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| Shawnee Smith |
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“Acting is a sport, like a game of tennis, and you and your opponent take turns setting the level of play.”
| Date of Birth: July 3, 1970 |
| Birthplace: Orangeburg, South Carolina |
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| For a long time, Shawnee was best-known for her stint opposite Ted Danson in the long-running CBS sitcom Becker. But with the release of the first Saw movie in 2004, Shawnee has managed to garner an entirely new audience of fans with her role as the initially vulnerable but ultimately evil Amanda. |
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| Shawnee Smith is a veteran of the entertainment industry who has appeared alongside such big names as Scarlett Johansson, Bruce Willis and Nicolas Cage. There’s little doubt that her quirky, spunky persona has played a substantial role in her impressive success. |
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Shawnee Smith was born on July 3, 1970, in Orangeburg, South Carolina. Shawnee’s family moved to California when she was just a baby, and her parents divorced shortly after. Raised by her mother, Shawnee spent her summers in South Carolina, where she would participate in Fourth of July productions put on by various local kids. Shawnee’s mom recognized her daughter’s flair for performance early on, and began accompanying the budding actress on a series of auditions for commercials and print advertisements.
Shawnee made her professional debut in a McDonald’s ad, and has essentially been working steadily ever since. In 1982, Shawnee landed her first film role as a dancer in the cinematic adaptation of Annie and immediately fell in love with the frenetic atmosphere that one generally associates with a movie shoot. Shawnee spent the next several years balancing her schoolwork with appearances in movies and television shows, popping up in such contemporary cult films as 1986’s Iron Eagle and 1987’s Summer School (in which she starred opposite fellow up-and-comers such as Courtney Thorne-Smith and Kirstie Alley).
Shawnee landed her first starring role in the 1988 horror remake of The Blob, alongside Entourage sensation Kevin Dillon. The film became a minor cult classic and certainly paved the way for Shawnee’s reputation as a horror chick. Shawnee next appeared opposite the late John Candy in 1989’s Who’s Harry Crumb?, and followed that up with a role in the 1990 remake of Desperate Hours (which starred Anthony Hopkins and Mickey Rourke). Frustrated with the lack of parts available to her, Shawnee briefly considered quitting the industry, though it wasn’t long before she successfully auditioned for two high-profile gigs.
In 1994, Shawnee found herself acting opposite folks like Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwald and Rob Lowe in a six-hour adaptation of Stephen King’s The Stand -- a role she won after original star Diane Lane was forced to drop out due to her pregnancy. The movie went on to become a huge success when it aired on ABC and consequently raised Shawnee’s profile exponentially. And although she took on a small but memorable role in the 1995 Nicolas Cage flick Leaving Las Vegas, Shawnee’s next several efforts were mostly of the obscure and unknown variety (like 1996’s Face of Evil, opposite former Growing Pains star Tracey Gold).
Fortunately for Shawnee, it wasn’t long before opportunity came knocking once again -- this time in the form of a new Ted Danson sitcom called Becker. The show, which premiered in 1998 to instant success, cast Shawnee as a ditzy character named Linda and eventually wound up running for six seasons. It was also around that time that Shawnee met her first husband, a photographer named Jason Reposar; the two married that year and had a daughter shortly after. Although the union didn’t last, Shawnee remarried and had a second child.
Shawnee spent much of the early part of the new century focused on her family and day-to-day sitcom work, though she did take some time out to film a cameo appearance in 2004’s Saw. She had less than five minutes worth of screen time, but Shawnee’s sequence in Saw quickly became a favorite among fans and it wasn’t long before she was asked to reprise her role for the 2005 sequel. With the revelation that her character had actually joined forces with Tobin Bell’s villainous Jigsaw, Shawnee returned for the third time for 2006’s Saw III. |
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© Denise Truscello
WireImage.com |
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