If you're an avid watcher of TV series like Friends, King of Queens or the Bernie Mac Show, Daniel E. Smith may be a familiar face.
Born in Tampa, Florida, in 1990, Smith had a unique path toward the TV sets before eventually hitting the big screen in the early 2000s. His support from his mother boosted him to early auditions and multiple roles as the industry transformed into the 21st century.
His most known role, perhaps, came in the 2002 film John Q, where Smith fit the role of Michael Archibald alongside Denzel Washington.
In Part I of a two-part series, Zach Catanzareti and the Catch-Up Blog spoke with Daniel on May 2, 2018, to discuss his start in acting, his opening TV roles and the audition process toward the John Q film.
NEW! Listen to full interview on our SoundCloud channel: CLICK HERE
NEW! Listen to full interview on our SoundCloud channel: CLICK HERE
Zach Catanzareti: I'd like to start with where it all started with you in Tampa, Florida. Grew up in the 90s, what was your childhood like? Did you have any siblings?
Daniel E Smith: Yeah, there are four of us including me. I have an older brother, a younger brother and younger sister. We're all the same mother just two different dads. My older brother and I have the same dad and my younger siblings have a different dad.
You grew up in Florida, correct?
It's an interesting story actually. My older brother was born in Chicago, that's where my parents met. They moved when she was pregnant with me and I was born in Tampa, Fla. After that, we moved to Indiana and my younger brother was born there. Then we moved to Arizona where my younger sister was born. The industry brought us out to California.
Moving around a lot! Throughout that process, you’re starting school, when did you start finding an interest in acting?
The funny thing is I didn’t have any interest in acting whatsoever. I was actually a very shy kid growing up, a mama's boy. I really didn’t feel comfortable around people unless my mom was there. When I got to Arizona a lot of my family -- a few relatives were close to my age and we went to school around the same time. It was a performing arts school.
There was a play going on and my cousin talked me into trying out for it. As I got older, I got more comfortable around my family but not really open around strangers. My cousin wanted to audition and she gave me enough courage to go for it as a joke. She would always say I’m funny, but I wanted to show people that.
Of course, not thinking I was going to get it or anything. Then, I get one of the star roles in the play. I’m sitting there thinking, "What the hell am I doing? [laughs] What did I get myself into? This was supposed to be a joke.' Then my mom got wind of it and she said, 'Well, since you did it, you have to commit to it. You got people counting on you.'
Basically, I get it as a joke and found out it was kind of therapeutic and releasing and fun to get up there, not be yourself but be someone else. People actually enjoy it.
Opening night of the play I was really, really nervous and scared. As soon as the lights came on and I got on stage, it was like an out-of-body experience. There was an agent in the audience, I got rave reviews, they loved me and the character I played. It was funny, exciting, things like that.
A few days later, the agent asked me to come and talk to him with my mom. They thought I had a special talent and they wanted to sign me.
My first job in the industry was a golf commercial with Tiger Woods back in the early 2000s. That was pretty awesome.
My agent at the time told my mom that it may be more beneficial for my career and there may be more opportunity in California. My mom and I came out here and said we'd give it six months. And in those six months, I booked a lot of TV, commercials.
Then we said we'd give it two years and in those two years, that’s when John Q came about. At the time, I didn’t know exactly what I was a part of. But it wasn’t about how big it was, it was just fun. That was the important part.
I was looking through your history and one of them was an episode of Friends from 2001. Behind Seinfeld, that's one of the biggest TV shows. There you are at such a young age at such a big set with big stars. What do you remember from being on that set?
Keep in mind, Friends, I was 12 or 13 around that time when I did that episode. I was very aware of what Friends was, I just didn’t know how big it was. To me, a 12-year-old kid, I knew it was a TV show I've seen plenty of times, I just didn’t know the phenomenon behind it.
That's one of the greatest experiences I'll cherish forever. Nobody there had any -- you'd seem looking from the outside in that it'd it such an overwhelming, big experience, nerves. I’m honest with you, it was a testament from the stars, everyone from the top the bottom of how they carried themselves.
Everyone carried themselves as if they were still doing the first episode of Season No. 1.
One thing I found out they do for every episode, anybody who acts on the show, they do a curtain call for main stars and guest stars. You feel you are part of the family or you're no better or worse than them. It's all such a loving experience and I'll cherish that forever.
Jennifer Aniston -- all of them were amazing but I did a scene with her and she’s one of the most beautiful, most amazing souls of people out there in the world. Nothing but love for her.
Do you remember much from the audition process for getting that part?
It started with my agent calling my mom saying we have a role as a trick-or-treater for Daniel and it's for a show Friends. I think this was back when Kinkos was around [laughs]. My mom would go to Kinkos to download scripts and print them out. Then, we would rehearse them, go over them.
Sometimes I would get coached for auditions. I can’t remember if I did for this one or not. It's a good bet that I did.
I remember the first time I went in and the audition was with me and the casting director. They ate it up, loved it. They called us back and that was the funny experience. There were like 15 more people in the room that day. That was such a drastic change of having two people in the room to the second time of 15. I just remembered to do the same thing I did the first time.
I felt good about it. I want to say within the next hour, my agent called me and said they wanted me for it. It was a good day.
(Forward to 21:39 for Smith's scene)
One other big role that came afterward was the Bernie Mac Show, the pilot episode. You got to spend some time with Bernie, got to run out, hug him, had some fun lines as well. What do you remember from that experience?
A funny story about that whole episode. I had auditioned for the pilot and I went all the way to the network, which is the final audition for the producers, directors, writers, everybody to see if you’re right for the character.
Though I didn’t get the main role, they liked me so much, they offered me a part in the pilot which is what you guys saw. That was just another humbling experience. Bernie Mac, rest in peace, God bless his soul, he was one of the greatest entertainers there was. He was such a down-to-earth, humbling soul and a great guy to meet and be around.
He said he loved life, loved what he did. He passed that onto everything he did. He's a legend in himself and I’m just humbled to have met and worked with him.
We lost him about 10 years ago now and you yourself have grown as a person. You actually got to work with him as a young boy on set. How has your perception changed of Bernie Mac?
I don’t necessarily know if my perception of him has changed other than the fact of me now growing up and seeing somebody who was dedicated. Now seeing how hard it is and how much passion and drive you have to have to be successful.
Not so much my perception has changed but my admiration has grown for him. To see where he came from and the success he had, where he was heading. If anything more, admiration and more respect and love toward him and his career and everything he accomplished while he was with us.
And what came after that was certainly among your biggest parts people remember and that is as Michael Archibald in John Q. A fairly fascinating film, huge production and you’re 11, 12 years old in the middle of it. The first thing about that is the audition process, did this differ from past parts?
This one actually did. It came before the Friends or Bernie Mac thing. The movie came out later with the whole production process, but this was different because it was my first time experiencing anything quite like this. The first audition was a casting director and associate, reading the lines.
Again, I didn’t know, and I don’t think my mom knew exactly how big this was and what it entailed. I just knew it was a feature film. It was another project for me to break out of my shell. I stayed in there longer than usual for most of my auditions. I took that as a good sign, it was a good feeling. They wanted to talk to me a bit.
I want to say a few hours after the audition, my agent called and said I had a call-back. Great, that’s awesome. The next day, it wasn’t quite one to 15 people, the second was probably five to six people in the room. People laughed, people felt it, things like that.
This time when we left the room, we couldn’t even get to the car without getting a phone call from an agent saying they wanted me to read with Denzel [Washington] in two days and go from there. I knew who he was, but I didn’t know Denzel, you know? I didn’t exactly know who he was.
She was all excited. She was like, "Oh, you get to meet Denzel!' And I’m like, 'OK? Cool, that's great.'
Two days later, I was expecting it to be a bigger room... same smaller room, there were about 20 people I kid you not. I didn’t know there were that many people who could fit in that room. People standing against the wall, standing on chairs, sitting on other people's laps. It was intimidating walking in, this room is officially a little box.
Denzel is sitting right there in front of me probably about a foot away. I walk in, he shakes my hand [says], 'Hey, how are you? I’ve heard a lot about you.'
Keep in mind, I know who he is, I know he's an actor. I still don’t quite know how big of a moment this is or who I’m talking to exactly. it came across as very natural. I knew he was an adult and I had to respect him. But the fact he didn’t approach himself like that, didn’t make it seem that way, it wasn’t just work. he didn’t just go right to the audition, he wanted to talk to me, get to know me, what I’ve been up to, what I like, what I don’t like.
From the moment we met, it was a natural bond.
We talked for a good 10, 15 minutes before we even read the lines. That flowed into me being comfortable and prepared with the lines. After we left, mom said, 'How'd it go, how'd it go, how'd it go?' I said, 'It was fine, I guess. Good, yeah, I feel good.' I couldn’t even get home without my agent calling saying, 'As soon as you walked into the room, Denzel knew you were his son. He wants you for the role. There was no question.'
For me, I was like, 'Great! That's awesome. Whoo hoo, another job.' But for my mom, I remember, she pulled over and started crying, was overcome with emotion. I thought I did something wrong, I didn’t know exactly what was going on. She was like, 'No, these are happy tears. I’m just so proud of you and so happy. This is a big moment in your life.'
What a sweet story. When it came to Michael as a character, there was a lot of character development throughout the movie. We learn your passion is body-building and early on you have fun scenes with Denzel and Kimberly [Elise, character's mother] in the car. It leads into the game where your condition surfaces. A various role, how do you feel you developed as an actor in those early scenes.
It's a process. It's three-and-a-half of filming. Before we started production and we started filming, about three weeks before in Toronto so we could get settled in and get comfortable to where we would be living. My, Denzel and Kimberly, we spent those two weeks before filming basically building character chemistry. Finding things I like, they like, where we come from. Spending time as a family so we could have that chemistry and it's not complete strangers hoping for the best.
That played a big part in developing the characters and also developing the chemistry you guys see on the screen.
It was a process, though. I think most actors will tell you that you do learn more and more about your characters every day. You may get lost in your character and how they may think about this situation or that. It makes it more believable, it comes across real and relatable. It doesn’t come across fake.
With the Make character, daily, it was finding new challenges and new ways to react to certain things. Opening my eyes up to a new world. It allowed me to get in the depths of who this kid was and how he would react. That goes all the way back to the first audition when you go through the script. That goes back to character breakdown and understanding who this person is.
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