Kevin Patrick Smith was born in 1970, in New Jersey, and many of his films would later take place around the area where he grew up. His parents were Donald and Grace Smith. Kevin graduated from the Henry Hudson Regional School and then enrolled at the New School for Social Research to study creative writing, but he dropped out before he finished the program.

Kevin then went on to attend the Vancouver Film School, which is where he met his future producer and friend Scott Mosier. Although he dropped out of that school as well, Smith did make a deal with Mosier that whoever finished their screenplay first, the other would become the producer.

Kevin finished his screenplay Clerks first. The film was inspired by Smith’s real life work experience as a clerk at a convenience store in New Jersey. Mossier flew down to New Jersey to produce the film as promised and the two scrounged up enough money between loans, credit cards, family members, insurance money, and tuition refunds to film the black-and-white film. Smith filmed at the same convenience store he worked at and cast his friends in many of the roles.

Smith debuted his film at the Sundance Film Festival in 1994 where it garnered the attention of Miramax executives. The film originally received a rating of NC-17 for its excessive use of profanity, but after Smith and Miramax petitioned the Motion Picture Association of America the rating was dropped to R. By the end of 1994 the film was given a limited national release and has become an inspiration to all aspiring directors.

In 1997 Smith met his wife, Jennifer Schwalbach, who was a reporter from USA Today. They met when she scheduled an interview to discuss his latest film, Chasing Amy, starring his good friend Ben Affleck and his ex-girlfriend, Joey Lauren Adams. The two began dating and shortly after that discovered that Jennifer had become pregnant. They married that year and Jennifer gave birth to their daughter, Harley Quinn Smith. Also in 1997, Smith co-produced Good Will Hunting, the project of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.

Smith is also a huge fan of comic books. He began writing his own comic book series early in his career, beginning with short stories about Jay and Silent Bob. The duo then began making small appearances in Smith’s films, with Smith playing Silent Bob. In 2001, Smith announced the retirement of Jay and Silent Bob after their feature film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back was released. The film was peppered with cameo appearances from celebrities like Shannon Elizabeth, Will Ferrell, Judd Nelson, Sean William Scott, Chris Rock, Jamie Kennedy, Shannen Doherty, Alanis Morissette, and Jason Biggs.

Kevin is well known for having an intimate relationship with his fans. He posts almost daily on his message boards with information about his latest films. He has also held a private film festival called Vulgarthon since 1998. The festival is held in Red Bank, New Jersey, and normally shows five films. Fans are able to purchase tickets to the festival, watch the films, and then have the opportunity to meet the cast and crew of each film.

In 2006, the festival featured Smith’s film, Clerks II, which came out to the public in July of 2006. Among the cast that attended the festival were Jason Mewes, Ben Affleck, Jason Lee, Jeff Anderson, and Brian O Halloran.

YUDDY