2010 Filmmaker on the Edge

Kevin Smith

Kevin Smith has spent the last fifteen years as a writer/director making CLERKS, MALLRATS, CHASING AMY, DOGMA, JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK, JERSEY GIRL, CLERKS II, ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO, and most recently, COP OUT, with Tracy Morgan and Bruce Willis.

Mystifyingly, Smith also sports three DVD releases of his various college Q&A's (AN EVENING WITH KEVIN SMITH, AN EVENING WITH KEVIN SMITH 2: EVENING HARDER, A THREEVENING WITH KEVIN SMITH). He's published two books full of essays and blog postings (SILENT BOB SPEAKS and the New York Times Best Selling MY BORING-ASS LIFE), as well as Shootin' the Sh*t with Kevin Smith - a collection of the best material from SModcast, Smith and producer Scott Mosier's weekly podcast. Smith has also written for both of the major comic book giants DC and Marvel (the award-winning Daredevil, Spider-Man and the Black Cat at Marvel Comics, and the award-winning Green Arrow, Batman: Cacophony, and Batman: The Widening Gyre at DC Comics).

Aside from the films he's directed, Smith has served as a producer on indie efforts (including Bryan Johnson's Lion's Gate release VULGAR) a multiple Academy Award winner (GOOD WILL HUNTING), and a pair of Sundance-selected documentaries (REEL PARADISE and SMALL TOWN GAY BAR).

In addition to filmmaking, Smith occasionally moonlights as an actor, appearing in LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD, and CATCH AND RELEASE. He also voiced the animated role of the farting Moose in DOOGLE.

One of the first filmmakers to venture into cyberspace, Smith has built his fan base primarily on the web, via the thirteen year old binary village at www.viewaskew.com. And if the film thing doesn't pan out, there's always retail: Smith owns a comic book store named Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash in Red Bank, New Jersey.

As for the hood ornaments he's collected, there's plenty of tin on display: the Filmmaker's Trophy at Sundance for CLERKS; the Prix de la Jeunesse and the International Critic's Week Award at the Cannes Film Festival, also for CLERKS. The Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay for CHASING AMY, and a Humanitas Award for GOOD WILL HUNTING.

Smith also received the Defender of Democracy Award from Norman Lear's People for the American Way organization for his production of DOGMA. CLERKS II won both the prestigious Audience Award at the Edinburgh Film Festvial as well as the Orbit Dirtiest Mouth Moment at the Mtv Movie Awards. For his writing in the comics field, Smith has received a Harvey Award, a Wizard Fan Award, an Eagle Award, and saw his GREEN ARROW: QUIVER named as one of 2003's Best Books for Young Adults by the American Library Association's Young Adult Library Service. In the fall of 2002, the town of Paulsboro in New Jersey named a street after him: Kevin Smith Way. In 2004, the Video Software Dealers Association gave Smith the DVD Visionary Award, and in 2005, he collected the Independent Spirit Award from Britain's Empire Magazine. In April of 2006, this award-whore was given UCLA's Jack Benny Award for Comedy, and in 2008, Smith was given the Maverick Award by the Woodstock Film Festival, as well as the Vision Award from the DGA-affiliated Filmmaker's Alliance.

But he'd chuck it all for his wife and kid. Smith married wife Jennifer in April '99 and celebrated the birth of their daughter, Harley Quinn, in June of that same year. The wedding was not white, to say the least.