Andrew Hayden-Smith
| Andrew Hayden-Smith | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Andrew John Smith 5 November 1983 Gateshead, England, UK |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Actor, voiceover artist, television presenter |
| Years active | 1995–present |
| Website | andrewhaydensmith |
Andrew Hayden-Smith (born Andrew John Smith, 5 November 1983 in Gateshead, England) is a British actor and voiceover artist and former television presenter.
Hayden-Smith grew up in Chester-le-Street in County Durham and attended the Pelton Roseberry Sports and Community College. He has an older sister, Kerri Hayden, who also worked on Byker Grove as a 2nd AD. While visiting the set of Byker Grove one day, he was spotted by the series' Executive Producer Matthew Robinson, who cast him in the role of Ben Carter, making his first appearance in the eighth series of the show in 1995.
Initially just using the name Andrew Smith, he appeared as a guest on Saturday morning CBBC show Live & Kicking with several other characters from the show. Smith soon became a regular guest on the show. This led to appearances on other shows and also in teen-magazines, as well as two pantomime appearances. In 2001 he applied for Equity membership and was accepted under the name Andrew Hayden-Smith (Hayden being another surname in his family), as the name Andrew Smith was already taken. He announced his change of stage name on Live & Kicking.
Hayden-Smith is openly gay, coming out in Attitude magazine in February 2005.
He is in a long term relationship with his boyfriend.
Hayden-Smith was a regular guest in the CBBC studio for some time, and was invited to guest present the studio links in autumn 2002. He had expressed a wish for some time to have a go at presenting, and was encouraged by existing CBBC presenter Jake Humphrey to ask the bosses if he could stay on. This was agreed and Hayden-Smith moved to London to become half of the main presenting team for the afternoon slot on BBC1, a position he would continue to hold for just under four years. During that period from time to time he also presented the CBBC breakfast shows on BBC1 and BBC2 as well as the digital CBBC channel. In 2003 he also filmed his final scenes of Byker Grove, in which his character was killed-off. Hayden-Smith became close friends with several of his fellow presenters, including Angellica Bell and Adrian Dickson.
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