Tasha Smith

Tasha Smith (born February 28, 1971)[2] is an American actress, director and producer. She began her career in a starring role on the NBC comedy series Boston Common (1996–97), and she later appeared in numerous movies and television series.

Tasha Smith
Smith in 2017
Born	February 28, 1971 Camden, New Jersey, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Actress, director, producer
Years active	1994–present
Spouse(s)	Rory "Keith" Douglas ​ ​ (m. 2010; annulled 2015)​ [1]

Smith has appeared in films include The Whole Ten Yards (2004), Daddy's Little Girls (2007), The Longshots (2008), Couples Retreat (2009), and Jumping the Broom (2011). She starred as Angela Williams in the Tyler Perry films Why Did I Get Married? (2007), its sequel Why Did I Get Married Too? (2010), and on the television series based on the movies, For Better or Worse (2011–2017). In 2015, she began a recurring role as Carol Holloway on the Fox musical drama series Empire. Later in the same year, Smith made her directorial debut.

Early life and education

Smith was born in Camden, New Jersey, and was raised by a single mother. She has an identical twin sister Sidra Smith, who currently lives in Harlem.[2] Smith dropped out of Camden High School in her freshman year, and at age 19 moved to California.[3]

Career

Smith made her acting debut with a small role in the comedy film Twin Sitters (1994).[4] From 1996 to 1997, she starred in the NBC comedy series, Boston Common. Later in 1997, she was cast alongside Tom Arnold in another short-lived comedy series, The Tom Show on The WB.[4] In 2000, she had supporting role in the HBO miniseries, The Corner in which she played a drug addict.[4] In the 2000s, Smith had guest starring roles on The Parkers, Without a Trace, Nip/Tuck, and Girlfriends. She has made number of supporting roles in movies such as Playas Ball (2003), The Whole Ten Yards (2004), and ATL (2006).

Smith has played roles in multiple Tyler Perry projects. In 2007, she appeared as the main antagonist in the romantic comedy-drama film, Daddy's Little Girls. She played the role of Angela Williams in the Why Did I Get Married? (2007), and its sequel Why Did I Get Married Too? (2010). The role she later played in the comedy series based on films, Tyler Perry's For Better or Worse.

Smith co-starred alongside Ice Cube and Keke Palmer in the family comedy-drama film, The Longshots (2008). She had supporting role in the romantic comedy film Couples Retreat (2009), and co-starred alongside Salli Richardson, Nicole Ari Parker and Michael B. Jordan in Pastor Brown (2010). In 2011, she appeared in the comedy-drama film Jumping the Broom alongside Angela Bassett and Paula Patton, and in 2014, she played a psychotherapist in the erotic thriller, Addicted.[5] In 2014, she also was cast in a recurring role in the Fox drama series Empire as Carol Hardaway, Cookie Lyon's younger sister.[6]

In 2015, Smith made her directorial debut with the short film Boxed in, which premiered during the 19th Annual American Black Film Festival.[7] In 2017, Smith directed the television film When Love Kills: The Falicia Blakely Story, starring Lil Mama and Lance Gross and it is based on a true story.[8][9] It premiered to 1.6 million viewers, ranking as TV One's #1 original movie premiere of all time among all key demos.[10] In October 2017, she also directed an episode in the BET drama anthology series Tales. Smith worked as Mary J. Blige's acting coach for her role in Mudbound.[11]

In 2019, Smith appeared in the comedy-drama film Dolemite Is My Name, and starred opposite Lisa Kudrow and Whitney Cummings in the Amazon comedy pilot Good People.[12] Also that year, she directed episodes of Star, 9-1-1 and Black Lightning. In 2020, Smith directed the episode "Legacy" on the Starz TV series P-Valley. In 2021, Smith set to direct and Starz drama series Black Mafia Family.[13]

Personal life

In December 2010, Smith married her boyfriend of one-year Keith Douglas, who was also her manager.[14] In November 2014, Smith appeared in court to request a restraining order against Douglas, who in documents filed prior to the court appearance, she said accused her of having affairs with other women. Smith's friend Tisha Campbell-Martin acted as a character witness.[15] The final divorce decree was issued in March 2015.[16] However, Smith contested the divorce by alleging that Douglas concealed information from her that she should have known before the marriage. Smith alleged that Douglas was not "man of the cloth" that he presented himself to be during their courtship.[1] She also said that, if she had known about Douglas' background, she would not have married him. The allegations about Douglas' background included five marriages before he married Smith, multiple children that he did not claim and disclose to Smith, and non-payment of income taxes for nearly a decade. The judge in the case granted Smith an annulment of the marriage in December 2015 on the basis of fraud committed by Douglas.[1]

Smith is the creator of TSAW - an actor's workshop that empowers and inspires performers at various stages in their careers with focus on the Black community.[17]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	Twin Sitters	Yvonne Jameson
1995	Let It Be Me	Nikita Johnson
1998	Max Q	Karen Daniels	Television film
1999	Chameleon II: Death Match	IBI Director Tasha Webster	Television film
2003	Playas Ball	Vonda Watson
2004	The Whole Ten Yards	Jules "Julie" Figueroa
2004	My Purple Fur Coat	Ruth Smith	Short film
2006	Miles from Home	Keisha Knight
2006	ATL	Miss Gayle Lawrence
2006	You, Me and Dupree	CeCe Johnson	Uncredited
2006	Glass House: The Good Mother	Caseworker Niecy Jameson
2007	Love... & Other 4 Letter Words	Lucille Ames
2007	Daddy's Little Girls	Jennifer Jackson
2007	Why Did I Get Married?	Angela Williams
2008	The Longshots	Claire Plummer
2009	Couples Retreat	Jennifer Lawless
2010	Why Did I Get Married Too?	Angela Williams
2010	Pastor Brown	Angelique Todd
2010	Something Like a Business	Angela Mae
2011	Jumping the Broom	Shonda Peterkin
2014	Addicted	Dr. Marcella Spencer
2014	Boxed in		Director and writer
2015	Polaris	Sophie
2017	When Love Kills: The Falicia Blakely Story		Director and producer
2018	Running Out of Time	Brenda
2019	The One You Never Forget	The One You Never Forget	Short film
2019	Dolemite Is My Name	Barbara Lynch

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996–1997	Boston Common	Tasha King	Series regular; 32 episodes
1997	Chicago Hope	Dr. Denise Potter	Episode: "Brain Salad Surgery"
1997–1998	The Tom Show	Tanya Cole	Series regular; 19 episodes
1999	The Steve Harvey Show	Kimberly Davis	Episode: "Steve Don't Get Nun"
2000	The Corner	Veronica 'Ronnie' Boice	Miniseries
2001	The Parkers	Rachel Jones	Episode: "A Knockout Times Two"
2003	Without a Trace	Veronica Boyce	Episode: "The Friendly Skies"
2004	Nip/Tuck	Carol Nelson	Episode: "Joan Rivers"
2005	Second Time Around	Laura James	Episode: "Big Bank, Little Bank"
2005	Girlfriends	Shandara Durrani	Episode: "See J-Spot Run"
2007	All of Us	Jewel Jones	Episode: "The B-R-E-A-K-U-P"
2008	Finnegan	Det. Nenna McCants	Unsold pilot
2009	The Game	Sheila Johnson	Episode: "The Third Legacy"
2009–2010	Meet the Browns	Tanya Gould	Recurring role; 7 episodes
2011–2017	Tyler Perry's For Better or Worse	Angela Williams	Series regular; 162 episodes Nominated – NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series (2014)
2014	Chopped	Herself	Episode: "Chopped Tournament of Stars: Actors!"
2015–2020	Empire	Carol Holloway	Recurring role; 31 episodes
2015	Power	Jarita J.	3 episodes
2016	Star	Carol Holloway	Episode: "The Winner Takes It All"
2016	RuPaul's Drag Race	Herself	Episode: "RuCo's Empire"
2017	Daytime Divas	Portia Camden	Episode: "Shut It Down"
2019	Good People	Shar Johnson	Unsold TV pilot
2020	Big Sky		Director; Episode: "Unfinished Business"

References

1. Eromosele, Diana Ozemebhoya (December 23, 2015). "Judge Annuls Tasha Smith's Marriage After Finding That Her Husband Hid Kids, Marriages and Debt". The Root. Retrieved October 27, 2018.
2. "Black Star News - Black Star News". Blackstar News. Retrieved June 27, 2015.
3. Ortiz, Eric (December 20, 2007). "Camden's "Funny Chick". New Jersey Monthly. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
4. "Tasha Smith Profile". Metacritic. Retrieved January 27, 2019.
5. Courtney (October 29, 2012). "Tasha Smith Confirmed For Zane's 'Addicted'". IndieWire. Retrieved January 20, 2018.
6. Goldberg, Lesley (March 18, 2014). "Macy Gray Boards Lee Daniels' Hip-Hop Drama 'Empire' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on October 9, 2015. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
7. Evans, Madge (June 23, 2015). "Tasha Smith Makes Directorial Debut with 'Boxed In' at 2015 ABFF (WATCH)". EURweb.com. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
8. Manyando, Abesi (August 28, 2017). "Tasha Smith Delivers in Directorial Debut of "When Love Kills."". HuffPost. Retrieved February 18, 2020.
9. Jones, Tashara (August 18, 2017). "Director says 'When Love Kills' examines 'humanity' of murderous stripper". New York Post. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
10. "WHEN LOVE KILLS: THE FALICIA BLAKELY STORY Ranks as TV One's No. 1 Original Premiere of All Time". BroadwayWorld.com. August 31, 2017. Retrieved October 6, 2017.
11. Feinberg, Scott (January 11, 2018). "'Awards Chatter' Podcast — Mary J. Blige ('Mudbound')". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
12. Petski, Denise (June 6, 2019). "'Good People': Tasha Smith Joins Amazon Comedy Pilot".
13. Petski, Denise; Petski, Denise (January 13, 2021). "'Black Mafia Family': Demetrius "Lil Meech" Flenory Jr. & Da'Vinchi To Star In Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson's Series On Starz; Tasha Smith To Direct".
14. "Tasha Smith : My Black Is Beautiful". BET. April 12, 2010. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved April 8, 2017.
15. Qwest7 (November 27, 2014). "Tasha Smith Files Retraining Order Against Keith Douglas". EURweb.com.
16. Diaz, Evelyn (March 29, 2015). "Tasha Smith Reaches Divorce Settlement With Husband". BET. Retrieved June 28, 2018.
17. "Cover". Backstage.com. September 2020.

External links

• Tasha Smith at IMDb
• Tasha Smith on Twitter