Kevin Smith (actor)

Kevin Tod Smith (born March 16, 1963 in Auckland , New Zealand , † February 15, 2002 in Beijing , China ) was a New Zealand film actor and rock musician .

Life

The son of a Tongan woman and a white New Zealander grew up in Auckland until he was 11 years old , before the family moved to Timaru , on New Zealand's South Island .

While in high school , Smith began playing in various rock 'n' roll bands, but never seriously thought about acting . On the contrary - his dream was to play rugby for the All Blacks , the national team of New Zealand.

In 1980 - aged 17 - Smith moved to Christchurch and did odd jobs until, by the age of 20, he had saved enough money to finance a degree at the University of Canterbury . Three years later he married his childhood friend Suzanne, with whom he had three sons over the years, Oscar (* 1991), Tyrone (* 1993) and Willard (* 1999).

By chance, Smith came into contact with acting when his wife heard the call for an audition in 1987 . On a reconstructed world tour by Elvis Presley , Smith got the opportunity to mime a bodyguard of the musician and was then hired for the soap opera Gloss that same year .

He was in front of the film camera in many, especially New Zealand, productions . But his best-known role, that of the Greek god of war Ares in the television series Hercules and Xena , should also secure a wide fan base in Europe . A crossover , he also had in Young Hercules .

Parallel to his acting career, he was a member of several rock bands in New Zealand. He was also the bandleader of The White Lapels , a band that had specialized in reissuing songs from the 1970s.

In February 2002, Smith was in Beijing filming the Australian - Chinese co-production Warriors of Virtue: The Return to Tao . On February 6, the day after filming was finished, he wanted to get further training with the help of a Chinese stuntman . Here he fell from a height of six floors. The exact course of the accident could not be clarified.

Although paramedics were on site and he was immediately hooked up to life support machines, Kevin Smith fell into a coma and died a month before his 39th birthday, on February 15, in the presence of his wife and parents.

Kevin Smith was due to start filming Tears of the Sun in March 2002 . This would have been his first role in an American film.

Filmography (selection)

Leading roles

Movies

• 1993: Desperate Remedies
• 1994: Kevin Rampenbacker And The Electric Kettle
• 1998: Flatmates
• 1998: Hercules and Xena - The Animated Movie: The Battle for Mount Olympus
• 1998: Young Hercules (Young Hercules)
• 1999: Lawless
• 2000: Lawless: Dead Evidence
• 2000: Channeling Baby
• 2000: Jubilee
• 2001: The Meeting
• 2001: Lawless: Beyond Justice
• 2003: Riverworld
• 2005: Warriors of Virtue: The Return to Tao

Series

• 1987: Gloss
• 1991: Away Laughing
• 1992: Shortland Street
• 1994: Heartland
• 1995–1999: Hercules (Hercules: The Legendary Journeys)
• 1995-2001: Xena - The Warrior Princess (Xena: Warrior Princess)
• 1998-1999: Young Hercules (Young Hercules)

Guest roles

• 1996: Naked: Stories of Men (episode 1.2)
• 1996: City Life (episode 1.1 & 1.2)
• 1997–1999: Wildside (episode 1.2, 1.34 & 2.9)
• 1998: The Series (ep.2.13)
• 2000: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? (Episode 3.4)

Web links

• Kevin Smith in the Internet Movie Database (English)