Riley Smith | |
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Born |
Riley Smith April 12, 1978 Cedar Rapids, Iowa, U.S. |
Residence | Los Angeles |
Occupation |
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Years active | 1998–present |
Home town | Marion, Iowa |
Riley Smith (born April 12, 1978) is an American actor. He is known for his roles on television, such as recurring roles in the series 24, Joan of Arcadia, 90210, True Blood and The Messengers, and starring roles on the television series Drive and Frequency.
Smith's parents are Russ and Roxanne Smith. He was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and raised in Marion, Iowa on his parents’ horse ranch. He became an accomplished rider, competing in a horse show for the first time when he was 9 years old. When he was 15, he placed 4th in 3-Year-Old Mares division at the American Quarter Horse Youth World Championship, and at 16 won the American Quarter Horse Youth World Championship. When he was 17, he became president of the 50,000-member youth association, becoming the youngest person to serve as corresponding vice president of American Quarter Horse Youth Association.
He graduated from Alburnett Junior-Senior High School in 1997, and his original intention was to earn a college degree to cover his horse racing, but he was "discovered" at the Westdale Mall in Cedar Rapids by a local talent scout and flew to New York City to compete at the International Modeling and Talent Association (IMTA) Convention. There he was signed to a Tommy Hilfiger modeling campaign. He used the money he earned to pay for acting classes.
Three months after the Hilfiger campaign, Smith flew to Los Angeles to do a screen test for The WB's 1998 pilot Minor Threat, but the pilot was not picked up. Subsequently, he went on to do eight prime time network pilots, and more than a dozen guest-starring roles, and played recurring character roles in three television series.