Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Joseph B Smith spent his early childhood and teen years in the Norfolk-Virginia Beach area of Virginia. He moved back to Memphis with his family at the age of fourteen to finish high school with college soon to follow. Joe got the acting bug at an early age, but was not quite sure what it was. He studied the comedians of the time like Steve Martin, George Carlin, John Belushi, as well as the NBC late night program Saturday Night Live and knew he wanted to do something like that. After a not-so-successful run at college, he started doing stand-up comedy in a Memphis comedy club and soon began booking his act in surrounding states as well as being selected for emcee duties. He was selected as one of the top 10 Southern Comics in a 1988 Edge/National Lampoon Comedy contest. The years passed as well as the comedy gigs, so he finished college, got a normal daytime job, and soon the creative bug started to hit once again. Joe wanted to do movies – only he didn’t know how. He started taking acting classes with Red West in Memphis, met a few people with similar interests and soon started working in local independent films. The first was a Mob parody film called “Almost Made”. Then he met the folks with Rusted Sun Films and got a small part in a film called “THE VISITOR”. He won a larger roll in the Rusted Sun production of “A COWBOY’S SILVER LINING” and did smaller rolls in “Delusions” and “Curbside Confessions.” In the winter of 2005, he won the roll of Lamar Fike in CBS Television’s mini series “Elvis-The Mini Series” where he worked with Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Randy Quaid, Robert Patrick, Camryn Manheim, and Rose McGowan. His most recent roll is Pooch in the Rusted Sun Films production DIVINE MANIPULATION OF THE THREADS.
