Kevin Smith

Smith was born in Red Bank, New Jersey, the son of Grace, a homemaker, and Donald Smith, a postal worker. He has an older sister, Virginia, and an older brother, Donald Smith, Jr. He was raised in an Irish Catholic (as stated in an interview in Clerks 10th Anniversary DVD) household and attended Henry Hudson Regional High School in Highlands. After High School he met Jason Mewes who would later become a recurring actor in his films. He then attended The New School for Social Research in New York and the Vancouver Film School, where he met Scott Mosier, his producer in every movie that he has made. He majored in film, but dropped out halfway through his studies, electing to take a partial tuition reimbursement in order to help finance his first film. Smith is married to Jennifer Schwalbach Smith. He named his daughter Harley Quinn after character Harleen "Harley Quinn" Quinzel from Batman: The Animated Series. Although Smith was raised Catholic he has said on Back To The Well, the Clerks II documentary, that now he only goes to mass on the day before he starts production of a movie, and the day before it premieres. He never smoked until his debut film, Clerks, where he used the cigarettes as a prop, but never actually inhaled. In fact, he has said that prior to filming Clerks, he was a staunch non-smoker.

His first film, Clerks, was shot for the sum total of $27,575 in the same convenience store where Smith worked. It went to the Sundance Film Festival in 1994, where it won the Filmmaker's Trophy and was picked up by Miramax before the festival's end. 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 November 1994 in two cities, the film went on to play in fifty markets, never playing on more than fifty 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, solely for the graphic language. Miramax hired Alan Dershowitz to defend the film, and at an appeals screening, a "jury" consisting of members of the National Association of Theater Owners reversed the MPAA's decision, and the film was given an R rating instead.

Smith's second film didn't fare as well as his first. Mallrats received a critical drubbing and earned merely $2.2 million at the box office, despite playing on more than 500 screens. The film marked Jason Lee's debut as a leading man. While it later found its audience on home video, earning the title "cult classic", Smith has said of the movie "It was a six million dollar casting call for Chasing Amy."

Widely hailed as one of Smith's best films, Chasing Amy marked what Quentin Tarantino called "a quantum leap forward" for Smith. Starring Mallrats alumni Jason Lee, Joey Lauren Adams and Ben Affleck, the $250,000 film earned $12 million at the box office and wound up on a number of critics' year-end best lists, and won two Independent Spirit Awards (screenplay and supporting actor for Lee).

Smith's next film, Dogma, had an all-star cast and found itself mired in controversy. The religious-themed comedy, which starred a post-Good Will Hunting Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, Chris Rock, Salma Hayek, Alan Rickman, Linda Fiorentino, and Smith regulars Jason Lee and Jason Mewes, raised the ire of the Catholic League due largely to a reference about the Virgin Mary having post-Jesus intercourse with her husband, Joseph. Smith received over ten thousand pieces of protest/hate mail (some of which were showcased on the film's official website) and three death threats.

The film debuted at the 1999 Cannes International Film Festival, out of competition. Released on 800 screens in November 1999, the $10 million film earned $30 million.

After the controversy surrounding Dogma, Smith said he wanted to make a movie that couldn't be attacked for its content. Focusing the spotlight on two characters who'd appeared in supporting roles in his previous four films, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back featured an all-star cast, with many familiar faces returning from Smith's first four films. The $20 million film earned $30 million at the box office and received mixed reviews from the critics. It was meant to be the film that closed the book on the "Askewniverse" - the Jersey-based, interconnected quintet of movies written and directed by Smith.

Jersey Girl was meant to mark a new direction in Smith's career. However, the film took a critical beating as it was seen as a post-Gigli Bennifer movie (also starring George Carlin and Liv Tyler) . Budgeted at $35 million, it earned only $25 million.

Clerks II marked one more trip into the Askewniverse, Smith resurrected the Dante and Randal characters from his first film and looked in on them ten years later. Roundly criticized before its release, the film went on to win favorable reviews as well as two awards (the Audience Award at the Edinburgh Film Festival and the Orbit Dirtiest Mouth Award at the MTV Movie Awards). It marked Smith's third trip to the Cannes International Film Festival, where Clerks II received an eight minute standing ovation. The $5 million dollar film, starring Jeff Anderson, Brian O'Halloran, Rosario Dawson, Jason Mewes, Jennifer Schwalbach and Smith himself - reprising his role as Silent Bob - earned $25 million.