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Roger Guenveur Smith
Roger Guenveur Smith
	Smith performing in 2014
Born	July 27, 1955 (age 69); Berkeley, California, U.S.
Education	Occidental College (BA); Yale University (MFA);
Occupation(s)	Actor, director, writer
Years active	1988–present
Spouses	Carolina Smith (divorced); LeTania Kirkland;
Children	4

Roger Guenveur Smith (/ɡænˈvɜːr/ ^ⓘ;^[1] born July 27, 1955) is an American actor, director, and writer best known for his collaborations with Spike Lee.^[2]

Early life

Smith was born on July 27, 1955, in Berkeley, California, the son of Helen Guenveur, a dentist, and Sherman Smith, a judge. He attended Loyola High School in Los Angeles, and graduated from Occidental College (American Studies) in Los Angeles. He then studied at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, where he successfully auditioned for the Drama School and switched his pursuit of a graduate degree in history. Additionally, Smith studied at the Keskidee Arts Centre in London, England.

Career

In film, Smith has collaborated with Spike Lee on several works. He has appeared in films such as School Daze,^[2] Do the Right Thing,^[2] King of New York, Panther, Malcolm X, Poetic Justice, Get on the Bus, Eve's Bayou, He Got Game, and Summer of Sam. During the 1990s, he had a recurring role on A Different World.

In 1996, he starred in the self-written and produced A Huey P. Newton Story, a one-man theatre performance based on the life of Black Panther Party founder Huey P. Newton. Smith received an Obie Award, and a performance was later filmed by Spike Lee and released in 2001.

In addition to his performances in major studio productions, Smith continues to work in and support independent film projects. In 2003, he had a starring role in the Steven Soderbergh/George Clooney TV series K-Street on HBO. Also in 2003, Smith read in the HBO documentary, Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives; the film, based on interviews conducted by the WPA in the 1930s with formerly enslaved African Americans, is a compilation of slave narratives with actors emulating the original conversation with the interviewer. Smith was also the voice of Bao-Dur in the video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II The Sith Lords. He portrayed a corrupt detective in the martial arts/crime film Fist of the Warrior, alongside Ho-Sung Pak and Sherilyn Fenn. Smith starred with Laurence Fishburne and Jeff Goldblum in the 1992 film Deep Cover. He also played a villain in All About the Benjamins (2002) with Ice Cube. In 2000, he portrayed Agent Schreck in the first installment of the Final Destination horror films. In 2006, he played the main villain in the straight-to-video actioner Mercenary for Justice, opposite Steven Seagal. Smith was in the 2007 film American Gangster with Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, in which he played the role of "Nate", Frank Lucas's army connection in Vietnam. Most recently he played the role of "Isaiah" in the 2016 film The Birth of a Nation, a film about the life of Nat Turner.

Smith also had a recurring role in the hit HBO series Oz.

Juan and John, written and performed by Guenveur Smith, is based on baseball's most famous fight—San Francisco Giants pitcher Juan Marichal clubbing John Roseboro of the Los Angeles Dodgers with his bat during a 1965 battle for the pennant at Candlestick Park—which traumatized the playwright as a child.^[3]

Smith portrayed American black leader Booker T. Washington in the 2020 Netflix miniseries Self Made, based on the life of Madame C. J. Walker.

Smith wrote, directed, and performed the solo show In Honor of Jean-Michel Basquiat, a tribute to Basquiat, whom he was friends with.^[4]

Personal life

Smith works and resides in Los Angeles, California, and also resides in New York City. He is divorced from Carolina Smith, the mother of his adult daughter. He and his wife, LeTania Kirkland Smith, have three children.^[5]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	School Daze	Yoda
1989	Do the Right Thing	Smiley
1990	King of New York	Tanner
1992	Deep Cover	Eddie
1992	Malcolm X	Rudy
1993	Poetic Justice	Heywood
1995	Panther	Pruitt
1995	Tales from the Hood	Rhodie
1996	Get on the Bus	Gary
1997	Eve's Bayou	Lenny Mereaux
1997	Oz	Huseni Mershah
1998	He Got Game	Big Time Willie
1999	Summer of Sam	Detective Curt Atwater
1999	Facade	Henson
2000	Final Destination	Agent Schreck
2001	A Huey P. Newton Story	Huey P. Newton	TV movie
2002	All About the Benjamins	Julian Ramose
2003	Shade	Marlo
2004	Justice	Carter
2004	Joy Road	Charles Blocker
2006	Fatwa	Samir Al-Faied
2006	Mercenary for Justice	Anthony Chapel	Video
2006	Confessions	Father Jeffrey
2006	God's Waiting List	Solomon Corbin
2007	Fist of the Warrior	Det. Craig Barnes
2007	I Believe in America	Cesar
2007	The Take	Dr. Phineas
2007	American Gangster	Nate
2007	Cover	Kevin Wilson
2009	Fighting	Jack Dancing
2009	The Rothstein Diamond	Walter
2010	Caller ID	Blake
2010	Mooz-Lum	Hassan Mahdi
2010	Better Mus' Come	Prime Minister
2011	The Son of No One	Hanky
2011	CornerStore	Earl
2011	Abduction	Mr. Miles
2011	Lost Revolution	Cesar
2012	In the Hive	Paris
2013	Water & Power	Turnvill
2013	They Die by Dawn	Jourdon Anderson
2015	Dope	Austin Jacoby
2015	Dutch Book	Cornelius Parks
2015	But Not for Me	Raymond Little
2015	Supermodel	Max
2015	Chi-Raq	Red, White, and Blue Insurance Salesman
2016	The Birth of a Nation	Isaiah
2016	Dirty	Detective Berg
2016	Why Lie? Beer, Woman, Chicken Wings	Dubs Miguel
2017	Bitch	Steven Sheriff
2017	The Queen of Hollywood Blvd.	Duke
2017	The Clapper	Dr. Rogers B. Hay
2017	Rodney King	Rodney King
2017	Dr. Brinks & Dr. Brinks	Paul Sydney
2017	Marshall	Walter White
2018	The Choir Director	Trustee Jonathan Smith
2018	No More Mr Nice Guy	El Gato
2018	The Other Side	Martin
2018	Burning Shadow	Mr. Jones
2018	I'll See You Around	Michael Gomez
2018	Behind the Movement	Rosa Parks husband
2020	Carl Weber's Influence	Bradley Hudson
2022–23	All Rise	Judge Marshall Thomas
2022	Till	Dr. T.R.M. Howard