Tasha Smith

Tasha Smith (born February 28, 1971)[2] is an American actress, director and producer. She began her career in a starring role on the NBC comedy series Boston Common (1996–97), and she later appeared in numerous movies and television series.

Tasha Smith
Smith in 2017
Born (1971-02-28) February 28, 1971
NationalityAmerican
OccupationActress, director, producer
Years active1994–present
Spouse(s)
Rory "Keith" Douglas
(m. 2010; annulled 2015)
[1]

Smith has appeared in films include The Whole Ten Yards (2004), Daddy's Little Girls (2007), The Longshots (2008), Couples Retreat (2009), and Jumping the Broom (2011). She starred as Angela Williams in the Tyler Perry films Why Did I Get Married? (2007), its sequel Why Did I Get Married Too? (2010), and on the television series based on the movies, For Better or Worse (2011–2017). In 2015, she began a recurring role as Carol Holloway on the Fox musical drama series Empire. Later in the same year, Smith made her directorial debut.

Early life and education

Smith was born in Camden, New Jersey, and was raised by a single mother. She has an identical twin sister Sidra Smith, who currently lives in Harlem.[2] Smith dropped out of Camden High School in her freshman year, and at age 19 moved to California.[3]

Career

Smith made her acting debut with a small role in the comedy film Twin Sitters (1994).[4] From 1996 to 1997, she starred in the NBC comedy series, Boston Common. Later in 1997, she was cast alongside Tom Arnold in another short-lived comedy series, The Tom Show on The WB.[4] In 2000, she had supporting role in the HBO miniseries, The Corner in which she played a drug addict.[4] In the 2000s, Smith had guest starring roles on The Parkers, Without a Trace, Nip/Tuck, and Girlfriends. She has made number of supporting roles in movies such as Playas Ball (2003), The Whole Ten Yards (2004), and ATL (2006).

Smith has played roles in multiple Tyler Perry projects. In 2007, she appeared as the main antagonist in the romantic comedy-drama film, Daddy's Little Girls. She played the role of Angela Williams in the Why Did I Get Married? (2007), and its sequel Why Did I Get Married Too? (2010). The role she later played in the comedy series based on films, Tyler Perry's For Better or Worse.

Smith co-starred alongside Ice Cube and Keke Palmer in the family comedy-drama film, The Longshots (2008). She had supporting role in the romantic comedy film Couples Retreat (2009), and co-starred alongside Salli Richardson, Nicole Ari Parker and Michael B. Jordan in Pastor Brown (2010). In 2011, she appeared in the comedy-drama film Jumping the Broom alongside Angela Bassett and Paula Patton, and in 2014, she played a psychotherapist in the erotic thriller, Addicted.[5] In 2014, she also was cast in a recurring role in the Fox drama series Empire as Carol Hardaway, Cookie Lyon's younger sister.[6]

In 2015, Smith made her directorial debut with the short film Boxed in, which premiered during the 19th Annual American Black Film Festival.[7] In 2017, Smith directed the television film When Love Kills: The Falicia Blakely Story, starring Lil Mama and Lance Gross and it is based on a true story.[8][9] It premiered to 1.6 million viewers, ranking as TV One's #1 original movie premiere of all time among all key demos.[10] In October 2017, she also directed an episode in the BET drama anthology series Tales. Smith worked as Mary J. Blige's acting coach for her role in Mudbound.[11]

In 2019, Smith appeared in the comedy-drama film Dolemite Is My Name, and starred opposite Lisa Kudrow and Whitney Cummings in the Amazon comedy pilot Good People.[12] Also that year, she directed episodes of Star, 9-1-1 and Black Lightning. In 2020, Smith directed the episode "Legacy" on the Starz TV series P-Valley. In 2021, Smith set to direct and Starz drama series Black Mafia Family.[13]

Personal life

In December 2010, Smith married her boyfriend of one-year Keith Douglas, who was also her manager.[14] In November 2014, Smith appeared in court to request a restraining order against Douglas, who in documents filed prior to the court appearance, she said accused her of having affairs with other women. Smith's friend Tisha Campbell-Martin acted as a character witness.[15] The final divorce decree was issued in March 2015.[16] However, Smith contested the divorce by alleging that Douglas concealed information from her that she should have known before the marriage. Smith alleged that Douglas was not "man of the cloth" that he presented himself to be during their courtship.[1] She also said that, if she had known about Douglas' background, she would not have married him. The allegations about Douglas' background included five marriages before he married Smith, multiple children that he did not claim and disclose to Smith, and non-payment of income taxes for nearly a decade. The judge in the case granted Smith an annulment of the marriage in December 2015 on the basis of fraud committed by Douglas.[1]

Smith is the creator of TSAW - an actor's workshop that empowers and inspires performers at various stages in their careers with focus on the Black community.[17]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1994 Twin Sitters Yvonne Jameson
1995 Let It Be Me Nikita Johnson
1998 Max Q Karen Daniels Television film
1999 Chameleon II: Death Match IBI Director Tasha Webster Television film
2003 Playas Ball Vonda Watson
2004 The Whole Ten Yards Jules "Julie" Figueroa
2004 My Purple Fur Coat Ruth Smith Short film
2006 Miles from Home Keisha Knight
2006 ATL Miss Gayle Lawrence
2006 You, Me and Dupree CeCe Johnson Uncredited
2006 Glass House: The Good Mother Caseworker Niecy Jameson
2007 Love... & Other 4 Letter Words Lucille Ames
2007 Daddy's Little Girls Jennifer Jackson
2007 Why Did I Get Married? Angela Williams
2008 The Longshots Claire Plummer
2009 Couples Retreat Jennifer Lawless
2010 Why Did I Get Married Too? Angela Williams
2010 Pastor Brown Angelique Todd
2010 Something Like a Business Angela Mae
2011 Jumping the Broom Shonda Peterkin
2014 Addicted Dr. Marcella Spencer
2014 Boxed in Director and writer
2015 Polaris Sophie
2017 When Love Kills: The Falicia Blakely Story Director and producer
2018 Running Out of Time Brenda
2019 The One You Never Forget The One You Never Forget Short film
2019 Dolemite Is My Name Barbara Lynch

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1996–1997 Boston Common Tasha King Series regular; 32 episodes
1997 Chicago Hope Dr. Denise Potter Episode: "Brain Salad Surgery"
1997–1998 The Tom Show Tanya Cole Series regular; 19 episodes
1999 The Steve Harvey Show Kimberly Davis Episode: "Steve Don't Get Nun"
2000 The Corner Veronica 'Ronnie' Boice Miniseries
2001 The Parkers Rachel Jones Episode: "A Knockout Times Two"
2003 Without a Trace Veronica Boyce Episode: "The Friendly Skies"
2004 Nip/Tuck Carol Nelson Episode: "Joan Rivers"
2005 Second Time Around Laura James Episode: "Big Bank, Little Bank"
2005 Girlfriends Shandara Durrani Episode: "See J-Spot Run"
2007 All of Us Jewel Jones Episode: "The B-R-E-A-K-U-P"
2008 Finnegan Det. Nenna McCants Unsold pilot
2009 The Game Sheila Johnson Episode: "The Third Legacy"
2009–2010 Meet the Browns Tanya Gould Recurring role; 7 episodes
2011–2017 Tyler Perry's For Better or Worse Angela Williams Series regular; 162 episodes
Nominated – NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series (2014)
2014 Chopped Herself Episode: "Chopped Tournament of Stars: Actors!"
2015–2020 Empire Carol Holloway Recurring role; 31 episodes
2015 Power Jarita J. 3 episodes
2016 Star Carol Holloway Episode: "The Winner Takes It All"
2016 RuPaul's Drag Race Herself Episode: "RuCo's Empire"
2017 Daytime Divas Portia Camden Episode: "Shut It Down"
2019 Good People Shar Johnson Unsold TV pilot
2020 Big Sky Director; Episode: "Unfinished Business"

References

  1. Eromosele, Diana Ozemebhoya (December 23, 2015). "Judge Annuls Tasha Smith's Marriage After Finding That Her Husband Hid Kids, Marriages and Debt". The Root. Retrieved October 27, 2018.
  2. "Black Star News - Black Star News". Blackstar News. Retrieved June 27, 2015.
  3. Ortiz, Eric (December 20, 2007). "Camden's "Funny Chick". New Jersey Monthly. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  4. "Tasha Smith Profile". Metacritic. Retrieved January 27, 2019.
  5. Courtney (October 29, 2012). "Tasha Smith Confirmed For Zane's 'Addicted'". IndieWire. Retrieved January 20, 2018.
  6. Goldberg, Lesley (March 18, 2014). "Macy Gray Boards Lee Daniels' Hip-Hop Drama 'Empire' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on October 9, 2015. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
  7. Evans, Madge (June 23, 2015). "Tasha Smith Makes Directorial Debut with 'Boxed In' at 2015 ABFF (WATCH)". EURweb.com. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
  8. Manyando, Abesi (August 28, 2017). "Tasha Smith Delivers in Directorial Debut of "When Love Kills."". HuffPost. Retrieved February 18, 2020.
  9. Jones, Tashara (August 18, 2017). "Director says 'When Love Kills' examines 'humanity' of murderous stripper". New York Post. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
  10. "WHEN LOVE KILLS: THE FALICIA BLAKELY STORY Ranks as TV One's No. 1 Original Premiere of All Time". BroadwayWorld.com. August 31, 2017. Retrieved October 6, 2017.
  11. Feinberg, Scott (January 11, 2018). "'Awards Chatter' Podcast — Mary J. Blige ('Mudbound')". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
  12. Petski, Denise (June 6, 2019). "'Good People': Tasha Smith Joins Amazon Comedy Pilot".
  13. Petski, Denise; Petski, Denise (January 13, 2021). "'Black Mafia Family': Demetrius "Lil Meech" Flenory Jr. & Da'Vinchi To Star In Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson's Series On Starz; Tasha Smith To Direct".
  14. "Tasha Smith : My Black Is Beautiful". BET. April 12, 2010. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved April 8, 2017.
  15. Qwest7 (November 27, 2014). "Tasha Smith Files Retraining Order Against Keith Douglas". EURweb.com.
  16. Diaz, Evelyn (March 29, 2015). "Tasha Smith Reaches Divorce Settlement With Husband". BET. Retrieved June 28, 2018.
  17. "Cover". Backstage.com. September 2020.
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