- Born
- Height6′ 1″ (1.85 m)
- Jayson Warner Smith is an actor in film, television and theatre. He started in theatre at age nine and since that time, he has been in a play a TV show or a film almost every year of his life. "It's just always been what I was best at and what I really loved to do. Nothing [has] made me happier than collaborating with other artists to create something new." During his time not studying at Yale and Juilliard, he has built a reputation as a "go to" actor for leads, supporting leads and recurring guest star roles in film and television.
Early on, performing mostly in theatre, Jayson amassed quite a resume of roles but in 2010 he finally scored a larger supporting role in a "Hollywood" film; the 2011 released remake of Footloose. This role marked the beginning of a new chapter in Jayson's love of acting.
Since then he has performed supporting and leading roles in films and TV shows such as, Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist (Peacock), Muedaugh-Death in the Family (Hulu), The Good Daughter (Peacock), Tulsa King (Paramount), Outer Banks (Netflix), Anchorman II, The Vampire Diaries (The WB), 99 Homes, Mississippi Grind, 42, Sleepy Hollow (Fox TV), One Mississippi (Amazon), Queen America (Facebook Watch), Candy (Hulu) and NCIS:New Orleans (CBS).
Jayson is best known for his portrayal of the Savior Gavin on The Walking Dead (AMC) for two seasons and his portrayal of the horrifyingly despicable death-row serial killer Wendall Jelks for two seasons on Rectify (SundanceTV).
Trying his hand at Executive producing, Jayson brought the short film "Chipper" to life in 2022. After a successful festival run (multiple awards won), "Chipper" can now be found on Vimeo and the Omeleto platform on YouTube.
Jayson has performed major supporting roles in, "The Book of Love" with Maisie Williams and Jason Sudeikis, "Christine" with Rebecca Hall, J. Smith-Cameron and Michael C. Hall, Sundance winner "The Birth of a Nation" and "American Made" with Tom Cruise, Sony and Hello Sunshine's "Where the Crawdads Sing" and Apple's "Emancipation" directed by Antoine Fuqua.
He lives in Atlanta and Athens, Georgia USA with his wife Lisa and cat Lemmy. Jayson teaches acting in Atlanta. He is represented by The Alexander White Agency in Atlanta and Los Angeles and manager Tamer Ahsan with Zero Gravity Management.
- IMDb mini biography by: BP
- Gender / Gender identityMale
- Co-owned and operated Black Tie Parking in the Valley in Los Angeles from 1991-93 with Walton Goggins, Thompson Blake and John R. Carter. John, Walt, Blake and he manage the company and also parked the cars along with employees Patrick Van Horn, Jeff M. Sliney, Adam Drescher and Mars Callahan.
- His sister is Amanda Smith Vogel. Miss Georgia USA 1986.
- Rides a 2001 Triumph Bonneville.
- Started acting in 1973 with the newly formed Cobb Children's Theatre (CCT). CCT produced theatre for children by children for 39 years. Upon joining SAG/AFTRA in 1990, he took the middle name Warner in honor of his mentor from CCT, founding member and artistic director Joy Warner.
- Graduated from South Cobb High School in Austell, Georgia and Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia.
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