Kevin Smith

On his 21st birthday, Smith saw Richard Linklater's comedy Slacker.

Impressed that Linklater set and shot the film in his hometown of Austin, Texas rather than on a soundstage in a major city, Smith was inspired to become a filmmaker, and to set films where he lived.

He has said, "It was the movie that got me off my ass; it was the movie that lit a fire under me, the movie that made me think, 'Hey, I could be a filmmaker.' And I had never seen a movie like that before ever in my life."

He assembled a library of independent filmmakers like Linklater, Jim Jarmusch, Spike Lee and Hal Hartley to draw from.

Smith attended Vancouver Film School for four months, where he met longtime collaborators Scott Mosier and Dave Klein.

Unlike them, Smith left halfway through the course, figuring he knew enough to proceed and wanting to save money for his first film.

Smith moved back to New Jersey and got his old job back at a convenience store in Leonardo.

He decided to set his film, Clerks, at the store, borrowing the a-day-in-the-life structure from the Spike Lee film Do the Right Thing.

Smith maxed out more than a dozen credit cards, and sold his much-treasured comic book collection, to raise $27,575 to make the film, while saving money by casting friends and acquaintances in most roles.

Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970) is an American director, producer, writer, and actor.

Kevin Patrick Smith was born on August 2, 1970, in Red Bank, New Jersey, the son of Grace (née Schultz), a homemaker, and Donald E. Smith (1936–2003), a postal worker.

He has two siblings: an older sister, Virginia, and an older brother, Donald Jr. He was raised in a Catholic household in the nearby clamming town of Highlands.

Smith's childhood was scheduled around his father's late shifts at the post office.

His father grew to despise his job, which greatly influenced Smith, who remembers his father finding it difficult on some days to get up and go to work.

Smith vowed never to work at something that he did not enjoy.

Smith attended Henry Hudson Regional High School, where he was a B and C student, videotaped basketball games, and produced Saturday Night Live-style sketch comedy.

An overweight teen, he developed into a comedic observer of life to socialize with friends and girls.

After high school, Smith attended The New School in New York City, but did not graduate.

Smith met Jason Mewes while working at a youth center; they became friends after discovering a mutual interest in comic books.

According to producer and author John Pierson, it is considered one of the two most influential film debuts in the 1990s, along with The Brothers McMullen.

Smith's second film, Mallrats, Jason Lee's debut as a leading man, did not fare as well as expected.

It received a critical drubbing and earned only $2.2 million at the box office despite playing on more than 500 screens.

Mallrats was more successful in the home video market.

He came to prominence with the low-budget comedy buddy film Clerks (1994), which he wrote, directed, co-produced, and acted in as the character Silent Bob of stoner duo Jay and Silent Bob, characters who also appeared in Smith's later films Mallrats (1995), Chasing Amy (1997), Dogma (1999), Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001), Clerks II (2006), Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019), and Clerks III (2022) which are set primarily in his home state of New Jersey.

While not strictly sequential, the films have crossover plot elements, character references, and a shared canon known as the "View Askewniverse", named after Smith's production company View Askew Productions, which he co-founded with Scott Mosier.

Clerks was screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 1994, where it won the Filmmaker's Trophy.

At a restaurant following the screening, Miramax executive Harvey Weinstein invited Smith to join him at his table, where he offered to buy the film.

In May 1994, it went to the Cannes International Film Festival, where it won both the Prix de la Jeunesse and the International Critics' Week Prize.

Released in October 1994 in two cities, the film went on to play in 50 markets, never playing on more than 50 screens at any given time.

Despite the limited release, it was a critical and financial success, earning $3.1 million.

Initially, the film received an NC-17 rating from the MPAA for sexually graphic language.

Miramax hired Alan Dershowitz to sue the MPAA.

At an appeals screening, a jury of members of the National Association of Theatre Owners reversed the MPAA's decision, and the film was given an R rating.

The movie had a profound effect on the independent film community.

He has served as a director-for-hire for material he did not write, including the buddy cop action comedy Cop Out (2010) and various television series episodes, creating Masters of the Universe: Revelation in 2021.

Since 2011, Smith has mostly made horror films, including Red State (2011) and the comedy horror films Tusk (2014) and Yoga Hosers (2016), two in a planned series of three such films set in Canada dubbed the True North trilogy.

Smith owns Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash in Red Bank, New Jersey, a comic book store which became the setting for the reality television show Comic Book Men (2012–2018).

He hosts the film review TV show Spoilers.

As a podcaster, Smith cohosts several shows on his SModcast Podcast Network, including SModcast, Fatman Beyond, and the live show Hollywood Babble-On.

He is known for participating in long, humorous Q&A sessions that are often filmed for DVD release, beginning with An Evening with Kevin Smith.