Riley Smith

Riley Smith
Riley Smith
Born	April 12, 1978 (age 46); Cedar Rapids, Iowa, U.S.
Occupation	Actor;
Years active	1998–present

Riley Smith (born April 12, 1978^[1]) 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, Frequency, and Nancy Drew.

Early life and education

Smith's parents are Russ and Roxanne Smith. He was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and raised in Marion, Iowa^[2] on his parents’ horse ranch.^[3] He became an accomplished rider, competing in a horse show for the first time when he was 9 years old.^[4] When he was 15, he placed 4th in 3-Year-Old Mares division at the American Quarter Horse Youth World Championship,^[4] and at 16 won the American Quarter Horse Youth World Championship.^[2] When he was 17, he became president of the 50,000-member youth association, becoming the youngest person to serve as president of American Quarter Horse Youth Association.^[2]^[5]

He graduated from Alburnett Junior-Senior High School in 1997, and his original intention was to earn a college degree to complement his Equine interests,^[2]^[3] but he was "discovered" at the Westdale Mall in Cedar Rapids by a local talent scout^[6] and flew to New York City to compete at the International Modeling and Talent Association (IMTA) Convention.^[3] He was signed to a Tommy Hilfiger modeling campaign.^[3]^[7]^[8] He used the money he earned to pay for acting classes.^[2]^[9]

Career

Television work

Three months after the Hilfiger campaign, Smith flew to Los Angeles to do a screen test for The WB's 1998 pilot Minor Threat,^[10]^[11] 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.

Smith had recurring roles in the CBS series Joan of Arcadia, the Fox series 24 season 3 as Kyle Singer,^[10] the short-lived WB series Summerland and the Judd Apatow NBC series Freaks and Geeks. He was also a main cast member in the short-lived Fox show Drive. Smith played Dean Talon in the Disney Channel movie Motocrossed. He played a love interest and mentor to Andrea "Andy" Carson on the race track.

In 2008 Smith joined in collaboration with The Academy of Cinema and Television to create an online educational series for children and teens interested in the entertainment industry,^[3] and in 2009 he appeared in an episode of Ghost Whisperer, a paranormal television series starring Jennifer Love Hewitt. He appeared in seven episodes of the fifth season of 90210 as Riley Wallace, in 2012–2013.

In 2014 Smith played the role of Keith in the HBO series True Blood. In 2015, he played Markus Keen in the ABC musical drama series Nashville. In 2016, he starred as Frank Sullivan in the CW drama series, Frequency.

Film work

Smith has appeared in the film Eight Legged Freaks, Not Another Teen Movie, Radio, New York Minute, Bring It On, and the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury nominee Weapons.^[12]

For the film New York Minute, he and co-star Jared Padalecki were hand-picked for their roles by stars Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.^[10] After his role as Jim, the love interest for Ashley's character of Jane, he admitted that he could not tell the sisters apart.^[13]

In Radio, Smith had the role of Johnny Clay, team star and ringleader of the group pulling nasty pranks on Cuba Gooding, Jr.'s character of Radio.^[6] For their work in the film, key production members were awarded a 2005 CAMIE Award; These included executive producer Todd Garner, director Michael Tollin, screenwriter Mike Rich, and actors Cuba Gooding Jr., Ed Harris, Riley Smith, Alfre Woodard, Brent Sexton, S. Epatha Merkerson and Sarah Drew.^[14]

He played Russ, the love interest of Mary Elizabeth Winstead's character in the dancing film Make It Happen.

Music

Smith took up the guitar to fill downtime while on film sets, and in 2006, he and Henri O'Connor formed the band "The Life of Riley", of which he is guitarist and lead singer.^[12] His original idea was to write music that could be used in his films, but when he and his band had written 16 songs, they picked 11 and cut an album.^[12] As of August 2010, the Los Angeles–based group has released three CDs: The Life of Riley (2007), Long Way Home EP (2009) and Live in Hollywood at the Hotel Cafe (2010).^[10]^[15] They have also performed at such music festivals as the New Bohemia Music Festival.^[16]^[17]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role
1999	Lovers Lane	Michael Lamson
2000	Voodoo Academy	Christopher Sawyer
2000	Bring It On	Tim
2001	Not Another Teen Movie	Les
2002	Eight Legged Freaks	Randy
2002	Full Ride	Matt Sabo
2003	National Lampoon's Barely Legal	Jake
2003	Radio	Johnny Clay
2004	New York Minute	Jim
2004	The Plight of Clownana	Riley
2007	Weapons	Jason
2007	White Air	Alexi
2007	Graduation	Chaucer Boyle
2009	Make It Happen	Russ
2010	Minuteman	Lance Deakin
2012	Gallowwalkers	Fabulos
2014	Shirin in Love	William
2016	Bleed	Eric
2022	Get Away If You Can	Graham

Television

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1998	One World	Riley	1 episode
1999	Alien Arsenal	Chad	Television movie
1999	7th Heaven	Tyler	1 episode
2000	Freaks and Geeks	Todd Schellinger	Recurring role, 5 episodes
2000	Hang Time	Dave Carter	1 episode
2000	Wild Grizzly	Josh Harding	Television movie
2000–2001	Once and Again	Pace	2 episodes
2001	Chestnut Hill	Jamie Eastman	Unsold television pilot
2001	Motocrossed	Dean Talon	Disney Channel Original Movie
2001	Gideon's Crossing	Derek Fitzhugh	3 episodes
2001	All About Us	Jeremy	1 episode
2002	Eastwick	Dakota	Unsold television pilot
2002	Raising Dad	Jared Ashby	Recurring role, 9 episodes
2002	Boston Public	Mark	1 episode
2002	Birds of Prey	18 Year Old 'Guy'	Episode: "Three Birds and a Baby"
2003	CSI: Miami	Jack	1 episode
2003	Peacemakers	Eric Soper	1 episode
2003	24	Kyle Singer	Recurring role, 6 episodes
2004	Summerland	Tanner	2 episodes
2004	Hawaii	Sheldon	1 episode
2004–2005	Joan of Arcadia	Andy Baker	Recurring role, 5 episodes
2005	Spring Break Shark Attack	Shane Jones	Television movie
2006	The Way	Karl	Unsold television pilot
2007	Drive	Rob Laird	Main role, 6 episodes
2007	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Jordan Rockwell	1 episode
2007	Women's Murder Club	Jamie Galvan	1 episode
2008	Criminal Minds	Ryan Phillips	1 episode
2008	The Madness of Jane	Dane	Unsold television pilot
2009	Ghost Whisperer	Sean Flannery	Episode: "Head Over Heels"
2010	Night and Day	Jim Pollard	Unsold television pilot
2010	Leverage	Sophie's Dr. Abernathy	Episode: "The Rashomon Job"
2011	The Glades	Greg	Episode: "Breakout"
2011	Cooper and Stone	Danny Kovacs	Unsold television pilot
2011	The Closer	Trey Gavin	Episode: "An Ugly Game"
2012–2013	90210	Riley Wallace	Recurring role, 7 episodes
2013	Christmas in Conway	Tommy Harris	Television movie
2014	True Blood	Keith	Recurring role, 5 episodes
2014	Deliverance Creek	Toby	Television movie^[18]
2014	10,000 Days	Sam Beck	Television movie
2015	True Detective	Steve Mercier	2 episodes
2015	The Messengers	Mark Plowman	Recurring role, 6 episodes
2015	Nashville	Markus Keen	Recurring role,^[19] 7 episodes
2016	CSI: Cyber	Keith Walker	Episode: "Fit-and-Run"
2016	Urban Cowboy	Wes	Unsold television pilot^[20]
2016–2017	Frequency	Frank Sullivan	Main role
2018	Life Sentence	Dr. Will Grant	Recurring role^[21]
2019	Proven Innocent	Levi Scott	Main role
2019–2023	Nancy Drew	Ryan Hudson	Main role
2023	Station 19	CAPT Harris	Episode: "What Are You Willing to Lose"