Shawnee Smith

Shawnee Smith
Shawnee Smith, February 2007
Spouse	Kai Mattoon (2003–present) 1 child: son Jackson Jason Reposar (1998–2003) (divorced) 1 child: daughter Verve

Shawnee Smith (born July 3, 1970) is an American actress. As well as the many films and television shows in which she has appeared, Smith once fronted the band Fydolla Ho, with which she toured the USA and the UK, and is the other half of country band Smith & Pyle with actress Missi Pyle.

Biography

Personal life

Shawnee Smith was born in Orangeburg, South Carolina, the only child of Patricia, an oncology nurse, and Jim Smith, a financial planner and Air Force pilot. (Interestingly, Shawnee would be cast at age 15 as one of Jason Gedrick's fellow Air Force brats in the original Iron Eagle.) Shawnee's parents divorced when she was 2, her mother remarried when she was 8, and then the family relocated from the South to California. She attended Ranchito Elementary School in Panorama City, California.

Smith has two children: a daughter named Verve, born in 1999, from her marriage to Jason Reposar (1998–2003) and a son named Jackson, born in 2005, from her present marriage to Kai Mattoon (2003–present). Her daughter was named after Verve Records.

Smith and ex-husband Jason Reposar eloped in 1998 while on vacation in Scotland due to the inability to organize a wedding.

In December 2000, Smith mentioned on the Bill Maher talk show Politically Incorrect that she is a Republican.

Career

Shawnee Smith became a member of the Screen Actors Guild when she was nine.

Smith's feature film debut was John Huston's 1982 adaptation of the Broadway musical Annie, as one of Aileen Quinn's fellow orphans. (Additional "orphans" included Martika, April Lerman and Amanda Peterson.)

Three years later, Smith co-starred in two troubled-teen melodramas, Not My Kid and Crime of Innocence (both 1985). The latter (whose writers Douglas Schwartz and Michael Berk would co-create the hit series Baywatch four years later) earned her a Youth In Film Award.

Two years later, Smith co-starred in the hit 1987 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 punk 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 (to whom she bore a strong resemblance in both appearance and voice) in another remake, Michael Cimino's thriller The Desperate Hours.

Smith took a three-year break from acting in the mid-1990's. During that time she climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and competed in a triathlon. When she was about to start attending classes at Blue Ridge Mountain Community College in North Carolina she landed a small role beside Nicholas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas and has had steady work ever since.

Smith has become well-known in recent years for her role as Amanda Young in the Saw films. In the DVD commentary of Saw II, it was revealed that she was four months pregnant with her second child, Jackson, during filming. Her pregnancy was kept a secret from everyone during filming. She also wore a man's watch while filming Saw III, which she kept.

Smith has also admitted that she hates being scared and has a hard time watching the Saw films. She originally turned the role of Amanda Young down because it was so upsetting to her, but she changed her mind after the role was offered to her for a second time.

Shawnee has been acknowledged as a "scream queen" due to the number of horror films she has appeared in.

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 was featured in 129 episodes as a regular cast member. During the first season she was pregnant with her first child, Verve. Her pregnancy was hidden by wearing a lab coat and holding patient charts over her stomach.

Another well-known role was that of Julie Lawry in the 1994 miniseries The Stand, based on the book 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. She lent her voice to an episode of the Disney cartoon Kim Possible as Vivian Porter.

Smith contributed to the soundtrack of Saw III, with lead vocals on Hydrovibe's song "Killer Inside." She also contributed to the soundtrack for Catacombs (film) as a solo vocalist with the song "Please Myself."

Smith's 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 2000's. The band released their album "Untied" in December 2001 on Red Headed Woman Records. Satisfied with pushing extremes with the band, she began working on a solo album and career with producer Chris Goss.

She is currently part of a country music group with actress Missi Pyle called Smith & Pyle. The band started after Smith invited Pyle to join her in attending the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Pyle talked about her dream to be a rock star and Smith agreed to form a band with her to make her dreams come true. Their first album, "It's OK to Be Happy", was released digitally through iTunes and Amazon.com in July 2008 and was released on CD in September 2008. The debut album was recorded in Joshua Tree, California at Rancho de la Luna. The two actresses have also become business partners and formed their own record label called Urban Prairie, which "It's OK to be Happy" was released under.

Smith is currently hosting the VH1 reality program Scream Queens.

Filmography

• Annie (1982) .... Dancer
• Not My Kid (1985) .... Carol
• Cagney & Lacey (1985)
• Crime of Innocence (1985) .... Jodi Hayward
• Iron Eagle (1986) .... Joenie
• All Is Forgiven (1986) .... Sonia Russell
• Easy Prey (1986) (TV) .... Tina Marie Risico
• Summer School (1987) .... Rhonda Altobello
• Bluegrass (1988) (TV) .... Alice Gibbs
• I Saw What You Did (1988) (TV) .... Kim Fielding
• The Blob (1988) .... Meg Penny
• Who's Harry Crumb? (1989) .... Nikki Downing
• A Brand New Life (1989) TV Series .... Amanda Gibbons
• Desperate Hours (1990) .... May Cornell
• Lucky/Chances (1990) .... Olympia Stanislopolous Golden
• Murder, She Wrote (1993) .... Jill Cleveland
• The Stand (1994) (mini) TV Series .... Julie Lawry
• Leaving Las Vegas (1995) .... Biker Girl
• The X-Files (1995) TV Series .... Jesse O'Neil (1 episode)
• The Low Life (1995) .... "Little Tramp" woman
• Bombshell (1996) .... Shelly
• Female Perversions (1996) .... Make-Up Salesgirl
• The Shining (1997) (mini) TV Series .... Waitress (episode 3)
• Armageddon (1998) .... Redhead
• Carnival of Souls (1998) .... Sandra Grant
• Becker (1998-2004) (TV) .... Linda
• Saw (2004) .... Amanda Young
• Saw II (2005).... Amanda Young
• The Island (2005) .... Suzie
• Saw III (2006) .... Amanda Young
• Repo! The Genetic Opera (2006) .... Heather Sweet (short film)
• Saw IV (2007) .... Amanda Young
• Saw V (2008) .... Amanda Young
• 30 Days of Night: Dust to Dust series (2008) .... Detective Gina Harcourt
• The Grudge 3 (2009) .... Dr. Sullivan
• Slaughter (2009) .... Sarah
• Scream Queens (2008) (TV) .... Hostess

Discography

Albums

• Untied, Fydolla Ho (2001)
• It's OK to be Happy, Smith & Pyle (2008)

Singles

• "I Fear," Carnival of Souls (1998)
• "Killer Inside" (with Hydrovibe), Saw III soundtrack (2006)
• "Please Myself," Catacombs (film) soundtrack (2007)

External links

• Shawnee Smith at IMDb