Charles Martin Smith

Charles Martin Smith (born October 30, 1953) is an American actor, writer, and director of film and television based in British Columbia, Canada.

He is known for his roles in American Graffiti (1973), The Buddy Holly Story (1978), Never Cry Wolf (1983), Starman (1984), The Untouchables (1987), Deep Cover (1992), And the Band Played On (1993), Speechless (1994) and Deep Impact (1998).

After a few years of working in film and television, he landed the role of Terry "The Toad" Fields in George Lucas's 1973 film American Graffiti, a role he reprised in the film's 1979 sequel, More American Graffiti.

In 1973, he and American Graffiti co-star Cindy Williams appeared together in an episode of Love, American Style titled "Love and the Time Machine".

In 1974 he starred with Ron Howard in The Spikes Gang, filmed in Spain, along with Lee Marvin and Gary Grimes; and in 1978 he earned a starring role in Cotton Candy, directed by Howard.

Smith played one of Buddy Holly's bandmates in The Buddy Holly Story, a race car driver in Disney's Herbie Goes Bananas, and the starring role as a scientist in Never Cry Wolf.

His work in Starman, as Mark Shermin, a SETI member sympathetic to the title character's plight, was also lauded.

In 1979 Smith was cast alongside Barney Martin as the lead in Norman Lear's last television series concept, McGurk: A Dog's Life, which never progressed beyond the pilot.

Another role was in "Banshee," an episode of The Ray Bradbury Theater that costarred Peter O'Toole and Jennifer Dale.

He also appeared in the episode "Boys! Raise Giant Mushrooms in Your Cellar".

One of his later starring roles was in "The Beacon," an episode of The Twilight Zone where he starred with Martin Landau and Giovanni Ribisi in an early role.

He was in The Untouchables.

During the filming, he became so enamored of the Northwest that he decided to relocate to Vancouver, British Columbia, where he has resided since the mid-1980s.

Carroll Ballard, director of Never Cry Wolf, asked Smith to write much of the narration for the film.

Smith also performed in a lengthy scene with wolves and caribou in which he was entirely naked.

His first film as director was the camp horror story Trick or Treat (1986) for Dino De Laurentiis, in which he also appeared.

After this he co-starred in The Hot Spot and Deep Cover, and in the mid-1990s he appeared in films such as Speechless, I Love Trouble, and Perfect Alibi.

Smith played a role in the HBO film And the Band Played On, then turned in a performance in the TV miniseries Streets of Laredo.

Along with his acting career, since the mid-1990s Smith has increasingly focused on his work behind the camera both as a writer and director.

In 1992, he directed and acted in Fifty/Fifty, a movie filmed in Malaysia which also starred Robert Hays and Peter Weller.

He was one of the directors of the TV series Space: Above and Beyond (1995) as well as the director of the initial episode ("Welcome to the Hellmouth") that launched the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997).

He also appeared in The Beast in 1996 and in a minor role in the big budget Deep Impact in 1998.

He played a major character in the made-for-television movie Blackout Effect.

More recently he has appeared in mini-series such as P.T. Barnum, Kingdom Hospital and The Triangle as well as the feature film Lucky You directed by Curtis Hanson.

As a director, he is further known for the films Air Bud (1997), The Snow Walker (2003), Stone of Destiny (2008), Dolphin Tale (2011), Dolphin Tale 2 (2014) and A Dog's Way Home (2019).

His directorial work has earned him much acclaim, with BAFTA Scotland, Genie nominations, and numerous Leo Award nominations.

Smith was born in Van Nuys, California.

His father, Frank Smith, was a film cartoonist and animator, while his uncle Paul J. Smith was an animator as well as a director for the Walter Lantz Studios.

Smith spent three years of his youth in Paris, where his father managed the English-language branch of a French animation studio.

He received his high school diploma from Grover Cleveland High School in Reseda, California.

He attended California State University, Northridge and was awarded a B.A. in Theatre.

Smith was discovered by a talent agent while acting in a school play, Man of La Mancha.

He next directed the successful feature film Air Bud (Disney, 1997), and two TV miniseries for Hallmark Entertainment, Roughing It, starring James Garner as Mark Twain, (2001) and Icon (2005), starring Patrick Swayze, Michael York and Patrick Bergin.

He directed numerous episodes of the Canadian television series DaVinci's Inquest, and wrote and executive produced The Clinic, a film about a veterinary clinic for Animal Planet in 2003.

In 2009 he played a featured role, Sheriff Golightly, in the second episode of season two of the TV series Fringe.

Smith devoted almost three years to filming Never Cry Wolf, adapted from a memoir by environmentalist Farley Mowat.

Smith said, "I was much more closely involved in that picture than I had been in any other film. Not only acting, but writing and the whole creative process."

He also found the process difficult.

"During much of the two-year shooting schedule in Canada's Yukon and in Nome, Alaska, I was the only actor present. It was the loneliest film I've ever worked on."

While working on this production, Smith formed a friendship with the author, Farley Mowat, which lasted until Mowat's death in 2014.