film adaptation) and a 15-issue Green Arrow series for DC. Smith had, at one point, been contracted to write a screenplay for a new Superman movie, but that version of the project (to be directed by Tim Burton) never came to fruition.

In addition to appearing in most of his own projects, Smith has acted in a variety of other films and TV series, including Catch and Release, Live Free or Die Hard and Southland Tales.

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